I’m a pragmatic man. I’ll veer on the dangerous side, because I love dangerous subjects, but I won’t shoot a show in the foot.
You think, ‘Musicals, they must always be romantic’ – You’d be surprised how few of them historically have ever been romantic.
Artistic self-indulgence is the mark of an amateur. The temptation to make scenes, to appear late, to call in sick, not to meet deadlines, not to be organized, is at heart a sign of your own insecurity and at worst the sign of an amateur.
I was there when the quote-unquote golden age of musical theater was flourishing. I met everybody who worked in theater or was famous in theater from the ’40s on.
Producers want to put their music behind revivals but I don’t think that’s a good trend for the theater at all.
Most of the big money people don’t know what would interest an audience if you did it. They only know what interested the audience last time.
It’s nice to stay up nights worrying about the material, and not about the investors who gave you $10 million to do your musical.
Audiences are quite happy to be astonished, and they don’t care who does that astonishing.
Despite the successes, you remember the failures – rather lovingly.
I always had a good time in theatre, even when shows don’t turn out as well as I’d like.
I didn’t go into the theater to be a producer, I went into the theater to be a director.
I don’t like abrasion while I’m working. I don’t thrive on chaos. I enjoy what I’m doing, and it seems to work better when I am enjoying it.
I remember when people actually wore coats and ties to theatre every night. They don’t anymore. It’s very different.
I saw ‘On The Town’ about nine times. I discovered it. I loved it. I was in college.
I was nine. I saw Orson Welles in ‘Julius Caesar.’ It was involving, emotional, imaginative. I’ve never forgotten it.
I wouldn’t want to be just pigeonholed as an extravagant director.
I’m always glad to see somebody rethink something rather than reproduce something I did.
I’m crazy about Dublin. If you went back 3,000 years in my ancestry you wouldn’t find a drop of Irish blood in the veins, but I love the place.
I’ve never been able to understand where great artists come from.
I’ve seen a lot of ‘Show Boats,’ but I’ve never seen the one that thoroughly satisfies me.
The perfect expression of receiving a lifetime award is to be working when they’re handing it out.