Ensemble Quotations

If you've only got one horn playing, I still want the sense of ensemble.

The large ensemble cast and the fact that it was being shot in New York, combined with a lot of strong positive images as far as African Americans are concerned, really turned me on to The Best Man.

Yeah, I love doing ensemble pieces. You get to meet so many new people and make new friends.

Not with the Rochester Philharmonic, but I formed my own orchestra, made up of musicians from the Eastman School, where I'm on the faculty now, direct the Jazz Ensemble and teach improvisation classes.

I love ensemble work. I love making pieces and building things together.

My happiest times in the theater are when I do ensemble pieces. I really got into theater because of that closeness.

Orchestra had a little brass ensemble on two tracks as well, but the rest was me. I knew I couldn't continue in this direction, even if people liked it, because I can only duplicate myself.

When you have an acoustic bass in the ensemble it really changes the dynamic of the record because it kind of forces everybody to play with a greater degree of sensitivity and nuance because it just has a different kind of tone and spectrum than the electric bass.

It's more fun in a way to do ensemble scenes, where you know your background, you know the scene, but you can't prepare because someone else is going to say something that is going to lead you off

All conventional wisdom has an element of truth to it, but good design requires more than an element of truth - it requires an ensemble of correct assumptions and valid calculations.

From its inception by Michael Bennett, 'Dreamgirls' has always been an epic story with an ensemble cast. I didn't change that. The screen version remains, really, a group story.

I sort of was inspired by 'Friday Night Lights,' where it was a very different show, but similar in that they were both large ensemble dramas where you had many stories going on at once. I wanted to do a show that shared that element, and that's really why I wanted to develop 'Parenthood' as a series.

I think 'Lost in Space' certainly shifted from being an ensemble adventure series about a family facing the unknown alien environment to this trio of comedians - Dr. Smith, the Robot, and Will Robinson being the straight guy. It definitely changed its tone over the three seasons and 84 episodes we did.

Ensemble is hard to do. It's like 3-D chess.

I don't come from an artistic family, so I didn't know what theater was. I was working on Wall Street in the '90s, and I went to see 'Appointment With a High-Wire Lady' at Ensemble Studio Theatre, and it affected me so deeply. It changed everything I thought about the arts. I quit banking and became an actor.

Denzel Washington is a big Hollywood movie star now. But he started out as an actor in the Negro Ensemble company.

The quality of instruction is very high at the Silverlake Conservatory of Music. It's not about being a rock star. It's about the fundamentals of music, theory and technique on a particular instrument, and playing in an ensemble or private setting.

The idea of having one ensemble do everything is what was on 'Sea Lion' and that's what I tried to make happen for 'Metals,' which is having five people in the room and all of us contributing equally to every arrangement and every song.

Peter Hall was just organizing the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was going to be an ensemble, it was going to be in repertory, it was going to have a home in London as well as in the Midlands, and all of those things were happening at that time.

And then 'Wanderlust,' Ken Marino and David Wain wrote the funniest - they're amazing. That was one of my most favorite creative experiences; we're all up at that commune, a small group of people. Everyone was funnier than the next. It was an amazing ensemble feeling. Everyone gave and took in the best way.

Forget the image, forget the ensemble, forget the rumours, forget the short skirts, the big hair, whatever! I owe this to the fans and I will never forget you so I want to accept this award on behalf of all of you.

I know that John Adams has had a very hard time directing French ensembles.

When you're on an ensemble show and you're messing around with everybody every day and you're not in every scene, and then all of a sudden you're in every scene, it's rough.

I got so lucky on my 'Red Widow' cast. It was just the universe looking out for me that I got those actors. It's a big ensemble cast, a very international cast. I don't know how that happened.

I don't have the time to tell you all the things I've learned from this cast. It's an extraordinary ensemble because we all support each other so well.

The nature of an ensemble means when you're a supporting character and not the lead character, you get little tidbits here and there, but you're usually there to provide bits of comic relief and little bits of action or something.

It's kind of like, I love doing tons of different things. The only thing I hate is not being in ensembles.

'Friends' was a true ensemble. There really was no star of the show.

One of the ingredients that made Cheers work so well was the great ensemble of actors we had. That's the case with any good series...

I was very pleased you know, and I was afraid that I might stick out, but I didn't. My happiest thing about that picture is that I proved that American actors can speak as well and also fit in with an ensemble like that.

It's really nice to pass the ball when you're in an ensemble cast.

When I'm on stage, I feel very much at home - within a theater, within an ensemble - so this entire process is something I feel very attuned with.

The toute ensemble was such as to make polished society blush, when compared with these savages.

Picture-taking is an ensemble art-like theater.

When I was doing ensemble theater and comedy work, I felt I had some talents. But when I started doing my shows in Berkeley and found that I could be funny on my own, I was shocked.

I would act whether or not I was paid. I would be involved in ensemble groups. I would have the desire to tell stories.

