After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.

I was essentially trained by Oscar Hammerstein to think of songs as one-act plays, to move a song from point A to point B dramatically.

In the Rodgers and Hammerstein generation, popular hits came out of shows and movies.

Oscar Hammerstein was a surrogate father during all those many days, and weeks and months when I didn't see my own father.

On stage, generally speaking, the story is stopped or held back by songs, because that's the convention. Audiences enjoy the song and the singer, that's the point.

So many good songs get written fast, because you know exactly what has to work.