An old building is like a show. You smell the soul of a building. And the building tells you how to redo it.
Audiences aren't going to get rid of me. One thing I can say, with absolute certainty, is that my shows will still be performed when I'm dead, buried and forgotten. They're going to absolutely outlive me, which is a wonderful thing to think about.
Sometimes, thinking on your feet can be the most creative. Constrained circumstances can bring the best out of you. Some of the most successful shows come out of shoestring invention.
I'm a war baby: I was brought up with rationing, and my parents always had to struggle. I remember when I was sent to boarding school - Prior Park College in Bath - my father was asked how he was going to pay the fees, and he replied: 'In arrears.'
Constrained circumstances can bring the best out of you.
I survived because I never took on big responsibilities in my private life. In the early days, I lived on two or three pounds a week and learned to cook - and I'm a good cook - because I had to. Even when I went on holiday, I stayed in other people's houses.
The commercial and subsidised theatre are intrinsically linked. I wouldn't have had the career I have had without the opportunities I had through the subsidised sector. However, I do think, in any walk of life, subsidy for the sake of subsidy is not always healthy.
I don't like being in debt, and I wouldn't borrow money for anything.
Having a think about whether you can afford 'this' or 'that' is a good discipline to have, to maximise what you can achieve to the highest standard.
The musical is the one area of the theater that can give you the biggest buzz of all.
My own tastes happen to be in tune with what the public wants. I think that's the reason my batting average is so high, not because I've discovered some brilliant formula.
I am in that glorious position where I can redesign and re-package my own work.
I never know what is going to have that 'X' factor and what isn't.
I know I'm in the exceptional position of having money but I didn't have it for many decades.
My dream is to be on my boat. Or on an island. Or in my house in the country. That's my dream.
What musicals need is a new me.
It horrifies me how much it costs to put on shows now, mainly due to EU regulations. The freedom to be entrepreneurial is no longer there. It's a massive business now.
I am not driven.
I've taken considerable gambles on shows, but they're very considered gambles.
I had set a goal of being a producer by 25.
