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 wouldn't want to be just pigeonholed as an extravagant director.

The idea is to work and to experiment. Some things will be creatively successful, some things will succeed at the box office, and some things will only - which is the biggest only - teach you things that see the future. And they're probably as valuable as any of your successes.

The truth is, for some absurd reason, no one is willing to admit that the interests of the producers and the theater owners are not the same.

There are wonderful composers and librettists out there. It's the lack of creative producers that is troubling.

I got successful awfully quick, and I wanted it... But I do think there is responsibility to move the musical theater form forward. I think you always have to be aware of the work that came before and build on that.

I remember when people actually wore coats and ties to theatre every night. They don't anymore. It's very different.