Sondheim On Critics

“If they praise you, you suffer afterwards by disappointing them; few writers who have a smash hit the first time out survive to be more than one-trick ponies. When the critics pan you, your confidence is shattered, but you gain a certain resilience, if for no other reason than there’s nowhere to go but up.”

"Critics are no longer necessary to find. In the theatre, the buzz created by chatroom chatters has become increasingly important to a show’s reputation before it opens. There are thousands of critics tapping away their opinions to whoever will listen -–so who needs a paid pontificator to tell you what your opinion should be?”

“Musicals are the only public art form reviewed by ignoramuses,” he said. “There are very few of them, I can guarantee it, who know anything about music at all.”