Apparently I was the first artist approached in an attempt to build an all-star team, to write and mount a 90-minute musical in a 6000-seat space. I threw out some names I assumed we’d never get to do this, just to aim as high as possible; Mike Ockrent (who had just directed 2 hit musicals – “Me and My Girl “and “Crazy For You”), the adorable and talented choreographer Susan Stroman and Lynn Ahrens (a lyricist I admired who was a part of the exclusive collaboration of Ahrens and Flaherty – the writers of “Ragtime” and “Once on this Island”.) They all said “yes”. Wow!