People who go into the arts are often hurt people. Many are manic-depressive. Some have tried suicide and some have succeeded. It's just part of the game. We are people who are oversensitive. That's why we're in this business, because of our need to communicate.

My inner motivation is to make the world a better place; the bad guy and the good guy think the same thing.

Sondheim is the Shakespeare of the musical theater world.

I believe there's a common ground in what all gifted writers write. It has to do with their wish to turn darkness into light.

But I loved the theatre and I was just doing theatre 24/7 and kept dropping courses because I didn't have the time and the chancellor thought that wasn't a good idea after awhile.

If you stand too close to a painting - all you see are patches of color, if you stand too far back, you can't see any of the detail.

Singing in Yiddish was a great thrill for me and came about through Joe Papp, the founder of The Public Theater.