An artist is an entertainer, number one - a storyteller who takes people someplace, who gives them what they didn't know they wanted.

I am creative in my living space - the designer in me helps that out.

We tell myths over and over again, lest we forget who we are, lest we not understand that these tales take us through the darkness of our lives, and they put us into a place where you understand what it is to be human.

My aesthetic is not a Disney aesthetic at all, but when I met with the wonderful producers at Disney, they weren't looking for me to do their aesthetic. I'd already spent 20 years in the theater, so if they were going to hire me, they'd be hiring me for what I have to offer.

I received from my experience in Japan an incredible sense of respect for the art of creating, not just the creative product. We're all about the product. To me, the process was also an incredibly important aspect of the total form.

I think that both musicals and opera have a capacity to get to an inner emotional landscape.

I love directing Shakespeare on film. It's fantastic that the actors would do exactly the same thing and be true to their part.