I really am a theater person. That means you put something out there, and you let it go. Tomorrow night is a new performance.

I have to work really hard, eight shows a week, to get a nice check as an actor. But when I write a play, and it's a - knock wood - hit, the checks come in for many years.

If you deny yourself commitment, what can you do with your life?

I have great faith in the United States. It's the only country I would ever live in.

To me, if a heterosexual has a right to do it, then I have a right to do it. And if it's important to the gay youth - who are now setting the agenda - then its important to me.

When I went into 'Fiddler,' I wondered about the response I'd get - the backlash because I'm openly gay. There was none. I toured Canada and America, and not one single review suggested that I played the role gay or that I seemed anything but Tevye.

Never be bullied into silence.