When 'Next to Normal' won the Pulitzer, that was the moment I felt the show was being defined. There's a certain confidence that comes with being selected.
I've been committed to personal growth since I was a teenager, and I'm a believer in the idea that your thought is the only thing that matters.
You always kind of feel like you're rolling the dice as an actor.
I would love to play Mary in 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' or 'Virginia Woolf' or a comedy - just, like, a slapstick comedy.
I did grow up in a small town. I grew up in a lot of different places. But I consider my home to be Cleveland.
It's hard being a Barbie doll all the time.
I don't really talk about 'Next to Normal' that much anymore.
I love D.C. I love working there.
Sometimes you're the only one who thinks you have a good idea.
'Next to Normal' has challenged me as an actor because of how complex Diana is. And that's got me hungry for another character like that in a non-singing role because it would be interesting to express that same intensity in a different way.
It's nice to be in a smaller room. I like the big arenas as well, but at my core, I'm a live performer, so it's nice to be able to feel the warmth of everybody in the room.
David Mamet gives me great heart. When I ask myself, 'I don't know if I can do this again,' Mamet would say, 'Oh yes, you can.'
My mother is always the most vulnerable person in any room, and so I definitely have that part of her inside me.
I sometimes write songs on the piano, even though I don't actually play the piano. I always hire someone to play for me whenever I decide to sing a song I have written on the piano. My song 'Rosa' is one.
Nothing is hanging on my walls.
I am always talking to students and telling them how you have to practice every day because you can't wait for someone to hire you. You need something you do for yourself, something that feeds your creative life.
I've always looked to that play, 'Virginia Woolf,' for a cue - as far as any cue I might need as an actor for inspiration or as a writer.
I cry at Kodak commercials.
Now, I come from a long line of narcissists. And I also have no kids - by choice - but I understand not being a mother and the pain that comes from that.
The road's a tough life, but I said 'yes,' because as a kid growing up in Ohio, I never had a chance to see a Tony-winning actress in a role she won the Tony for.
I would say that Cynthia Nixon is somebody I admire, and Toni Collette as well. Those women - their work inspires me, whatever they do.
I love having a basement.
There were eleven kids, and we all shared a bathroom. It was enough to drive us all insane.
I'm a strong follower of hydrotherapy.
When everything kind of hit the fan, my dad married Jo Anne, and suddenly there were five kids from the Ripleys and five kids from the Doughertys. Then my dad and Joanne had a baby. I usually have to make a diagram.
Parents are destined to sin against their kids; it's inevitable. As is narcissism and the human condition. Everyone has their ego and their ambitions. Life happens in between.
I'm kind of a dork at being able to dress myself.
Part of the frustration of being bipolar is people don't understand what it feels like.
I'm kind of a double middle child.
I had to go off by myself to try and discover what my talent really was.
Writing is the place where I can do it all and get away with it. You can't do that in the theatre.
If there were a song from 'West Side Story' that I would do, it would be 'Something's Coming,' but in a sense that put it in the right key for me and then do that one.
Sometimes a job comes to you, and you didn't ask for it. Your work in the past hires you, and that's nice.
Making music has saved my life.
I just think Brian d'Arcy James is a dream come true. I've known of him ever since I saw him in 'Titanic,' and I fell crazy in love with him at that moment.
I was always a big fan of 'Pippin' and 'Godspell,' even before I heard 'Meadowlark.'
I play the guitar every day.
I have a soft spot for vintage movie houses covered in goo; what can I say?
When you're 20 and you're in acting school and your teachers tell you that 95 percent of actors are unemployed for twenty years, you think it doesn't apply to you. But it does take twenty years to become real, because that's what you have to do to be an interesting actor.
Chrissie Hynde's from Ohio, and so am I. If there's a Cleveland sound, that's what it is.
As long as a tune has the power to move me, I'm a lifelong fan.
With a lot of contemporary musicals, the songs are like a calling card: the action stops for them.
Uzo Aduba over at 'Godspell' is doing an even more entertaining Donald Trump than Donald Trump's Donald Trump.
I love New York City. I really do. I 'heart' New York.
Springsteen's 'Thunder Road' and Carole King's 'It's Too Late' are examples of why I am a singer/songwriter. I practice these songs every day. The melodies are timeless in the rock world, the lyrics are words that I need to say, and they need to be heard again.
What made me so brave? Maybe it was being the middle kid of 11, and we all had to share one bathroom. New underwear? I never discovered that until I got into college.
I grew up in Ohio. I was born in a suburb of Oakland, but I grew up in Ohio.
I take musical theater seriously.
Don't get me wrong: I love having my own song and being the center of attention, but I also love being part of the group and making the show work in a more anonymous way.
