I played the organ when I went to military school, when I was 10. They had a huge organ, the second-largest pipe organ in New York State. I loved all the buttons and the gadgets. I've always been a gadget man.

Anything you do, let it come from you. Then it will be new.

A close-up on screen can say all a song can.

Generally, the best recording is the original cast, because that's the way the piece grew: integrally, with them.

Oscar Hammerstein was a surrogate father. I liked my father a lot, he was a swell fellow, but I didn’t see him very often because my mother was bitter about him and did everything she could to prevent me from seeing him.

My mother wanted me off her hands. She was a working woman. She designed clothes, and she was a celebrity collector. It's my mother's ambition to be a celebrity.

I started listening to classical music when I was in my early teens. Prior to that, I listened to pop records or band records.