Does any art have a practical value? People love to talk about how expensive a painting is. That's the only way we can talk about paintings in this century.

Sometimes you have to protect the life of the play. It seems like spelling out mysterious, musical details can destroy a play by making the motivations too clear, too simplex.

Oh god, I'd just hate it if a certain dramaturg got a hold of a Pinter play, for example, which are all mystery and all music. That's how the life get's sucked out of plays.

What we're dealt with hopefully is two arms, two eyes, two legs, a head, a heart. The variations, the extensions, the possibilities of the human body, what that can do

We live in a world where amnesia is the most wished-for state. When did history become a bad word?

I think of the New York City Ballet as the Yankees without George Steinbrenner.

There's no such thing as a perfect play. Sometimes you have to protect the life of the play.