A Quote by Hilton Als

Broadway is not about surprises. It's about rewarding the putrid, formulaic crap that makes Broadway Broadway. — © Hilton Als
Broadway is not about surprises. It's about rewarding the putrid, formulaic crap that makes Broadway Broadway.
If you don't go to Broadway, you're a fool. On Broadway, off Broadway, above Broadway, below Broadway, go! Don't tell me there isn't something wonderful playing. If I'm home in New York at night, I'm either at a Broadway or an Off Broadway show. We're in the theater capital of the world, and if you don't get it, you're an idiot.
It took me a while to figure it out, but to have a real hit on Broadway, you have to get the respected Broadway people to like it. But then the production also has to appeal to the most middle-class people who know nothing about Broadway and who come to see it later.
And I don't consider Broadway the acropolis of theatrical art. I mean Broadway is commercial - that's what it is. It's expensive seats and a lot of them that have to be filled every night. Off-Broadway and off-off Broadway as far as I'm concerned is in New York the pride of New York theater.
And I don't consider Broadway the acropolis of theatrical art. I mean Broadway is commercial - that's what it is. It's expensive seats and a lot of them that have to be filled every night. Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway, as far as I'm concerned, is in New York the pride of New York theater.
If I thought about it before I went on, I would have never went on. So, therefore, you don't think about it; you have to talk yourself then into, 'Listen, this is it. This is the gig. Broadway or no Broadway, you've got to do your job.'
You hear about Broadway your whole life, and I learned what it meant to work on Broadway in 'The Phantom of the Opera.'
I wanted to be a therapist if the acting didn't work. I also did a lot waitressing and odd jobs. I'd audition but couldn't get hired to save my life. I'd do Off-Broadway theatre and that was great and I was excited and thrilled, feeling like, 'Well, it's Off-Broadway, but there's still the Broadway in there.'
My aim is to bridge Broadway and the R&B world; and to bring all my Broadway experience to the R&B world; and one day, when I go back to Broadway, to bring some R&B to that.
I'm not a person who believes that Broadway is the only place. I think there's lots of work that goes on outside of Broadway and outside of New York that's better than anything Broadway has ever seen. But, it's historically the place. It's one of the centers of the universe, in many ways.
Some of my best friends have written Broadway shows. Allee Willis and Brenda Russell wrote The Color Purple which has been recently revived on Broadway. That to me is such a different hat that you have to wear, but music is music. A Broadway show is something I would love to have the opportunity to do.
I have always wanted to do Broadway, my whole life, but I never knew I'd actually make it - it's a dream; it's never been in the realm of possibility. So to be doing 'Hello Dolly!,' it's not just Broadway, but it's the most joyful, sort of classic Broadway experience with the most extraordinary company.
Broadway, in my opinion, is a microcosm of America. Those challenges that we have in our country, I think we still have those challenges on the Broadway stage. I think there are far too few African-American directors working on Broadway.
I never intended to go to Broadway. I was very happy being in an Off Broadway theater and having an Off Broadway life. What it did to me is try to fit a round peg - that's me - into a whole bunch of square buildings. I just didn't fit.
During the winter of 2013, we were running 'Comet' up in midtown - as opposed to downtown - and across the street in the Standard, and that was, like, our third time going at it, from Ars Nova to downtown to near Broadway. We weren't on Broadway. We were near Broadway, as we said.
Broadway has a lot more razzle-dazzle than the West End. In terms of the everyday work routine, it's not different, but there's a cachet about Broadway that lends itself to more anticipation among audiences.
Hip-hop was indifferent to Broadway. We didn't need Broadway, but I think Broadway needed hip-hop.
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