Like Rodgers and Hammerstein, I'm not afraid to deal with themes about the ups and downs of life, yet which are still entertaining, and you still feel these stories.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I feel very fortunate to have been associated with people such as Rodgers and Hammerstein. I think they were geniuses of their time.
After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.
While many of my musicals deal with big themes and ideas, I don't intentionally go looking to write shows like that. A story will interest me, and then somewhere along the way, I discover that hidden inside are these epic themes.
I'm completely indifferent to what genre I read provided that I feel sympathy with how a writer perceives being alive in the world.
I like those stories that capture the brutality of life, but there's still some kind of melancholy romance.
Our lives are full of all the genres. Fear and hope and sadness.
In fact, I don't watch a lot of contemporary comedy for fear of being influenced by it.
Musicals and horror movies are my two favorite genres because they're about extremes.
It's kind of hard to get deep with Rodgers and Hammerstein. I can't think of a moral in the music - it's just fun.
Rodgers and Hammerstein didn't mean anything to me. I just wanted to have a hit, I just wanted to be like those people on the radio. It was all of a case of the present tense with no projecting into the future, particularly.