Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Brian Stokes Mitchell - Page 2

The first time I really had an influence on a show was during 'Ragtime.' It's still the most magical show that I've ever done.

'Ragtime' is about how we get through ugliness, how we talk together, work together, get through it together.

Stay as connected as you can. Sometimes that means you're going to do a job that may not pay you much but may give you a great connection. If the work is not going the way you need it to go, create your own!

'Ragtime' was the most magical show that I've done. I had an incredible experience with that, with the show itself, with the cast, with the audience. The response to that show - my God, it really blew me away, the reactions to that show, the way it changed their lives and altered their thinking, their own self-discovery.

The first role that I played as a musical - I was 14 years old, and I played Birdie in 'Bye Bye Birdie.' That was an awakening of, 'Wow, I'm good at that. People are responding.' And I hardly knew what I was doing back then, but there was something that people were seeing.

When you're doing eight shows a week, you don't have much of a personal life.

I think the Oscar is the big money award; that means you've made it in a money sense. The Tony has always represented - to me, and most actors that I've talked to - an artistic award. It means you're an artist and not just a popular performer.

'Kiss Me, Kate' was my 'Ragtime' Tony.

There are some projects where you have to just start doing it, and, after a while, the show starts telling you what it wants to be. You put your spirit in and, after a while, something bigger takes over, and it turns out to be much more fun and creative than what it was at the beginning.

If you can make an audience laugh, you can make them love any character.

I'm one of the few lucky actors in the world. I've never waited tables. I never pumped gas. I've always earned a living. I never had to borrow from my parents. I was the first in our family to own a new car.

Through most of my life, music has been like a radio that plays and plays in my head.

Artists make our lives livable and enjoyable.

I'm a fan of odd meters. For example, I've decided to sing 'No Business Like Show Business,' but I'll be doing it in constantly changing 5/4, 7/4 and 11/4 time signatures. I've found a way to make that work.

If anything, when I was young, I wanted to be an orchestra.

To take the ugly language out of 'Ragtime' is to sanitize it, and that does it a great disservice.

I am always looking for the next show.

I've sung a whole lot of jazz. It's my favorite style of music to sing. People don't realize it, because they're so accustomed to hearing me sing musical theater.

I'm the chairman of the board of the Actor's Fund. It's an incredible organization. It helps anybody that has made their living in the performing arts and entertainment: actors, singers, dancers, film producers, agents, managers, ticket takers, writers, anybody in times of need or crisis.

I started out on the stage, then I had a great career in television for quite a few years. The good news about a TV series is that they give you a certain amount of fame and money. The bad news is that you're in people's living rooms every week and get associated with a particular character.

I'd always been a huge fan of Stephen Schwartz.

I always like to talk about how important space is. Art is in the spaces. Anybody can sing a note; it takes an artist to sing the spaces. Anybody can paint a brushstroke; it takes an artist to know when not to put the brushstroke.

I'm having a ball on 'Glee.' It's a joy to be working there - the whole cast is so talented.

There's a lot of risk involved in acting, and you can't take the same kind of risks when you have a kid to feed.

I don't recommend skipping college, but things have worked out for me.

Everybody comes to the planet with certain gifts. It may be writing, it may be acting, it may be singing, it may be being a lawyer, it may be making a beautiful cabinet, it may be being a spectacular dry cleaner. It could be anything. We all have gifts in different areas.

I like to capture the spirit of what the writers intended but find my own nuances. That comes from jazz - the invention and freeness within a structure.

One of the best pieces of wisdom I ever got is you work because you work, meaning you work because you're saying yes to things, and you're connecting with people.

I love rethinking and reimagining songs.

The older I get, I realize, 'Man, I'm a very rare bird,' and that's not because of necessarily my talent or ability; it so much depends on luck and just the grace of the universe.

I was raised on jazz. My father, from the time I was born, used to get up early on Saturdays and Sundays and put on Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Kenny Burrell, Sarah Vaughn, John Coltrane - all these great, classic albums.

At our house, we'd always open presents with our Christmas records playing. 'Little Drummer Boy' was one of my favorites when I was a kid because it was about a kid.

Left to my own devices, I would go to bed at 2:30 or 3, but I can't do that if I'm getting up at 6:50!

Honestly, I hate watching myself on TV - I have always hated watching myself and listening to myself.

I always say it takes three weeks to know a character and three months to own it. And I think that's probably true of every theater artist. If you really want to see a performance of the show, wait three months.

I was practically raised with Christmas music.

I studied film scoring and orchestration and conducting and arranging in my twenties, and I scored a lot of television shows and other things.

I didn't really think I liked jazz all that much until I was about 18. That's when the freedom and possibilities of it began to seem appealing to me.

I always call myself the luckiest actor in the world because I made a living solely as a performer from the time I left home at 17 years old.

I've been really fortunate that my concert career has taken off hugely. I can make a living. I enjoy performing in front of a live audience, and I can do something different every time. Sometimes I'm with a quartet, sometimes I'm solo, sometimes with a symphony, and I get to go to different cities and meet different people.