Carmen Cusack

I didn't get jobs because when I went into the audition, I tried to be somebody else. I had to realize, what I can actually bring to the table is unique. No one else has experienced what I've experienced; no one else has walked in my shoes.

I believe there's no reason why we couldn't be entering a new age of musical theater if we continue to nurture young talent, take risks, and give them a playing field.

Taking the arts out of schools is a terrible mistake.

We will always need to be reminded that we are human. Art gives us that.

I've had one fall that I kind of hurt my toe pretty badly because I slammed into one of the set pieces. But, you know, you just get up and keep going. The adrenaline's pumping, and you just carry on!

I love 'South Pacific.' It's got beautiful music. But there have been so many, you know, renditions of this in high school or college productions.

I didn't know I was going to go into musical theater necessarily. It was never planned. I just kind of fell into it because I knew I wanted to act, and yet I had this opera training... I knew I had a voice.

To be honest with you, most of the time the ingenue roles are a little bit dull and boring, in my opinion.

'Bright Star' has been designed and the songs have been formulated around the way that I sing. That is the biggest gift of anything.

Alongside the iconic 'South Pacific,' I absolutely loved working on 'Bright Star' with Steve Martin and Edie Brickell.

I've been singing Rodgers and Hammerstein all my life.

I think I've gotten to the point in my life where I have to do everything that I'm scared of because you're not going to learn anything if you don't, so you just have to dive in the deep end and see if you can swim.

'Wicked' is so hard-core, physically and mentally, for the whole three hours, that doing that show for two years has pretty much prepared me for anything.

An accent always helps me ground a character. It also helps to remind me what age I'm playing.

When you do something eight times a week, you fall into those little places where sometimes things can get a bit stagnant. That's why I always welcome a new face on the stage.

Show biz! It's definitely not for sissies.

I was worried that my voice would struggle with talking nonstop every night, but it's been fine.

You have to laugh through hard things, right? How else do you cope?

Just stay present in the moment, and what will come will come.

Going to Broadway - then to be invited to the Tonys - I really tap into what that feels like now to fulfill lifetime goals.

I'm not a fan of musicals. Never have been.

We all have to go through our own experiences of growing up.

My mother had me when she was 16, and that was an issue that had to be dealt with. She grew up in a very religious background, and there was a lot of discussion of what they should do with this unborn child. But here I am, and thank goodness.

If you looked at my music collection and saw an album that was a soundtrack to a musical, it's probably because I had bought it to learn the music so I could go and audition.

My mother had people lay hands on me to cast demons out of me when I was 8. Then two or three times when I was in college.