- [Instructor] Which comes first in terms of your work?

- The fact is, the answer we give and which is the truth, is that we work in the same room at the same time and some writer once writing about our work procedure said, then they go into a room and what comes out is a puree of my words and John's music.

And that's about right.

We build a song together lyrically and musically.

- Writing, composing is really a self gratifying exercise, or at least it is for me.

And the fun we had, and it is fun no matter what anybody tells you, of sitting around with our collaborators, Hal was the captain of the collaboration and Joe Masteroff and Fred and I playing what if, what if a rock comes through the window?

What if she has an abortion?

What if we take all of those Berlin songs we wrote and have them sung by one person and what if we call him the MC?

That's really fun.

You don't think at the time that you're having those conversations that it has any significance beyond the piece itself.

- I think the mutual respect people have for each other, and that's what makes it click.

If you respect your collaborators and they respect you, the piece is gonna be better than it might have been when there's no harmony, when there's disrespect, when there's friction.

- Oh, a lot of things I love about Fred's work.

I love its humor.

I love its compassion.

I love the fact that he can rhyme like (beep).

I love the fact that he can improvise in a way that absolutely astounds me.

I think he sort of covers all the bases that a lyricist should ever have to cover in a way that nobody else can quite touch.

- I think John is smart.

I think there's no pretension in the guy and I just think he's incredibly bright and he's musically so gifted that he makes everything I write sound better than it might have sounded in the hands of someone else.

And I think vamps that he creates for songs, musical settings that he gives my words, I just, without question the best that it could be.

And I'm so pleased and proud that he thinks enough of me to keep working with me 'cause that's how I feel about him.

I just think he's the best and I'm lucky to have 'em.

- I think that what's kept our collaboration working all these years is because it's really fun.

I think whatever, whatever project we're working on, even when we're writing badly, which is a lot of the time and we have to throw it away the next day, the process of working together is always fun.

It sounds very shallow, but it's true.

- I don't think you can sit down and say, this is gonna be a hit or this is gonna be a showstopper.

I think you just do your work and you know, the chips fall where they fall.

I think there's some very good songs and shows of ours that have no life whatever, and some not so hot songs, which are more or less, more popular.

I don't think there's any way of knowing.

I think you just do what you do.

- When you think of what we do, all of us who work in the theater, it's a child game.

We're all playing dress up, we're all playing let's tell a story.

We invent people just like children have their imaginary friends.

We invent characters that we come to believe in more than we believe in real people.

And there's a sort of an eternal childhood that we labor in.

It's like we never got out of third grade.

- I think when you're in rehearsal and they hear the orchestra for the first time and whole cast that's always on your side.

It goes to hear something that's been orchestrated and the look on their faces and the thrill of it all.

I think that's maybe my favorite moment.

- The biggest thrill I get is at the first orchestra rehearsal when the cast comes in and most everything that happens after a show opens is sort of out of my ability to deal with what goes on in rehearsal and in the final days of rehearsal.

And when you finally put it together or when you're in a studio and you see the whole piece running for the first time.

That's exciting.

I think all of us are carpenters.

We're all craftsmen.

And when I listen to something where I think the craft is really there, I admire it.

(bright music)