What was it like working with Lauren Bacall?
A. She was the hardest worker. Although she was known publicly as grouchy she won’t sign autographs, and she can be what some call ‘rude,’ she’s not really rude. She’s been there and back. And she taught me a lot about standing up for myself. For a time I didn’t feel as if I was doing anything important or worthwhile. I had worked with a couple of master composers, and I was writing “Put on a Happy Face.” But for a long while now I feel that what I have done with my life is worthwhile, and Bacall was instrumental in that, because she wouldn’t take any nonsense from anybody. Q. How did Annie happen? A. An old friend of mine, Martin Charnin, said he had the best idea for a musical. I asked what it was, and he said he couldn’t tell me over the phone. When we got together and he said it was Little Orphan Annie, I said I hated the idea. I hated it because I had done a show called It’s a BirdIt’s a PlaneIt’s Superman and it closed in four months. Hal Prince, its producer and director, always
