Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A towering figure of modern theatre, producer and director of landmark musicals including West Side Story, Cabaret, and Phantom of the Opera.
On the island
Eight records
Well, it's Gershwin. It's one of the first musicals I ever saw.
Mild und leise wie er lächelt (Liebestod)Favourite
Kirsten Flagstad, Philharmonia Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler
And it's one of the first experiences I had at the Old Met.
First of all, I was lucky enough to go to the opening night, which was nineteen forty-nine. On that night I was introduced to Stephen Sondheim.
Eva Marton, Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Lorin Maazel
This is a production that I directed in Vienna about three years ago... The lady has the most amazing voice I've ever heard, and I had one of the best times of my life.
Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez
I owe this completely to my wife, Judy, who introduced me to this music and pointed out to me that this was in 1913, this first saw the light of day.
Orchestre National de France, Leonard Bernstein
This is the kind of theater I like. It's theater and music in this instance, but everything's there.
New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein
My family and I have a house in Spain. We have a great allegiance to the territory.
Dave Grusin, Lee Ritenour and Ivan Lins
I owe this completely to my kids who play it.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:38Where do you place [Phantom of the Opera] in the context of all the great musicals you've been involved with?
Very, very high... Because I think it's a major work... An amazing achievement. Beautiful, beautiful score.
Presenter asks
1:26Why is there nothing on your list from any of the musicals you've worked on?
I really did quickly write down eight choices that meant a lot to me, and I think they in fact have influenced the composers that I would have chosen had I chosen from the shows I've worked on.
Presenter asks
3:27What kind of a family was it? Was it theatrical?
Not remotely. No, my father was a stockbroker in New York... And my mother was a housewife. She loved the theater. The theater was a habit.
Presenter asks
4:27Were you immediately fired with an ambition to go into the theater?
The keepsakes
The book
Thomas Wolfe
That's because when I was a kid, Tom Wolfe was really the most fervently appreciated writer in university and so on. ... I can quote passages of that book, and I can't quote many.
The luxury
A bouillabaisse with langouste and a bottle of blanc de blanc
That's just an orgy of good eating.
Yeah, the opera did it, really... I had a toy theater and I used to listen to the opera on Saturday afternoons on the radio... And I used to move little tin soldiers around on a stage... that's the way I got used to operas and to dramatizing them with those little soldiers.
Presenter asks
17:56How do you regard the partnership [with Stephen Sondheim]?
Well, good for both of us... mutually stimulating and we've been able to... Experiment a lot, which is the best thing in the world you can do.
Presenter asks
22:31What attracted you to [Phantom of the Opera]?
The need to get away from sort of mechanized, computerized... musical theater to get away from... orchestrations that made it impossible to understand lyrics because they're all hyped up electronically to get back to a good story, to get to something romantic and emotional, take you away from what's on your mind too much of the time.
“No interest remotely in being a performer. Scares the hell out of me... I think it makes me compassionate, though, towards them.”
“I've never had any formal theater education, but I apprenticed, and that's the best thing in the world that can happen to a human being, I apprenticed to George Abbott from the age of twenty on”
“There were hits and flops. Clearly, the hits make money and the flops don't. They lose money. But the successes and failures are another matter entirely.”