0:00
I don't know if I deserve this award
0:02
I retired from musical theater a while ago, and jokes aside, I'm not sure what my contribution was other than trying
0:09
to keep it alive and doing my best to uphold its traditions
0:13
and honor and enjoy the form following in the footsteps of those great performers who came before me
0:20
and who were such an influence. I do know it's the hardest genre to pull off
0:27
but when it does work, it all seems to be coming from one voice or vision, and everyone seems to have been
0:33
on the same page, if you'll pardon the expression, telling the same story
0:37
Once in a while, all the right people come together at the right time with the right idea, and you get a Gypsy
0:44
or a Guys and Dolls or a Sweeney Todd or the producers
0:50
but that is a rare and difficult thing to achieve. That's why there aren't that many truly great musicals
0:57
but when it does work, when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, it's a glorious thing
1:15
and there's nothing quite like it in the theater, which is why we all keep striving
1:25
to find it again and again. Steve wrote a lot of those great musicals, a track record
1:31
that will never be surpassed, and the only way to reach those heights in musical or any kind of theater
1:39
in life itself, in fact, is through genuine collaboration. So if this award is a symbol
1:47
of someone being a great collaborator, named for one of the best I knew, and given in that spirit
1:53
of someone you feel tries to do that as well, then I'm happy to accept
