The thing I love about live performance the most, is that the doors are closed, the lights are turned down, and the audience has to be reverential to what's happening onstage. — Cate Blanchett
The entertainment is in the presentation. — John McTiernan
I hate the word 'production'...it's a ceremony, it's a ritual...you should go out of the theatre stronger and more human than when you went in. — Ariane Mnouchkine
All the best performers bring to their role something more, something different than what the author put on paper. That's what makes theatre live. That's why it persists. — Stephen Sondheim
For me, making the show work was getting belly laughs - like most variety artists. But the straight actor believes you fix your performance in rehearsal and that's it. — Ron Moody
The essential is to excite the spectators. If that means playing Hamlet on a flying trapeze or in an aquarium, you do it. — Orson Welles
The stage is life, music, beautiful girls, legs, breasts, not talk or intellectualism or dried-up academics. — Harold Clurman
Live performance has always been my thing. It’s my purpose to master and capture the moment every time I have you connected. — Usher
The real secret of magic lies in the performance. — David Copperfield
A man who strains himself on the stage is bound, if he is any good, to strain all the people sitting in the stalls. — Bertolt Brecht
Curtain! Fast music! Light! Ready for the last finale! Great! The show looks good, the show looks good! — Florenz Ziegfeld
Behind every brilliant performance there were countless hours of practice and preparation. — Eric Butterworth
With a theatre audience there's always the additional sense of a sustained challenge of which I'm acutely aware and for which you need to have the tools ready - your voice, physicality, brain. — Greta Scacchi
How little the public realizes what a girl must go through before she finally appears before the spotlight that is thrown upon the stage. — Florenz Ziegfeld
Short Stage Performance Quotes
You go for the quality of the performance, not the longevity of it. — Don King
Dance every performance as if it were your last. — Erik Bruhn
Movies are a fad. Audiences really want to see live actors on a stage. — Charlie Chaplin
Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place. — Martha Graham
Good theatre draws the energies out of the place where it is and gives it back as joie de vivre. — Joan Littlewood
If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting? — George Carlin
The only thing that matters is the theater! — Lily Rabe
Politics with me isn't theater. It's performance art. Sometimes, for its own sake. — Roger Stone
Top 10 Stage Performance Quotes
We love not just Judas Priest music, but we love heavy metal and we love to get out on that stage every night and perform. It's a joy to be able to do it. — Glenn Tipton
If you have stage fright, it never goes away. But then I wonder: is the key to that magical performance because of the fear? — Stevie Nicks
I just love the thrill of performing on stage. I believe that singing is something I was put here to do. — Lucy Hale
As a coach, your high standards of performance, attention to detail and - above all - how hard you work set the stage for how your players perform. — Don Shula
I want to be on stage and perform and win Grammys and help out my family in Bulgaria, because they are struggling, and my mom and dad, too. — Leah LaBelle
When you are on stage you are having an affair with three thousand people. — Gelsey Kirkland
Even as a stage performer, I have my garb which is leather jackets and black jeans to make me feel a certain way. The wardrobe is really important to feeling the character you're playing. — Andrew Dice Clay
Give me a guitar and I'll play; give me a stage and I'll perform; give me an auditorium and I'll fill it. — Eric Clapton
[On Katharine Hepburn's stage performance:] She ran the whole gamut of emotions, from A to B. — Dorothy Parker
I'm so powerful in stage that I seem to have created a monster. When I'm performing I'm an extrovert, yet inside I'm a completely different man. — Freddie Mercury
Stage Performance Image Quotes
A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
First Stage Performance Quotes
My first ever stage performance was in Edinburgh in 1960. — Davy Jones
Well the first time I performed, my mom was like how she is now when sees me on stage – all red, smiling from ear to ear. So I don’t want to mess up, [be]cause she’s smiling. Seeing my mom happy is kind of like an overwhelming feeling. — Chris Brown
If you go on stage with the wrong attitude, or something in your performance is off, you can lose an audience in the first minute. That first minute is crucial. — Allan Carr
To perform your best, you need to know who you are and why you think and feel the way you do.
