When I was signed, at the age of 23...the fact that I presented myself as an out gay man was very, very unusual.

I will take my coffee black / never snack / hang with the wolves who are sheepish.

And you will believe in love And all that it's supposed to be But just until the fish start to smell And you're struck down by a hammer.

Places that have experienced great defeat experience a kind of rebirth, which I think America has to do - unless we want to get more decrepit. I don't think we have to destroy the place totally.

I was keenly aware that I didn't want to draw on too many typically doomed aspects of the fated singer. Whether it's Judy Garland or Norma Desmond, there is this tragic quality to older women that one can revel in, and you want it to be more three-dimensional than that. So it was important for the character to be strong and resilient, because there are so many victims in opera.

When I was signed, at the age of 23...the fact that I presented myself as an out gay man was very, very unusual.

It seems like the older I get, the more unreal the world becomes.