On the PBS recording of 'The Light in the Piazza' backstage, you get to see me doing some sweet lunges down the hallway of the Vivian Beaumont.
I was just so excited to have a child! I held him up like he was Simba in 'The Lion King.' I wanted to sing 'The Circle of Life.'
I do remember the tour of 'Cats' in Philadelphia. I was 12 and had a stomach bug.
It'll be interesting to raise kids in New York City. I'm from suburbia, so I don't really have any experience with what it's going to be like here.
My mom tells me the first show we saw was 'The Secret Garden,' but I don't remember that.
In high school, my English teacher Celeste McMenamin introduced me to the great novels and Shakespeare and taught me how to write. Essays, poetry, critical analysis. Writing is a skill that was painful then but a love of mine now.
Before 'Giant,' I had only ever worked with Michael Greif, Michael John LaChiusa and Kate Baldwin in readings. It's really exciting to be blessed with the opportunity to work with so many I would put in the 'genius' book.
Christine Bass was my high school music teacher. She took a program on its last legs and within a few years turned into one of the best programs in the country. Our high school dominated national choir competitions all through her 20-plus year tenure.
It was surreal to play opposite Angela Lansbury and Elaine Stritch, Bernadette Peters and Catherine Zeta-Jones. There was so much to learn just from watching them, and it was an honor to share the stage with women who have accomplished what they have.
My dad's paternal grandparents were musically inclined. And I remember as a little kid going to visit them in their senior building, and they were, like, the stars of the building, especially hosting and performing in their senior talent show.
Life in New York can be so, I don't know, chaotic, overwhelming, busy, frantic, and often, seniors can easily get overlooked.
I get to sing and act and write and create and produce for a living and share art with people, and I feel like a piece of that is in honor of those who came before me.
I think that's why I'm an actor: so I can tell those stories without having to really live through those stories with real consequences and real stakes, real responsibility.
I sort of wrongfully judged 'Mamma Mia!' for so long. I thought of it as a jukebox musical that I wasn't interested in. I was so wrong.
I always try to make each character my own.
You have to learn how to act a pop song. You have to find the balance of the pop from the pop song and the lyrical significance of the scene you are in.
Women are just so much tougher and more patient than men are - their capacity for empathy blows me away. And their capacity to deal with stress for long periods of time is also kind of awe inspiring.
2009 was crazy enough! I can't believe I worked with Jeremy Irons, Joan Allen, Marsha Mason, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury, Jack O'Brien and Trevor Nunn in the same 12 months.
I'm trying to go with the flow, which is not what I used to do. I used to try to micromanage my career choices.
There's parts of it that I connect to - being a father and everything - but 'Mamma Mia!' allows me to go out there and be me and have fun. I've never really had the chance to do that with so much freedom.