If you go on stage with the wrong attitude, or something in your performance is off, you can lose an audience in the first minute. That first minute is crucial. — Allen Carr
Did you know I staged the first performance in America of At the Hawk's Well? — Kenneth Rexroth
I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation,” he said, “and I am sure he will perform it admirably. — J. K. Rowling
Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.
I'm a fan of making films. Whether I'm on stage or in front of a camera, one of my first loves is performing for the people. I'd like to do more acting. — Busta Rhymes
Michael Jackson changed the format and history of music. His videos were films. He was the first who floated on the stage and changed the concept of a musical performance. He created something that's still the basis of a lot of what's done today. — Nicky Jam
The performance on the stage has its reasons in the performance induced in thousands of separate minds and this second performance is no less prodigious than the first. — Domenico Gnoli
I think, first of all, I'm very proud of Sam Saunders in general. I am happy to see him playing well and his performance has been good. He is coming on as I hoped he would at this stage of his life.He is a fine young man as well as a fine golfer. He is doing things the right way. — Arnold Palmer
Good Stage Performance Quotes
I try to be good at it, whatever part I'm playing - even in my daily life or when the spotlight hits me on the stage to perform - I gotta be alive every second in this world. With or without the applause! — Dolly Parton
I have always been of the mind that good work is good work, whether performed on stage, on television or in film and, like any reasonable actor, I keep my options open. — Benjamin Bratt
Right now, I'm thinking in terms of just having a good band, man. Having a good act for the stage. Being a good performer, you know? Connected to that is future recordings, and future tunes, that kind of stuff. — Dan Hicks
The tiger and the lion may be more powerful, but the wolf does not perform in the circus.
Getting on stage and performing and standing under lights is such an unsettling experience - in a good and bad way - but it's the only place I can go to feel comfortable. — Matt Berninger
In a song you can kind of stage-manage everything so that it puts you in a good light. And once a song is recorded, it always performs well. — Jarvis Cocker
As a person who performs on stage, it's good to be emotionally open. If you mess with someone when they are in that state, it's like you're messing with an animal when it's eating. — Fiona Apple
Performing On Stage Quotes
I want to say it to so many people, 'why you have to be so serious?' And I also want people to think 'this kid has really gone crazy' when they see my performance on the stage. Luckily, I am able to achieve all of these. — G-Dragon
Personality is essential. It is in every work of art. When someone walks on stage for a performance and has charisma, everyone is convinced that he has personality. I find that charisma is merely a form of showmanship. Movie stars usually have it. A politician has to have it. — Lukas Foss
Most people go on living their everyday life: half-frightened, half indifferent, they behold the ghostly tragic-comedy that is being performed on the international stage before the eyes and ears of the world. — Albert Einstein
Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.
It was also great to have the Backstreet Boys appear on stage with me because I have gotten to know them all a little bit just recently, and not only are they great performers, but they also very hard working professionals and really nice guys. — Elton John
I had this totally impossible dream of being an actress. Trust me, just because I'm lucky enough to be doing this doesn't make any of this less of a pipe dream. And nothing gets my juices flowing like a really great performance. To see someone on stage, I get really excited. — Olivia Thirlby
I love performing on stage the most. It's getting that instant reaction from a live audience. There are no boundaries, you can take your character as far as you want to, you can be the craziest person ever. — Jennifer Ellison
Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.
