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In so many musicals today, the story is moved forward by a song. I don't think we're gonna try to do that.

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

But I think musicals are going to have to deal with important subjects.

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 think musicals can be more than what people imagine. That'll be the case with 'Matilda.' It's such a clever thing to stage. Parents would have read this when they were young and will want to share it with their children because they have such a fondness for the source.

Well, the musicals give emphasis to love, longing, melancholy, sadness. All of that is always there.

There is a strange sort of reasoning in Hollywood that musicals are less worthy of Academy consideration than dramas. It's a form of snobbism, the same sort that perpetuates the idea that drama is more deserving of Awards than comedy.

But I wish they would make a musical of some kind. I miss musicals so much. You don't see them anymore.

We all sing about the things we're thinking; musicals are about expressing those emotions that you can't talk about. It works a real treat.