Quote of the Day

When I was a kid, one of the show albums that showed up in our house was Ethel Merman's Gypsy and it was an incredibly, powerful piece from beginning to end for a seven or eight year old. And Ethel's voice is so distinctive, I can't remember what the other voices actually sound like on that album, but Ethel's voice was so distinctive and so powerful that when she got to Everthing's Coming Up Roses, I was actually scared. I didn't really know what it meant because I was only seven years old, but I do remember being stopped in my tracks and mesmerised by the sound coming out of the phonograph. Singing Everything's Coming Up Roses every night is so [laughs], how do I put this, you know it's a time when you can chew up the scenery if you chose to. It is such a well written scene and such a well written song and the scene just moves seamlessly into the song that I would be a fool if I betrayed Jule Styne or Arthur Laurents or Steve Sondheim by doing anything but what was written. But when I do get to it and that chord, Boom, I had a dream, I'm thinking, "God, I'm so lucky to be on this stage singing this song to this audience." They don't write 'em like that anymore. They don't write scenes like that anymore. They don't write 'em like that anymore.

Patti LuPone, 10/21/08 episode of Sony BMG Masterworks Podcast for Stephen Sondheim: The Story So Far