Music makes my heart beat. The more i hear, sing and perform on stage my heart beats stronger than ever. I want to live like this until the day i die. — Junsu
People think because I can make them laugh on the stage, I'll be able to make them laugh in person. That isn't the case at all. I am essentially a rather quiet, dull person who just happens to be a performer. — Rowan Atkinson
I've tried every kind of bottled water, but Poland Spring is my go-to. I always have room-temperature bottles of it on side of stage for post-performance. — French Montana
I am bigger and stronger than ever. My Chen Taiji and health regimen has served me well all of these years, thanks to Master Ren Guang-yi. I look forward to being on stage performing, and writing more songs to connect with your hearts and spirits and the universe well into the future. — Lou Reed
Stage Play Quotes
Who is it that loves and who that suffers? He alone stages a play with Himself; who exists save Him? The individual suffers because he perceives duality. It is duality which causes all sorrow and grief. Find the One everywhere and in everything and there will be an end to pain and suffering. — Anandamayi Ma
The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery. — Erik Erikson
It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury; signifying nothing. — William Shakespeare
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages. — William Shakespeare
Of all the preaching in the world, I hate that preaching which tends to make the hearers laugh, or to move their minds with tickling levity and affect them as stage plays used to, instead of affecting them with a holy reverence for the name of God. — Richard Baxter
If Shakespeare can compare all of life to a stage, maybe it's not odd to believe that part of the play can take place on a basketball court. — Bill Russell
I don't sing in the shower. I perform!
The world of chemical reactions is like a stage, on which scene after scene is ceaselessly played. The actors on it are the elements. — Clemens Winkler
I'm probably never happier than when I'm by myself in the water. What I've worked and sacrificed for is not to be on stage playing music but to surf in some secluded place. It's a grounding element. Waves don't care who you are. — Eddie Vedder
When you see what you're here for, the world begins to mirror your purpose in a magical way. It's almost as if you suddenly find yourself on a stage in a play that was written expressly for you. — Betty Sue Flowers
All this cuddling and kissing on stage these days, well it's all right in football when someone scores a goal, but not when you're playing darts. — Eric Bristow
Stage Acting Quotes
I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space, whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged. — Peter Brook
There are six stages to knowledge: Firstly: Asking questions in a good manner. Secondly: Remaining quiet and listening attentively. Thirdly: Understanding well. Fourthly: Memorising. Fifthly: Teaching. Sixthly- and it is its fruit: Acting upon the knowledge and keeping to its limits. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya
The inner life of the [imagination], and not the personal and tiny experiential resources of the actor, should be elaborated on the stage and shown to the audience. This life is rich and revealing for the audience as well as for the actor himself. — Michael Chekhov
The power of a song has over people... the simple fact that someone could be having awful day and your song or performance can make that all go away. The way it affects people's lives and how they can remember what was going in their life when they heard a certain song.
People do complain about the way I act on stage... They think on stage I act too arrogant, too self-obsessed, solecistic, self-contained, synonyms. — Bo Burnham
I would rather do many small roles on TV, stage or film than one blockbuster that made me rich but had no acting. — Miranda Richardson
Art is violent. To be decisive is violent. ... To place a chair at a partial angle on the stage destroys every other possible choice, every other option. — Anne Bogart
Everyone has friend during each stage of life. But only the lucky ones have same friend in all stages of life.
We are setting the stage for war, Netanyahu is setting the path for Armageddon. America thinks that the presence of our offshore naval power will act as a deterrent to the Turks, Iranians, and others in the region that might otherwise become involved in a confrontation with Israel. — Douglas Macgregor
When the drama of history is over, Jesus Christ will stand alone on the stage. All the great figures of history ... will realize that they have been but actors in a drama produced by another. — Helmut Thielicke
We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force. — Ayn Rand
