You think, 'Musicals, they must always be romantic' - You'd be surprised how few of them historically have ever been romantic.

The musical has always been in jeopardy - until - or was in jeopardy until it was realised that it is probably the safest living theatre art form.

I don't look back. I look forward and plan new shows. That's really feeding the most important part of working in the theater.

Audiences are quite happy to be astonished, and they don't care who does that astonishing.

I have a terrible memory because I'm not interested in the past. It's done, it's done.

A star may guarantee business, but the tradeoff is a very short run.

I was there when the quote-unquote golden age of musical theater was flourishing. I met everybody who worked in theater or was famous in theater from the '40s on.

Criticism is valuable... and self-congratulatory experiences are not.

It's a terrible shame if you're born the brightest guy in your class. If you're not, then you have to hustle-and that's good.

I'm always glad to see somebody rethink something rather than reproduce something I did.

We've got to find a way to protect the process of making musical theater.

You must feel it from within. You must want to write the book. You must desire to write the book

A house made of ice in the middle of desert! And that house is the house of lies!

As a kid I was enamored with fiction, most of it utterly forgettable and long forgotten.

We can never untangle all the woes in other people's lives. We can't produce miracles overnight. But we can bring a cup of cool water to a thirsty soul, or a scoop of laughter to a lonely heart.

Every well-thought-out rebuttal to dogma, every scrap of intelligent logic, every absurdist reduction of some bullying stance is the antidote.

All you can hold in your cold dead hand is what you have given away.

Throughout history, most of the wrongs of the world have resulted from people absolutely sure they were in the right.

Natural selection is not evolution.

I think it's a mistake for people to rush out to set out a timetable right now for activating article 50 ... The dust hasn't begun to settle.

I have never, honestly, thrown a chair in my life.