Grit, in a word, is stamina. But it's not just stamina in your effort. It's also stamina in your direction, stamina in your interests. If you are working on different things but all of them very hard, you're not really going to get anywhere. You'll never become an expert.
I enjoyed singing and playing guitar but didn't have the stamina to make music-making a career. In reality, writing was my real gift, and as soon as I figured that out I never looked back.
I'm glad I got to do 'The Last Five Years' and 'Into the Woods,' which are both shows that I just don't think I could have the stamina to do them eight times a week. I just have so much respect for the women who do these vocal roles eight times a week. They're so challenging.
Maintain that motivation to go from A to B and to keep your focus on that target without any weakening. That is called tenacity; stamina in your motivation.
The key to doing 8 shows a week is endurance, stamina.
I've been doing a lot of work with my brilliant trainer Pat Manocchia, who has a gym called La Palestra. He's trained me for every big show I've done, every demanding 8-show week role that requires stamina, like 'Sunset Boulevard' and 'Gypsy.'
The vision, determination, stamina, hope, relentlessness, and sheer work that are involved in staying afloat, much less succeeding, are the same whether you are running a window on 47th Street or Miramax Films or Microsoft.
When you have a certain fitness projection, it's going to give you an advantage. Having strength, stamina and speed is important because I'm working with dogs who can kill me.
I got a lot of energy from directing the film 'Ladies In Lavender.' You wonder if you have the stamina because as an actor you can lounge around the trailer during the scenes you're not in, but as a director, you're there from first thing in the morning to last thing at night every day of the week. I found it incredibly energising.
When I was younger, there was a sort of stigma attached to my stamina. My dad took me swimming one day and I just was no good at it, so my dad said, 'Your stamina's bad.'