If I do a film and have to get naked, that tends to dictate how often I go to the gym. Acting in 'Richard II' on stage was a huge physical workout, so I ended up more toned than I normally am. — Eddie Redmayne
Dance Performance Quotes
Dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music — Charles Baudelaire
Dancers work and live from the inside. They drive themselves constantly producing a glow that lights not only themselves but audience after audience. — Murray Louis
You can fool the eyes and minds of the audience, but you cannot fool their hearts. — Howard Thurston
Dance is like wine; it matures with every performance. — Alarmel Valli
My father-in-law saw me at a dance performance. The next day, I got a phone call, and the caller said, 'I'm Dhirubhai Ambani... may I talk to Nita?' I said, 'It's a wrong number' and put down the phone. Then he called again... and I said, 'If you're Dhirubhai Ambani, then I'm Elizabeth Taylor.' — Nita Ambani
If the communication is perfect, the words have life, and that is all there is to good writing, putting down on the paper words which dance and weep and make love and fight and kiss and perform miracles. — Gertrude Stein
The reason dance has held such an ageless magic for the world is that it has been the symbol of the performance of living. — Martha Graham
You remember that my great vision came to me when I was only nine years old, and you have seen that I was not much good for anything until after I had performed the horse dance near the mouth of the Tongue River during my eighteenth summer. — Black Elk
I just wanted to perform. I just wanted to perform in whatever capacity, whether it was acting, singing, dancing, comedy - whatever it was, I just loved it and felt at my absolute happiest when I was performing for people. — James Corden
The Gospel is a very dangerous idea. We have to see how much of that dangerous idea we can perform in our own lives. There is nothing innocuous or safe about the Gospel. Jesus did not get crucified because he was a nice man. — Walter Brueggemann
I dont crave companionship. It stands in my way. I live for pleasure. There are few persons who can give me as much pleasure as those acts I perform myself. I would rather create pleasure according to my own whim than be subjected to the whims of others. — Anton Szandor LaVey
The success of Yoga does not lie in the ability to perform postures but in how it positively changes the way we live our life and our relationships. — T. K. V. Desikachar
We did sketch comedy, performed live improv, and then we made the transition to TV with 'Impractical Jokers.' — Joe Gatto
I awaken in the morning with confidence, rejoicing in whatever work is given to me to do. Whatever that work is, I do it, not in order to earn a living or in a sense of performing an onerous duty; but, with joy and gladness, I let it unfold as the activity of God's expression through me. — Joel S. Goldsmith
When you use your body for a living, you have one job, and it requires one thing: work hard to stay in peak condition. That’s it. — Tim Grover
If he be really and seriously seeking to live a good life, the first thing from which he will abstain will always be the use of animal food, because ...its use is simply immoral, as it involves the performance of an act which is contrary to the moral feeling - killing. — Leo Tolstoy
Every animator is really an actor performing in slow motion, living the character a drawing at a time. — John Lasseter
Zen opens a man's eyes to the greatest mystery as it is daily and hourly performed; it enlarges the heart to embrace eternity of time and infinity of space in its every palpitation; it makes us live in the world as if walking in the garden of Eden — D.T. Suzuki
Musical Performance Quotes
In the end, worship can never be a performance, something you're pretending or putting on. It's got to be an overflow of your heart...Worship is about getting personal with God, drawing close to God. — Matt Redman
Mainly I was able to perform with music - I played the French horn, I would sing, and I was a drummer in the pipe band. So I think it was a way to show off. — Ewan McGregor
Regardless of what you play, the biggest thing is keeping the feel going. — Wes Montgomery
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. — Milton Babbitt
Musically I try to connect a common bridge between such exhilarating feelings as performing at the Acropolis, to the emotions each and every one of us feel everyday. In the end, a good melody will always stand the test of time. — Bradley Joseph
For some people, fame kills it and becomes more important than the music or the performance. But for me fame is like rocket fuel. The more my fans like what I'm doing, the more I want to give back to them. And my passion is so strong I can't sleep - I haven'tslept for three days. — Lady Gaga
Music is still the one thing that ties people together.
People can come together from all different religions,
walks of life, colours, creeds and enjoy the same song.
