Weep Week
No,yourecrying.
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And one of the young women said to him, Youre such a big, strong man.
Does anything get to you?
And he said, Yeah, I cant watch that movie,Beaches.
I practically fell off the treadmill.
It really, really does endure.
looks at her best friend reassuringly and says, Im here for you.
[Friends who] said, Im here, after 24 years.
Call me at two in the morning if you have to.
And sometimes I had to.
In that way, its a good cry.
Its a thankful cry.
I think those things being so relatable to people, and meaningful to them, is why they cry.
Its that frustration of feeling that you should have done something that you didnt do.
Its the last time hes going to look at her.
Im gone after that.
And I cry at television commercials!
Im a sob sister, or whatever thats called.
She turns into a room, where her child is having a baby.
I dont even know what the commercials for.
I think it might be for a bank.
Certain books can do it for me.
In these friendships, are you more the C.C.
or the Bertie/Hillary?I amdefinitelythe C.C.
I was a tapper, a little performer starting at about age 6 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse.
Now, youre adaptingBeachesinto a stage show, a genre where you’re free to getreallyemotional with it.
My composer is 90, and hes turning 91.
So, yes, theres a lot of life experience between us.
Im working with a brilliant tunesmith, Mike Stoller, who really gets me, and gets the show.
Writing a musical is more about what to leave out.
I was trying to tell everything thats in the book, but it had to be simplified.
Thats always painful, but now its a quintessential story about the two women.
My first writing partner in college was Stephen Schwartz.
That informed a lot of the cuts that I made.
Its about these two women, and their relationship.
It was a good note from an old friend.
Are there parts ofWickedthat make you cry?
Oh, yes, For Good.
I love that song every time, no matter who sings it.
I wrote to Stephen, saying, He should know just how far back your relationship toBeachesgoes!
He and I started writing together when he was 16 and I was 19.
He was a freshman at Carnegie and I was a junior.
Not Shes my best friend.
Beacheskills me.I need to have a bumper sticker that says that.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
