It's Through Sheer Will That I Can

How Time Files When You's Doin' All The Talking.

As The Book Writer For One Big Smash And One Big Smelly Flop, I Always Wondered If Anyone Knows Just What Goes Into Making A Great Musical. When A Show Is A Hit, The Critics Trip Over Themselves Not Knowing Who To Laud And Applaud The Loudest. It's That Marvelous Score, Those Urbane Lyrics, That Irreplaceable Star. But Only When A Show Is A Flop, Does Anyone Notice The Book Writer. And Then It's Always Our Fault.

But I'm Not Adverse To The Idea Of Torch Song As A Musical. It Would Just Be Different. Because The Play Will Always Be There Exactly As It Was, And In A Musical You Could Tell A Lot Of The Story Through Songs.

You Know, I Always Got Offered Other Stuff. Not The Romantic Leads, Obviously. But Very Often It's A Role That's Underwritten, Where The Character Has No Personality At All. And They Need A Character Actor Who Can Fill It In.

I Got The Regular Call, That They Were Doing A Broadway Musical Of Hairspray, And Would I Come And Audition. I Was Familiar With The Movie, Because At The Time It Came Out My Lover Wrote For Premiere Magazine, And We Had To See Everything.