That's still the most incredible thing to me about performing live. — Dave Gahan
I Repent of ever having recorded one single song, and ever having performed one concert, if my Music, and more importantly, my Life has not provoked you into Godly Jealousy or to SELL OUT MORE COMPLETELY TO JESUS! — Keith Green
The feeling you get from playing to a good audience is hard to describe without sounding as though you are talking silly. But reaction is important. You might feel in yourself that you're doing it ok but it's when you get the live reaction that you know you're doing it right. — Tony Iommi
I would rather play Chiquita Banana and have my swimming pool than play Bach and starve. — Xavier Cugat
On Stage Quotes
Every night when I go out on stage, there's always one nagging fear in the back of my mind. I'm always afraid that somewhere out there, there is one person in the audience that I'm not going to offend! — Don Rickles
Each game is an opportunity to be on a great stage and be a witness for Christ. When I step on the floor, people should know who I represent, who I believe in. — Stephen Curry
The big catalyst was seeing my sister, when I was 11, doing a dramatic recital. When I saw her on the stage and everyone listening to her so patiently, quietly, that's all I wanted: for someone to look at me and listen to me, but in some beautiful and artistic way. — Gene Wilder
People don't want to see the guy next door on the stage, they want to see a being from another planet. You want to see somebody you'd never meet in ordinary life. — Lemmy Kilmister
When I got enough confidence, the stage was gone. When I was sure of losing, I won. When I needed people the most, they left me. When I learnt to dry my tears, I found a shoulder to cry on. And when I mastered the art of hating, somebody started loving me. — William Shakespeare
Like most girls I'm always really self-conscious about do I look fat, if my legs are short, if I'm weird shaped, but when I go on stage, man, it never occurs to me. I think I look beautiful. — Janis Joplin
You know, once you've had that guitar up so loud on the stage, where you can lean back and volume will stop you from falling backward, that's a hard drug to kick. — David Gilmour
We talk about civilization as though it's a static state. There are no civilized people yet, it's a process that's constantly going on... As long as you have war, police, prisons, crime, you are in the early stages of civilization. — Jacque Fresco
The time is coming when the pressure of population on the means of subsistence will be felt here as it is now felt in Europe and Asia. Then will the world enter upon a new stage of its history - the final competition of races, for which the Anglo-Saxon is being schooled. — Josiah Strong
If we treat each other as if we are geniuses, poets and artists, we have a better chance of becoming that on stage. — Del Close
Being On Stage Quotes
God willing, we shall come to a stage where the world looks at the Palestinian question, and Palestinian rights on Palestinian national soil, as well as the questions of the occupied Syrian and Lebanese territories. These are the bases on which peace will be built. — King Hussein I
I think on-stage nudity is disgusting, shameful and damaging to all things American. But if I were 22 with a great body, it would be artistic, tasteful, patriotic, and a progressive religious experience. — Shelley Winters
I think on-stage nudity is disgusting, shameful and damaging to all things American. But if I were 22 with a great body, it would be artistic, tasteful, patriotic and a progressive religious experience. — Shelley Winters
Earthly providence is a travesty of justice on any other theory than that it is a preliminary stage, which is to be followed by rectifications. Either there must be a future, or consummate injustice sits upon the throne of the universe. This is the verdict of humanity in all the ages. — Randolph Sinks Foster
Being on stage is so much fun and enjoyable. Because it’s a lot of fun, we work really hard on music programs and our eyes automatically open up. Because this is where I’m most confident and where I’m at my best, I found a way to enjoy all of it. And I’m still searching for more ways. — Kim Tae-yeon
A publisher should always be on the receiving end. He should take an interest in almost any subject and remain anonymous, letting the author take center stage. — Cass Canfield
I can tell you the day The Beach Boys will no longer exist - never. We'll be on stage in wheelchairs. — Dennis Wilson
A true artist should have no secrets. On the stage, you must be able to transmit every emotion to the spectator. — Anna Pavlova
I would like for this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere. You do. Stay weird. Stay different, and then when it's your turn and you are standing on this stage please pass the same message along. — Graham Moore
Go out on the stage as a human being and do not be afraid to show struggle in your music. It's a struggle in life and then struggle and then victory. — Wayne Shorter
Some bands blow it before they even play. The most important moment of any show is when a band walks out with the red amp lights glowing, the flashlight that shows each performer the way to his spot on the stage. It's crucial not to blow it. It sets the tempo of the show; it affects everyone's perception of the band. — Johnny Ramone
