Politician

I've had so many experiences with film or musicals or books where I just walk away changed in some way. One of the things that makes me want to be a writer is to pour my heart into something and hope that I can affect someone in that same way.

I was inspired to be a singer/songwriter from an early age.

I was very lucky in that I had a happy home life and that I was interested in things my parents wanted to provide for me.

The world of cheerleading is incredibly demanding, incredibly physical, and it has a lot of risk. The way people fly through the air is so thrilling to watch, but it takes hours and hours of practice and training.

I'm very influenced by the work of George Martin and the string arrangements that he did for the Beatles.

It's all about the audience and the people who support your work and respond to it. So, anytime I hear that 'Next to Normal' is affecting people, it goes beyond my wildest dreams of what I set out to do when I started to write 'Next to Normal.'

'American Idiot' is not only one of my favorite albums of all time, it's become an anthem of a generation.

Green Day is a band that you always felt had something to say, whether it was about the times or love or heartache.

My love of Green Day is on so many levels. It's their genius for songwriting, the fact that they write about very important subjects, both personal and political, and they're just a timeless band.

I don't think you are ever really done working on something, especially if you can get back into rehearsal.

I didn't want to box myself into writing just rock music because you can try to force it into moments that don't want it.

Most people have been touched by the battles of mental illness in some way or another. It's either going on in their families or next door to them, or they know people who have experienced it.

In the back of my mind, when we were developing 'Next to Normal,' I always heard Alice Ripley.

It's the basic rule of musicals: Characters sing when their emotions become so intense that they can't do anything else.

'Cabaret' was one of the first pieces of musical theater I saw that showed the possibilities of what musical theater can do.

I was meant to be a composer. I was meant to meet my wife and have our three children. There were a number of factors that led to all of that happening, which, if you mapped it out, you would say, 'God, a lot had to go right for all of those things to line up.'

One of the arrangements I'm really proud of is '21 Guns' because the chorus has this descending bass line with a suspended type of progression that immediately screamed 'Bach' to me.

The thing about 'Next to Normal' is that it really is an ensemble piece for six actors. They are all asked to do very important things in the show, and I think all six are equal in terms of telling the story.

'Next to Normal' was a show many people thought couldn't be done.

Alice Ripley was someone who had had a huge effect on me when I had gotten out of college and decided that this was the road I wanted to take - to write musicals.