First: We have pretty much ignored Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat at the 5th Avenue Theater (except to note that it was the top-selling album in the UK in 1991, taking the crown from Metallica's Metallica).

But if you're interested—they're currently offering a two-for-one special on tickets for the Halloween shows.

Second: Benaroya Hall was full of the kinds of people who ooh and aah over casting announcements for French productions of Sondheim musicals. (In the men's room before the interview, one young man flapped around the sinks while his friend was still in one of the stalls. "Hurry up!" the flapper cried. "It's Sondchrist—Sondchrist!")

Topics discussed: Divas, the personal charisma of Ingmar Bergman ("I would've jumped out of the window if that's what he wanted me to do"), the trouble/genius of Jerome Robbins ("like all true bullies, if you stood up to him he backed down"), the definition of genius ("someone who has the capacity of endless invention"), the only film adaptation of his musicals he's ever liked (Sweeney Todd, because it was conceived as a cinematic project and not just a documentary of the stage production), the ways in which Oscar Hammerstein was an experimental playwright (Oklahoma!—experimental), etc.

Favorite historical gossip: Ethel Merman in a revival of Annie Get Your Gun (Merman is in her 50s by this point, playing young Annie). At the end of the show, she gives a big speech while the cast stands around listening. One night, after the performance, the loudspeakers summon an actor to Miz Merman's dressing room. He trembles his way back to her room and she accosts him:

"You're doing something during my speech!"

"No, no Miz Merman. I'm not doing anything."

"Yes you are! You're doing something! I can see it out of the corner of my eye—what is it!"

"Nothing. I'm just reacting to your speech."

"Okay," she says, laying down the law. "I don't react to your speeches and you don't react to mine!"