I suppose I could have sat back and pitied myself. For a time I wondered if I'd ever be able to go on to a stage and perform again. After a couple of weeks I began to feel I could fight my way back to health if I put my mind to it. I thought to myself: 'Pity never did anybody any good. Go on. Patsy, show 'em what you can do' — Patsy Cline
My fondest memories were watching the Beastie Boys get prepped to come on stage. They had a lot of antics and they play a lot of basketball... then they were giving out cameras to the crowd, and performing from the bleachers. The most important thing I learned was that you control your crowd, not the other way around. — Talib Kweli
I love surprising people with a present or a gift or a stage performance or anything. — Michael Jackson
For me I have learned to enjoy everything, especially performing live, so much more. I used to get horrible stage fright when I was younger and today and just love to sing for anyone who still turns up at my shows! — Olivia Newton-John
You see, what is my purpose of performance artist is to stage certain difficulties and stage the fear the primordial fear of pain, of dying, all of which we have in our lives, and then stage them in front of audience and go through them and tell the audience, I'm your mirror; if I can do this in my life, you can do it in yours. — Marina Abramovic
People run on and off the stage, but usually they're removed before they get to me. It's not really frightening. There's always the possibility that someone's going to take a potshot at you; you take that risk when you perform in front of thousands of people. — George Michael
I really have not so much sympathy. If Tina Turner and Prince's back-up band can perform on stage in them for three hours, you can't tell me they are impossible to walk in. High heels are pleasure with pain. If you can't walk in them, don't wear them. — Christian Louboutin
If I look at the performance of another friend Sting, whenever I hear him take over a stage and share his art with millions, it's very inspiring to me. So I have a lot in my life, a lot of friends who inspire me and I'm sure it goes the other way around, or so that I inspire them. — Philippe Petit
All the things that are negative in me as a person - the incompetence and despair and weakness and pain - are like a gift from God in a performer. If you don't hide them and if you stop lying to yourself about what you are and are not, there is a ring or a tent or a stage where you can take them and use them to make something beautiful. — Elizabeth Ashley
Paul has more, I think, of a feel for the stage. Whereas I have it more for the notes themselves. I love record making and mixing, arranging, producing. That I love. I love to make beautiful things, but I don't like to perform. — Art Garfunkel
So many dancers rely on some sort of magic happening on the stage. They never, for various reasons, work full out in rehearsal. That's very uncreative. They don't discover the kinds of things that add up to a remarkable performance. — Benjamin Harkarvy
If you can stand on stage and perform a record, you should be able to stand on stage and captivate the audience without the rhyme. You should be a master of ceremonies. — Torae
The adrenaline of performing on stage to a crowd - there's nothing like it. — Shane Filan
Unless an action is rightly thought out and its steps rightly planned, every stage of its performance will probably remain vague and therefore unsatisfactory for the doer and all those concerned. — Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Whether you are a writer, or an actor, or a stage manager, you are trying to express the complications of life through a shared enterprise. That's what theatre was, always. And live performance shares that with an audience in a specific compact: the play is unfinished unless it has an audience, and they are as important as everyone else. — Lee Hall
I like to take a puff or two before going on the air. I still get stage fright when I have to perform. A little grass gets rid of the problem. — Bob Denver
My best kiss was on stage. Kelly Rowland from Destiny's Child gave me a really nice soft kiss on my lips during a performance on my birthday. It was amazing. — Chris Brown
I don't enjoy public performances and being up on a stage. I don't enjoy the glamour. Like tonight, I am up on stage and my feet hurt. — Barbra Streisand
This business is about working. It's really not about glamour. For me, the most glamorous thing about it is to b able to get on stage and perform my music for people. That's the privilege. And that's what all the work leads up to, and that's why it's worth it to me. — Debbie Gibson
It was so strange. I knew that Josephine Baker had performed on the same stage but that night I felt it. Many of the same people who worked with Josephine Baker are still here. They know what they're doing. And that was a very comfortable feeling. — LaToya Jackson
It is something we have always excelled at and prided ourselves at - the excellences of our stage performance. — James Young
In Conclusion
Which quotation resonated with you best? Did you enjoy our collection of stage performance quotes? Or may be you have a slogan about stage performance to suggest. Let us know using our contact form.
Citation
Feel free to cite and use any of the quotes in this collection of stage performance quotations. For popular citation styles(APA, Chicago, MLA), please use this citation page.
