Actor

But there is a process that happens when you're making something, be it a musical or a new play. That process takes time, and mistakes will be made along the way, and you will go down and hit dead ends. But it is so public now. Any yahoo with a computer can start a firestorm.

I am a very fortunate man, and I don't take it for granted.

'Blackbird' is the only one I've ever wanted to redo. It just haunted me, this play. There was a sense of unfinished business because at the time we did it at Manhattan Theatre Club, there was real momentum to move it to Broadway.

I have a concentrated period of work for about five months, and then I take a bunch of time off. That's just the way I work.

I want to do something very surprising next. I don't know what that is - something that has a high degree of risk.

I know there are different kinds of actors, but I tend to have less effective relationships with actors who have a very private process - who really need to do lots of internal work, so that I become merely a witness until they're ready to share.

For some reason, I was deeply ashamed of the theater early on. I think it had to do with this growing sense I was gay, although I couldn't have put a word to it back then.

I was never in the closet as an actor. It never occurred to me that my sexuality was something to be ashamed of.

My preference is for people who come to rehearsal and get into the ring. I like a muscular actor who's playful.

One of the jobs of a director is to ask questions. One of the jobs of the director is to stand in for the audience until they get there.

As a director, you're incredibly proud when an individual steps up to the podium and is acknowledged for their work. But to have an entire company acknowledged, there is just no higher honor ever paid for that company - or for the director, for that matter.

My associate director, Lisa Leguillou, is remarkable: flying around, visiting all the companies. She is truly the unsung hero of 'Wicked'. She has been by my side from day one, and she is invaluable. I frankly don't know how she does it.

In 'The Humans,' there's a gay character, and the fact that she's gay is probably the least interesting thing about her.

I was probably the only 10-year-old who adored Sandy Dennis.

I'm tenacious. I work hard. I like people that I collaborate with to work as hard as I am.

I like to hire the kind of people that I would want to be on stage with.

I'm able to think more clearly when I don't have clutter and stuff around.

I become involved with things that speak to me and move me and make me laugh and frighten me.

I understood that I was not the best director in the world nor the worst director in the world. I realized that there is a very mysterious element to what works and what doesn't work in the theater. And it's good to know that from the beginning.

I don't believe really good plays - interesting plays, complicated plays - can mean just one thing to every single person in the audience.