To take the ugly language out of 'Ragtime' is to sanitize it, and that does it a great disservice.

'Ragtime' is about how we get through ugliness, how we talk together, work together, get through it together.

Through most of my life, music has been like a radio that plays and plays in my head.

I'm a fan of odd meters. For example, I've decided to sing 'No Business Like Show Business,' but I'll be doing it in constantly changing 5/4, 7/4 and 11/4 time signatures. I've found a way to make that work.

There are some projects where you have to just start doing it, and, after a while, the show starts telling you what it wants to be. You put your spirit in and, after a while, something bigger takes over, and it turns out to be much more fun and creative than what it was at the beginning.

If you can make an audience laugh, you can make them love any character.

Left to my own devices, I would go to bed at 2:30 or 3, but I can't do that if I'm getting up at 6:50!

There's a lot of risk involved in acting, and you can't take the same kind of risks when you have a kid to feed.

I started out on the stage, then I had a great career in television for quite a few years. The good news about a TV series is that they give you a certain amount of fame and money. The bad news is that you're in people's living rooms every week and get associated with a particular character.

I studied film scoring and orchestration and conducting and arranging in my twenties, and I scored a lot of television shows and other things.

Everybody comes to the planet with certain gifts. It may be writing, it may be acting, it may be singing, it may be being a lawyer, it may be making a beautiful cabinet, it may be being a spectacular dry cleaner. It could be anything. We all have gifts in different areas.

'Ragtime' was the most magical show that I've done. I had an incredible experience with that, with the show itself, with the cast, with the audience. The response to that show - my God, it really blew me away, the reactions to that show, the way it changed their lives and altered their thinking, their own self-discovery.

I always say it takes three weeks to know a character and three months to own it. And I think that's probably true of every theater artist. If you really want to see a performance of the show, wait three months.

One of the best pieces of wisdom I ever got is you work because you work, meaning you work because you're saying yes to things, and you're connecting with people.

Stay as connected as you can. Sometimes that means you're going to do a job that may not pay you much but may give you a great connection. If the work is not going the way you need it to go, create your own!

I've sung a whole lot of jazz. It's my favorite style of music to sing. People don't realize it, because they're so accustomed to hearing me sing musical theater.

I was raised on jazz. My father, from the time I was born, used to get up early on Saturdays and Sundays and put on Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Kenny Burrell, Sarah Vaughn, John Coltrane - all these great, classic albums.

When you're doing eight shows a week, you don't have much of a personal life.

I've been really fortunate that my concert career has taken off hugely. I can make a living. I enjoy performing in front of a live audience, and I can do something different every time. Sometimes I'm with a quartet, sometimes I'm solo, sometimes with a symphony, and I get to go to different cities and meet different people.

I love being outside, and I love the fresh air.

I love seeing the stars, and I love being around my friends and family.

I'm having a ball on 'Glee.' It's a joy to be working there - the whole cast is so talented.

I was practically raised with Christmas music.

At our house, we'd always open presents with our Christmas records playing. 'Little Drummer Boy' was one of my favorites when I was a kid because it was about a kid.

I love rethinking and reimagining songs.

'Kiss Me, Kate' was my 'Ragtime' Tony.

I always call myself the luckiest actor in the world because I made a living solely as a performer from the time I left home at 17 years old.

The older I get, I realize, 'Man, I'm a very rare bird,' and that's not because of necessarily my talent or ability; it so much depends on luck and just the grace of the universe.

I like to capture the spirit of what the writers intended but find my own nuances. That comes from jazz - the invention and freeness within a structure.

I didn't really think I liked jazz all that much until I was about 18. That's when the freedom and possibilities of it began to seem appealing to me.

If anything, when I was young, I wanted to be an orchestra.

I don't recommend skipping college, but things have worked out for me.

I am always looking for the next show.

I have been fortunate in my career to play a lot of lead roles. The downside to that is I don't have a life outside of the show. I go on lockdown even with my wife if the show is really difficult and I am having vocal problems.

I like to sing the songs people love, like 'Impossible Dream.'

One of the interesting things an artist does is they keep rediscovering things, whether it's a jazz piece or a role you've done for 3,000 performances or a song you're singing for the 3,000th time. My job is to find that spark that keeps it fresh and alive.

I think the Oscar is the big money award; that means you've made it in a money sense. The Tony has always represented - to me, and most actors that I've talked to - an artistic award. It means you're an artist and not just a popular performer.

My father had one of the biggest vinyl collections I've ever seen.

When I was three years old, one of the first albums I ever heard was Michael Jackson's 'Off the Wall.'

I love that you can just walk into the club and hear Young Jeezy or hear Fetty, and it's on.

I don't think I'm going to be back on 'This Is Us.' I think that Uncle Ricky had his moment; he did what he had to do.

I always say I'm not going to work: I'm going to play with my friends.

I never thought that 'Atlanta' would go off and do what it was gonna do. I never thought that I would get recognized for that show the way that I have been.

On top of trying to find my way in this business and losing my mother and trying to figure out what family meant to me and everything - 2016, there was a lot of anger from me and a lot of anger all around. I think the hardest part was to really realize that all these things, it's worth it.

It's really humbling and gratifying to see that people are finally realizing that we are talented and we have things to say and that our stories are just like your stories. There's no reason that anybody from Wisconsin or Turkey can't relate to 'Atlanta.'

I'm very grateful, first of all, for my friends and my family because they keep me grounded, and they make sure I'm taking care of myself and that I'm keeping my sanity about me.

I stay in contact with my castmates from 'Atlanta' almost every day.

Aja Naomi is one of my good friends.

I love the element of surprise, throwing people off of what they think they know about what I can do and who I am. I just want to keep doing that.

Hug your mom. Hug your mom and thank your mom.