Quotes About Performance

But very good isn't always good enough, Miss Flynn.

When the chosen ones arrived at the studio, they were confronted with a sign instructing them to "please check your egos at the door." They were also met by an impish Stevie Wonder, informing them that if the song wasn't up to scratch nor down in one take, he and fellow blind artist Ray Charles would be driving them all home.

I remember him launching into "Radio Ga Ga". It wasn't even dark, he was whipping up all this magic in daylight. That ocean of fans clapping and stamping together just sent shivers down your spine. For us, it was heaven.

As a soubrette, yes. But as Lady Macbeth—" Mr Keane made an expressive gesture which swept an ash tray off the table.

Never tell the truth about an amateur show.

Do you remember when you found out there was no Santa Claus? I was so upset I didn't think I'd be able to do the show.

I mean there's a certain finality about a movie, when it's done it's done -- that raised eyebrow in that moment will always be that raised eyebrow. Whereas a play only lives as a blueprint for a performance on any given night. There's a reason you can eat popcorn and watch a movie and you can't do that in the theatre. Theatre you have to lean in, you have to tune your ear to the stage and participate.

Being a hero, the man had observed, is largely a matter of knowing one's cues.

thereby forfeiting the juicy solo in Peter and the Wolf (the duck's theme) to the demonstrably inferior Evelyn Oh, whose rendition of it did, appropriately enough, sound like a quacking fucking duck, as did everything that came out of Evelyn Oh's quacking fucking Oh-boe.

He felt like in gym class trying to look like part of the team while at the same desperately hoping nobody would pass him the ball.

He wondered where this feeling was coming from, that he was improvising his part in a play that everybody else had a script for.

How long have you been working for that virtuoso of the magic violin? I don't mean that as a compliment. I only say a magic violin because when he plays it, everyone disappears.

He uses his music as an accompaniment to his conducting.

For me personally, though, the killer was published in Rolling Stone: "Levon Helm is the only drummer that can make you cry.

When our participation in a rite becomes perfect we think no more of ritual, but are engrossed by that about which the rite is performed; but afterwards we recognize that ritual was the sole method by which this concentration could be achieved.

Don't take the will for the deed; get the deed.

The toughest thing about performing here is, where do you go from here? Next week, I'm at the Fort Lauderdale Performing Arts Center.

Of course I was excited to be working opposite Irrfan, but I didn't feel the urge to scream 'Oh my god!' or behave like a fan-girl. If he's an actor then so am I. Having said this, he is an incredible actor and has tremendous screen presence.

I don't want to limit myself. I want to keep doing all sorts of roles. I guess what lies behind this urge is the conviction that movies have changed my life. And certain performances have inspired me to try to be someone different.

I think I'm competitive. Competition fuels me. The urge to win. I want to win; I want the ball in my hands when it really counts. I want to be the best I can be. I want to come in every day and do everything I can to be the best that I can.

The urge to act became the overriding force in my life. It thrilled me. There's a moment with acting when you're in the groove, and you and what you're trying to do are seamlessly one. That happens sometimes, and I'm really happy it can happen to me.

I had some friends that tried it down there, and I went to a couple of open mics, and I just kind of got this... this sick urge to try it instead of just watching it.

I'd say I'm the opposite of someone that has the urge to stand in front of strangers and make them laugh, but the idea of getting up and telling a story and people finding it amusing always appealed to me.

Too many people start their day like a five-alarm fire. Instead, I teach people to start their day a little earlier than they usually do, and urge them to take the time to prepare, to practise, so when you get to work, it's show time and you're at your best.