Quotes About Performance

I've attended many concerts where I felt let down and I was wishing it would be something else. Not that it's their duty to please me, but at the same time, I think a lot about what it's like through the eyes of the consumer, the fan. I want not to pander to the audience, but to be aware of them.

It is hard to watch myself. I'm hypercritical, and it's difficult to watch a performance when I may end up being at odds with it - wishing I'd done something differently or that they had edited it a certain way.

I wrote the song 'I LOVE U, U LOVE ME' wishing to have the most fantastic show ever.

I hope wit comes through in all the characters I portray.

Many gays have a good sense of humour and they like the wit I hopefully put into my performances.

To me, if you can do the Wicked Witch live, you can play anybody.

I love playing an old witch or a young boy. When I was younger, I would always volunteer to play the male lead.

Now it comes to this stage of my career when I get to play the wicked witch all the time. You know you start off with Cinderella and then you end up playing the stepmothers.

My first part in a play was one of the witches in 'Macbeth.'

I dare suggest that the composer would do himself and his music an immediate and eventual service by total, resolute and voluntary withdrawal from this public world to one of private performance and electronic media.

The pressure people put on themselves and the rivalry between the teams is much more marked. And I think that's a good thing. As long as that rivalry remains within the spirit of competition, it con only spur everyone on.

Whatever it is that I feel, I express it! I am free with my joy, my laughter, my pleasure, my pain, and I am blessed in that way as an actress that I can access those feelings within myself and not be ashamed to show whatever that is that's appropriate for the character.

I think a good guitar solo sounds so much better within the context of a good song.

The magic doesn't come from within the director's mind, it comes from within the hearts of the actors.

The voices of moral authority in the theatre demanded only punctuality and physical performance. In the light of continuing pressure and stress, the occasional lip service paid to moderation was meaningless. Starvation and poisoning were not excesses, but measures taken to stay within the norm.

Acting is all about finding the truth within whatever world you're in.

You see, the patience of an audience is very short, particularly with a non-entity. You're an intruder, and you must make them laugh within three or four seconds. My poems fit the requirements, and I'm always thinking up new ones.

As far as playing different characters within the character, I think that's fun. Very rarely, on TV, do you get to do that on such a regular basis.

One learns how to change gears within a concert repertoire.

With a smaller setting, you have a lot more freedom and flexibility within a given moment, but not necessarily the velocity you have with a big band.

True expression is hard when performing opera. The problem is that opera relies on the dramatic context of the piece. It can be interpreted and represented, but there are guidelines; there is a vocabulary within the pieces that you must know objectively and reflect.

It's nice to watch great acts perform their material. But I can't say that it tweaks any desire within.

When I'm on stage, I feel very much at home - within a theater, within an ensemble - so this entire process is something I feel very attuned with.

In the summer of 1991, I was on the first Lollapalooza tour. Nightly, I would watch Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell go out in front of a sea of people and within minutes have all of them in the palm of his hand. I have never seen anything like it since.