I Grew Up At The Piano, And

My View Is That Musicals Are Love Stories With Great Final Scenes. It's Just That Simple. Musicals Are Also Conflicts Between Two Worlds. And By Those Criteria, 'the Color Purple' Is Actually Exactly The Kind Of Story That Makes For A Great Musical. Yes, It's Got Hard Stuff In It, But So Does 'les Miserables' And 'phantom Of The Opera.'

There Are Things That Music Can Do That Language Could Never Do, That Painting Could Never Do, Or Sculpture. Music Is Capable Of Going Directly To The Source Of The Mystery. It Doesn't Have To Explain It. It Can Simply Celebrate It.

Knowing Is The Most Profound Kind Of Love, Giving Someone The Gift Of Knowledge About Yourself.

We Have To Hear The Stories Of Women At All Ages Of Their Lives In Order To Really Present A Picture Of What It Felt Like To Be Alive In Our Time. That's What Our Job Is As Writers Is To Present That And Create It. Our Job As Writers Isn't To Make As Much Money As We Can. Our Job Is To Create A Record Of This Time. That's Why If You Leave Out Women And The Stories Of Women, We Failed At Our Mission. All Of Us. Men And Women.

After I Won The Pulitzer, There Was This Sense Of, 'ok, That's Enough For You. Now Go Away.' What I Wanted Was To Keep Writing, Keep Working. But No One Would Produce Anything Of Mine They Didn't Think Would Be As Big As ''night, Mother.'