'Hamilton' and 'Shuffle Along' are closely connected because the ensembles are all friends, and they both deal with historical figures and the impact they've made on American life.
The railroads once were a dominant power in American life, for good and for ill. There's something inevitably nostalgic about a train book today. Trains attract us, but part of that attraction is cultural memory.
Dad worked his entire career as an aviation technician. Mom was a legal secretary who became a teacher. We lived a simple American life.
A serious problem in America is the gap between academe and the mass media, which is our culture. Professors of humanities, with all their leftist fantasies, have little direct knowledge of American life and no impact whatever on public policy.
You probably know me as a producer for 'This American Life', a top podcast in iTunes.
The liberal left can be as rigid and destructive as any force in American life.
I think American life would be better without Twitter, and I think we'd have a better country if the president was not on Twitter. What people say in a bar or a pub doesn't necessarily merit being memorialised.
Think of the sushi trend that started in the '80s. It was as much about the Nintendo entertainment system in your living room as it was about the availability of good-quality raw fish. The Japanese food trend rose as the world of Japanese business and culture was becoming a bigger part of American life.
My idea at this time, which was slowly developing, was to create a comedie humaine with little people, average people - samples from every period in American life.
Year by year we are learning that in this restless, strenuous American life of ours vacations are essential.
