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John Lahr Quotes

I was the first critic ever to win a Tony - for co-authoring ‘Elaine Stritch at Liberty.’ Criticism is a life without risk; the critic is risking his opinion, the maker is risking his life. It’s a humbling thought but important for the critic to keep it in mind - a thought he can only know if he’s made something himself Picture Quote #1

I go to the theatre expecting to have a good time. I want each play and performance to take me somewhere. Naturally, this doesn’t always happen Picture Quote #1

When Elvis made his mass-media debut on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ - his notorious gyrations filmed only from the waist up - I fell off the family chaise longue with delight Picture Quote #1

Questions about political theatre always overlook America’s most powerful and effective political theatre, which is always thriving: the American musical. The politics is conservative but, to my mind, effective and insidious Picture Quote #1

Writers don’t always know what they mean - that’s why they write. Their work stands in for them. On the page, the reader meets the authoritative, perfected self; in life, the writer is lumbered with the uncertain, imperfect one Picture Quote #1

We were postwar middle-class white kids living in the slipstream of the greatest per-capita rise in income in the history of Western civilization; we were ‘teen-agers’ - a term, coined in 1941, that was in common usage a decade later - a new, recognizable franchise. We had money, mobility, and problems all our own Picture Quote #1

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Tony Awards boost Broadway attendance and sell the shows on the road. They’re the sugar to swat the fly. If you needed more explanation for the yearly ballyhoo, in the metropolitan areas where a Broadway show plays, the local economy is boosted by three and a half times the gross ticket sales. So when we’re talking Tonys, we’re talking moolah Picture Quote #1

Theatre people, who are an adaptive species, know that to remain sane in the process of production where everyone and his uncle has an opinion about how to fix a show, you must pick the people whose knowledge and taste you trust and stick only to these few. The Tweetocracy is no place to look Picture Quote #1

Theatre is a game of hide-and-seek. For both the hiders and the seekers, the thrill is in the discovery. When the rules of the game are too vague or too complicated, however, the audience can lose its urge to play; the prize no longer seems quite worth the hunt Picture Quote #1

The New Yorker’s’ drama critics have always had a comparable authority because, for the most part, the magazine made it a practice to employ critics who moonlighted in the arts. They worked both sides of the street, so to speak Picture Quote #1

Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot,’ billed as ‘the laugh sensation of two continents,’ made its American debut at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, in Miami, Florida, in 1956. My father, Bert Lahr, was playing Estragon, one of the two bowler-hatted tramps who pass the time in a lunar landscape as they wait in vain for the arrival of a Mr. Godot Picture Quote #1

In Britain, the theatre has traditionally been where the public goes to think about its past and debate its future. The formation of the National Theatre, at the Old Vic, near the South Bank, in 1963, institutionalized the symbolic importance of drama by giving it both a building and state funding Picture Quote #1

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Death of a Salesman is a brilliant taxonomy of the spiritual atrophy of mid-twentieth-century white America Picture Quote #1

Society drives people crazy with lust and calls it advertising Picture Quote #1

The only thing I get from the theatre is a sore arse Picture Quote #1

The history of theatre is the history of first nights Picture Quote #1

Criticism is a life without risk Picture Quote #1

Identity is memory; when memory disappears, the self dissolves and love with it Picture Quote #1

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We live in a time of terror, and contrary to what we see on television and allow ourselves to believe, the real goal of terror is not to kill people but to kill thought; to so demoralize a society that it implodes from within Picture Quote #1

A cruel critic has never made anything; his glibness is a way of inflicting his emptiness on others Picture Quote #1

A prose writer never sees a reader walk out of a book; for a playwright, it’s another matter. An audience is an invaluable education. In my experience, theatre artists don’t know what they’ve made until they’ve made it Picture Quote #1

I go to the theatre expecting to have a good time. I want each play and performance to take me somewhere. Naturally, this doesn’t always happen Picture Quote #1

I detest literature. I abominate the theatre. I have a horror of culture. I am only interested in magic! Picture Quote #1

Accustomed to the veneer of noise, to the shibboleths of promotion, public relations, and market research, society is suspicious of those who value silence Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

