“You see, it took me so long, it was such a struggle, to move myself ou...” — Stanley Donen Quote

You see, it took me so long, it was such a struggle, to move myself out of musicals - because I had had a success, nobody wanted to allow me to direct a non-musical picture. It was so hard. And the only way I could get it going was to become a producer myself.

It was very hard to make 'Funny Face' in Paris because making movies is difficult and making a movie in a city that was glorious, that was unique and surprising, to get it, to put it on film you have to make choices and reject a lot of things so you're always wondering: 'Am I doing it right?'

You know, sound was still a fairly new thing when I came into movies. And the reason musicals happened is because of sound. They could put music in the picture! That's how it all began.

What I got, unconsciously, from admiring Fred Astaire was that he didn't want what he was doing to look difficult. What was difficult, in my opinion, was making it look so genuine, so effortless. I equally have tried to remain unseen on the screen.

I majored in theater. I did plays. But musicals were not my thing.

Generally, the realm in which black playwrights have been allowed to achieve success has been social realism or musicals.

I love musicals - that's probably one of my most gay traits: that's one of my giveaways!

I grew up in musicals, and if you looked like me and sounded like me, you were the character; you were never at the center of the story.

Musicals have long given voice to outsiders and speak of experiences in our culture and environment.