I just want to be a part of great stories, whether I'm part of an amazing ensemble cast or I'm leading it or the antagonist or whatever.

It's refreshing to see a woman who can artfully weave her individuality into an otherwise safe ensemble.

I firmly believe that 90 percent of the confusion that women feel when they are attempting to put together an occasion-specific ensemble is caused by fear: fear of breaking the 'fashion rules,' fear of violating some long-forgotten tradition, or the basic fear of looking bad.

I just have always felt that I think we know that it's an ensemble show, and it's very hard to pick a show to submit when you're nominated, because usually everyone has a very strong part in every episode.

'Desperate Housewives' is an ensemble cast, where I played a tertiary character. I made a lot of great friends, but that show didn't keep me very busy.

New York City is as much a part of every 'Law & Order' ensemble as the actors.

I would be an actress for the rest of my life just because it's really relaxing. Writing is hard work, and stand-up is so stressful before you get on stage, but acting is a complete ensemble experience.

I was surprised I was nominated for an Oscar because 'Cocoon' was such an ensemble picture. But now I'm certain it wasn't only for 'Cocoon.' It was a lifetime award, so I accepted it in that vein, and it probably meant more from a recognition standpoint.

'Monday Mornings' is so utterly different - in so many ways - from anything else I've done, really. I also desperately wanted an ensemble piece, but I couldn't have dreamed of being a part of something like this. I am so lucky.

Obviously, the first win is very important, but just the strength of the field here, the Evian Masters, I think the whole ensemble of everything is huge, ... This is one of the biggest purses tournaments and purses that we have. I think that means an awful lot and is very exciting.

Lee has exploded. He's exactly the energy the ensemble needed.

'SCTV' was the concept of a group ensemble doing satirical things. 'Saturday Night Live's sketches were broader than ours, more universal.

I don't care how inventive you are; once you introduce strings into the ensemble for a horror film, you're entering into a world where a tradition has been thoroughly established. So it's repeated use over the years is like, 'Oh God, another film with strings, another spooky movie with strings.'

He was one of the few people from SNL who realized that ensemble was the way for him to go. He never tried to break into major movie roles ... he really understood that this was his strength. He was a strong ensemble player, and really an original.

He had splendid conformation-broad shoulders, white hair and erect carriage-and was beautifully turned out in an ensemble of rich brown. One was inclined to hope he would, in the end, award first prize to himself.

There is an art to casting. And I hope we will see more ensemble films. I don't like star-led films, it's much better to have more stars in one film so that the audience can see them working together.

It is definitely an ensemble effort with a lot of laughs.

I thought it was an interesting ensemble of characters, all of them searching in their own bumbling way, like we all do, searching for God. I hadn't seen that movie before.

Aimer, ce n'est point nous regarder l'un l'autre, mais regarder ensemble dans la meme direction. English Translation: To love is not to look at each other, But to look together in the same direction.

I think women are different, and I think having them in the room is crucial to a family comedy, ensemble comedy, television comedy, where half the eyeballs on your show are women.

I think the idea of ensemble should really be re-enforced and that's staying with the same group of people. In college troupes the turnover can be so fast and so furious that you don't ever really get to develop as a group, like who has different roles in the group and how is it working with all these people. I think people need to be encouraged to stick together.

The '7500' is with Leslie Bibb. It's a big ensemble with a lot of really good people. I play the pilot of the 747 that something happens on as it crosses the Pacific. It's going to do what 'Jaws' did to the ocean. Not make people want to get on!

The A-list celebrities were always going to be the icing on the cake. It's always been more of an ensemble piece.

You can actually hear the ensemble uniting as one on that song.

I would love to do a small indie comedy, like a Wes Anderson movie or, like, an ensemble comedy like 'The Royal Tenenbaums' or 'Little Miss Sunshine.' I like comedies like that, that have a lot of heart and are about family dynamics.

When you're dealing with a large ensemble cast, there's a lot of character choices coming and going. He really allowed us to find ourselves on film.

If you get a show named after you, and then play another character, that's fine. But if you do a show that's an ensemble show like MASH, then you're in trouble.

If there is a lesson in our story it is that the manipulation, according to strictly self-consistent rules, of a set of symbols representing one single aspect of the phenomena may produce correct, verifiable predictions, and yet completely ignore all other aspects whose ensemble constitutes reality...

When you're part of an ensemble and share the screen with so many people, you become close to them because you're hanging out all the time. Obviously you have your ups and downs, but that kind of brings you closer in many ways.

We are creating a relationship and we are creating an investment, ... You build trust through the ensemble work.

Which is why you chose to wear that delightful ensemble from the skank-wear collection at Hoes-n-Thangs?" -Tommy

It was very much about performances, the whole ensemble thing was just great - everybody working together. Sometimes it didn't feel like a film set. It wasn't technically driven, it was very, very enjoyable

I've been lucky enough to be part of some great ensembles in theater - I'd been doing theater since college.