I was the first critic ever to win a Tony - for co-authoring ‘Elaine Stritch at Liberty.’ Criticism is a life without risk; the critic is risking his opinion, the maker is risking his life. It’s a humbling thought but important for the critic to keep it in mind - a thought he can only know if he’s made something himself (John Lahr Quotes) I go to the theatre expecting to have a good time. I want each play and performance to take me somewhere. Naturally, this doesn’t always happen. (John Lahr Quotes) When Elvis made his mass-media debut on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ - his notorious gyrations filmed only from the waist up - I fell off the family chaise longue with delight. (John Lahr Quotes) Questions about political theatre always overlook America’s most powerful and effective political theatre, which is always thriving: the American musical. The politics is conservative but, to my mind, effective and insidious (John Lahr Quotes) Writers don’t always know what they mean - that’s why they write. Their work stands in for them. On the page, the reader meets the authoritative, perfected self; in life, the writer is lumbered with the uncertain, imperfect one (John Lahr Quotes) We were postwar middle-class white kids living in the slipstream of the greatest per-capita rise in income in the history of Western civilization; we were ‘teen-agers’ - a term, coined in 1941, that was in common usage a decade later - a new, recognizable franchise. We had money, mobility, and problems all our own (John Lahr Quotes) Tony Awards boost Broadway attendance and sell the shows on the road. They’re the sugar to swat the fly. If you needed more explanation for the yearly ballyhoo, in the metropolitan areas where a Broadway show plays, the local economy is boosted by three and a half times the gross ticket sales. So when we’re talking Tonys, we’re talking moolah (John Lahr Quotes) Theatre people, who are an adaptive species, know that to remain sane in the process of production where everyone and his uncle has an opinion about how to fix a show, you must pick the people whose knowledge and taste you trust and stick only to these few. The Tweetocracy is no place to look (John Lahr Quotes) Theatre is a game of hide-and-seek. For both the hiders and the seekers, the thrill is in the discovery. When the rules of the game are too vague or too complicated, however, the audience can lose its urge to play; the prize no longer seems quite worth the hunt (John Lahr Quotes) The New Yorker’s’ drama critics have always had a comparable authority because, for the most part, the magazine made it a practice to employ critics who moonlighted in the arts. They worked both sides of the street, so to speak (John Lahr Quotes) Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot,’ billed as ‘the laugh sensation of two continents,’ made its American debut at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, in Miami, Florida, in 1956. My father, Bert Lahr, was playing Estragon, one of the two bowler-hatted tramps who pass the time in a lunar landscape as they wait in vain for the arrival of a Mr. Godot (John Lahr Quotes) In Britain, the theatre has traditionally been where the public goes to think about its past and debate its future. The formation of the National Theatre, at the Old Vic, near the South Bank, in 1963, institutionalized the symbolic importance of drama by giving it both a building and state funding (John Lahr Quotes) Death of a Salesman is a brilliant taxonomy of the spiritual atrophy of mid-twentieth-century white America (John Lahr Quotes) Society drives people crazy with lust and calls it advertising (John Lahr Quotes) The only thing I get from the theatre is a sore arse (John Lahr Quotes) The history of theatre is the history of first nights (John Lahr Quotes) Criticism is a life without risk (John Lahr Quotes) Identity is memory; when memory disappears, the self dissolves and love with it (John Lahr Quotes) We live in a time of terror, and contrary to what we see on television and allow ourselves to believe, the real goal of terror is not to kill people but to kill thought; to so demoralize a society that it implodes from within (John Lahr Quotes) A cruel critic has never made anything; his glibness is a way of inflicting his emptiness on others (John Lahr Quotes) A prose writer never sees a reader walk out of a book; for a playwright, it’s another matter. An audience is an invaluable education. In my experience, theatre artists don’t know what they’ve made until they’ve made it (John Lahr Quotes) I go to the theatre expecting to have a good time. I want each play and performance to take me somewhere. Naturally, this doesn’t always happen (John Lahr Quotes) I detest literature. I abominate the theatre. I have a horror of culture. I am only interested in magic! (John Lahr Quotes) Accustomed to the veneer of noise, to the shibboleths of promotion, public relations, and market research, society is suspicious of those who value silence (John Lahr Quotes)