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After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.

In their plush melodies and plummy platitudes, many Rodgers-and-Hammerstein songs were secular hymns, which so insinuated themselves into the ear of the Eisenhower-era listener that they became the liturgical music for the American mid-century.

I feel very fortunate to have been associated with people such as Rodgers and Hammerstein. I think they were geniuses of their time.

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.

When you're doing the traditional musicals, singing songs that are 40 and 50 years old, you realize there's a reason why those musicals are hits. These are amazing songs!

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.

I grew up in a time when the only musicals were animated musicals because nobody wanted to see people to break into song.

Good new songs are the backbone of the music industry. There isn't an artist out there who could survive without hit songs.

Stephen Sondheim told me that Oscar Hammerstein believed everything that he wrote. So there's great truth in the songs, and that's what was so wonderful to find.