Love Quote by Swoosie Kurtz

There is something delightfully unglamorous about the way Swoosie Kurtz frames ambition here: not as a grand announcement, but as a private inventory. “I’d love to do a musical” lands with the clean, fan-facing sincerity of a working actor still hungry for a new lane. Then she undercuts any whiff of entitlement with that second sentence, almost tossed off: “I have a little list of them in my head.” It’s a peek behind the curtain at craft as day-to-day logistics - the mental spreadsheet of roles, keys, ranges, timelines, and right-place-right-time luck.

The specific intent is practical desire: she’s signaling openness to a genre that’s both prestigious and punishing. Musicals demand stamina, vocal chops, and a certain kind of fearlessness; saying she wants one is a quiet flex, but it’s delivered with modesty. The subtext is about agency in an industry that often treats actors, especially older women, as reactive rather than choosy. A “little list” is a way of reclaiming choice without sounding combative. It suggests she’s not waiting to be “discovered” by a casting director; she’s already curating possibilities.

Context matters: Kurtz has built a career on precise, character-driven work - memorable supporting turns, sharp comedic timing, emotional grounding. A musical would be less a reinvention than a sharpening of the same skill set in a louder format. The line also telegraphs the performer’s optimism that survives the business: even after decades, there’s still a role she hasn’t gotten to play, still a song she can hear before anyone hands her the sheet music.