Stay A Child While You

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.

The Last Collaborator Is Your Audience ... When The Audience Comes In, It Changes The Temperature Of What You've Written. Things That Seem To Work Well -- Work In A Sense Of Carry The Story Forward And Be Integral To The Piece -- Suddenly Become A Little Less Relevant Or A Little Less Functional Or A Little Overlong Or A Little Overweight Or A Little Whatever. And So You Start Reshaping From An Audience.

Hit Songs Did Not Come Out Of Musicals. Pop-rock Was Creating The Hits. There Were Very Few Songs That Made The Charts Out Of Any Broadway Musical.

By The Time I Was 22, I Was A Professional. A Young And Flawed Professional, But Not An Amateur.

No One Has Ever Known Me As Clearly As You. No One Has Ever Shown Me That Love Allows Everything. Not Pretty Or Safe Or Easy But Something I Never Knew. Love Within Reason, That Isn't Love And I Learned That From You.