CARMEN CUSACK

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 wasn't ready for 'Bright Star' to end when it did.

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

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

I grew up in the church. My mother was highly religious. I was singing at the age of five for big congregations.

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

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

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 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.

I like my cheese, I like my milk in my coffee, and nobody's gonna tell me any different.

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

It's nice to be able to go do what I love and come home - and get in my own bed.

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.

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

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.

Show biz! It's definitely not for sissies.

Taking the arts out of schools is a terrible mistake.

I'm just going to do things that I like to do, sing songs that I like to sing.

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.

'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.

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

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

I got married way too young.

Originating something is what every actor waits for. Usually, those opportunities are offered to people who already have a name.