"The material – this is so elementary it shouldn't have to be stated, but almost every musical production in recent years seems oblivious to it – the material is the source for everything seen or said or done on the stage. The director, the choreographer, the designer, the actor who thinks he or she doesn't have to observe this is digging his own shallow grave... The fist five minutes of a musical are crucial: either the audience can be captured, in which case they are all the director's, no matter what he or she does, until at least half way through the first act; or they can be lost, in which case it will take some stage magic to get them back before the end of the first act, if ever. Never mind intelligence and craft, never mind desire, never mind talent. The musical must be in your bones."
Arthur Laurents
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