Patti LuPone

“My favorite composers are the ones that tell the story. I love Wagner. I love Mahler. Prokofiev. The programmatic music. I listen more to classic rock because I don't like the contemporary m...”

“My favorite band was The Band, and nobody compares in my mind with The Band.”

“The theater is a tough place. It's not cushioned the way it is in film and television.”

“I know what it means to have a leading part, and I know what it means to have a featured part.”

“What's the difference in opening from scratch in Philly or opening from scratch in New York? The old out-of-town tryout circuit - taking the show pre-Broadway to cities like Boston, New Have...”

“Let me say I was trained at Juilliard. I have a very high standard. I expect everybody around me to work equally as hard because people pay a lot of money for tickets. They demand the best t...”

“It's not easy being an actor, and having said that, everybody's an actor. Do you know what I mean? Paris Hilton's an actor, which is kind of scary. But if you want to honor your craft and yo...”

“I think that Stevie Nicks is one of the greats. Steve Nicks and Grace Slick and Janis Joplin have the real rock voices, to me.”

“I am in musical theatre, but it isn't necessarily what I listen to in my leisure time, do you know what I mean?”

“In America, it stands out, because it's raw, it's big, it's emotional. My face is raw, big and emotional. It didn't work for the longest time.”

“I played the tuba in high school. I wanted to be a member of the marching band. I thought, what can I play that has the most effect? What can I play to get people to laugh?”

“A well-rounded performer will listen to all kinds of music. I like classical, Middle Eastern, and rock a lot.”

“Anybody that goes to the theater, I think we're all misfits, so we ended up on stage or in the audience.”

“I wish I could have a recurring role on 'Modern Family'. I think 'Modern Family' is the best comedy on television. It's extremely well written, extremely well acted and directed.”

“A show is exhausting when it stinks. It's exhausting when you have to work overtime to make something work.”

“I knew when I was a kid that I had a Broadway voice. I wanted to be a rocker, because I grew up in that era of transistor radios at the beach.”

“All my career, I've said this: Critics and producers think audiences want actors that only present the silhouette and hit the points in the silhouette. What I do is too dangerous.”

“I'll tell you what I think in general about people who want to make their Broadway debut that are not trained stage actors. Don't they know, Broadway ain't for sissies? It is a tough gig. Yo...”