A lot of the things I've enjoyed the most and that I think have been the best are ensembles.

We believe that it really celebrates the definition of what an ensemble is all about. I mean there's 74 of us.

Working on 'Downton Abbey' is amazing, but there's an ensemble cast of between 18 and 21 actors. With 'Love Life,' there are two couples and a few other key characters. As a smaller unit, you've got to take more responsibility - at the same time, you can have more ownership of the direction it's going in.

Black is best worn as an ensemble - black with black. Black with color is not quite where we are right now.

There didn't seem to be any musical boundaries around Vassar's creativity or abilities. He appeared to me to be right at home and just as articulate within a jazz ensemble as he was in his collaborations with the Blue Grass Album Band.

We want another year before we record an entire CD. Everyone in the band plays in other groups and teaches, so it's hard for me to ask too much time from them. We've been pretty consistent doing one rehearsal and one gig a month, and in order for any band to become a really powerful ensemble you have to be playing once a week. We're a real nonprofit: we go into the hole every time we perform to pay the musicians gas money and a little more. Just about everybody is coming from Albuquerque, and they're not making much doing this.

With a magnificent ensemble cast, 'Friends With Money' addresses both contemporary social issues and personal lives, a characteristic of many great movies and an exciting film to open this year's festival.

This celebrates the definition of what an ensemble is all about. There's 74 of us.

I'm trying to see the reflection of what I want, it's a fascinating thing the focus is now having all of these things and finding the right people who will create the ensemble that I have originally created in my mind.

I knew from experience at the Negro Ensemble Company that it wasn't until there was a place controlled by black artists... that Pulitzer Prize-winning work like 'Ceremonies in Dark Old Men' and 'A Soldier's Play' came to fruition.

I most enjoyed doing 'Whites,' a show BBC2 cancelled after one series. It had some beautiful, witty, charming scripts and was one of the most positive ensemble pieces I've done. I thought the end result was really special. I'm still confused about why it didn't last longer.

In the early days of jazz, it was ensemble music: everybody playing all together. Nobody really stood out.

I kind of feel like every time I do a film, it is me and an entire male ensemble cast.

Their challenge is radio technology. When Ensemble went out of business, their equipment supply dried up. Having most of the European vendors supplying A-band equipment to carriers overseas has proven to be a real value in helping to make our situation what it is today.

Clearly, the distinctions between EAI, BPM, and BAM will become more blurred as the industry progresses. Ensemble already has the basis to exploit this and further functionality in the specifics of BPM and BAM will give it a strong market position.

Generally it's not as much about being an ensemble band as it is inspiring the kids.

It's very much an ensemble film ù I can't stress that enough because all the actors I worked with are all tremendous, ... Many different things happen within the film, the characters kind of intertwine and by the end, they come to the same level and connect. So it's hard to explain, but basically it's about dysfunctional youth and families in suburban America.

It's very much an ensemble film I can't stress that enough because all the actors I worked with are all tremendous, ... Many different things happen within the film, the characters kind of intertwine and by the end, they come to the same level and connect. So it's hard to explain, but basically it's about dysfunctional youth and families in suburban America.

'Ten Year' was probably - I might say 'Ten Year' was my favorite filming experience of anything I ever worked on. It was totally different from 'Moneyball' in that it was a small budget, independent movie. It had a giant ensemble of actors, all of whom were basically working for free.

An old friend of mine is doing Buffalo Bill. The ensemble is quite terrific. It's got a great energy, and it's a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

The great thing about making an ensemble show is it becomes modular. It might work on the page to cut from one scene to another, but on the screen, it's more powerful to take that second scene and move it first or move it later.

The 'DuckTales' ensemble is clearly critical. There's the core set of characters - Scrooge, Webby, Launchpad, Huey, Dewey and Louie... Plus there's Gyro and Duckworth and Mrs. Beakley and so on. The cast is huge.

The individual units are very cute and very adorable. But the function of them as an ensemble is where the real strategy lies.

My job apart from anything else is to build an ensemble composed of actors who all come from a secure place so that they can all work together to make the film.

I'm only involved really right now with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Brass Fantasy.

It's almost impossible to get a movie all together when there are two main cast members, let alone an ensemble cast with everyone's schedules. It's crazy if it works out.

It really is a lovely time for the kids to get in a bigger ensemble and sing.

It's a little strange being singled out. I'm one of about a dozen people in an ensemble cast and they're all wonderful.

We go to second, third, fourth, and fifth grades with the different ensembles, ... Last year, we did 90 ensemble programs and seven concerts, reaching 16,000 kids in the classes and performances. We bring them to Richardson Auditorium or the State Theater for our concert in May. There is nothing like a live performance. Hearing a live performance of classical music by professional musicians in a very exciting manner is a wonderful experience. These kids are the audiences of the future.

We have added a nun and children's ensemble to diversify the score a bit.

This is truly an ensemble show. There's not a lead who has to carry the story, so it's a chance to really showcase all of our actors and actresses.