Of course I have bills to pay, but at the same time, it's more about the passion and the love, and I think that's where music should come from, the heart, not necessarily just to cash a check.
I want my fans to love themselves. It's almost like I want to hypnotize them so when they hear my music they love themselves instantly.
But you know, I'm not 25 anymore, and I have always said musical theater in particular is a young person's game. It requires energy, mentally and physically, to do it.
'Evita' obviously would always be very special to me because it was the first major musical that I did on stage and created in the U.K. with Hal Prince directing.
I've never really been a confident person, except from a musical standpoint. I had to push myself early on, but it got easier with each gig.
Each day's dawn is a sweet symphony and as long as I hear the music, my dreams will have to die another day.
The city is like poetry; it compresses all life, all races and breeds, into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines.
So imagine that the lovely moon is playing just for you - everything makes music if you really want it to.
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar
I ended up doing a local AmDram musical when I was nine or so. We had to sing and dance and act. It was probably terrible, but I loved it.
Perhaps two million years ago the creatures of a planet in some remote galaxy faced a musical crisis similar to that which we earthly composers face today.
I may never get my own action figure, but at least I think what I'm doing is really legitimate musically.
Watching artists like Joplin perform, I felt that tingle down my spine; I experienced the wonders of a cultural and musical revolution.
I find it enormously valuable to be sure that that the pacing is what I think it is and that the scenes have the shape I think they have musically and dramatically.
If I could perform on stage with any musical act or performer, it would be Sugar Ray, just to fulfill my childhood dream of singing with Mark McGrath.
When I read a daring book or listen to rebellious music, I feel like I've found what freedom really means.
I'm proud of the fact that I've taken a lot of big directors, such as Trevor Nunn and Nick Hytner, who were musical virgins, and introduced them to the form.
It seems like everything I do musically I tend to lose a few fans and gain a few fans, and it all kind of evens out.
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.
Everything can't be a postage-stamp-sized project. Everything can't be a chamber piece. Musicals aren't even meant to be that, or identified with it... It's none of it simple.
The only thing that ever came close to tugging my heart strings is music. I know this because that is the only time I've felt them move.
