“Genius is a terrible word in our profession, Sir Laurence Olivier says. I’ve spent most of my life believing that acting is not an art but an interpretive craft. But Bette Midler must be as near to a genius as makes no matter. I know only that I sat there wearing an idiotic grin and happier than I can remember. It was the happiest, funniest experience I’ve had in the theater since Sid Field. And when you’re talking about comedy you’re talking about the highest achievement in the theater. I don’t subscribe to the view that tragedy is harder than comedy. Comedy is harder, and it is more important than tragedy. I’ve been impatient when I felt I should do tragedy out of service to the medium. I don’t get pleasure out of it; it’s a stern duty.”
