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«[Ball is one of the few musical comedy artists to have distinguished himself equally as an interpreter of both Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim, who would seem to be polar opposites as songwriters.] I'm very lucky that I've gotten to work with both of them, ... I was in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th party concert at the Albert Hall. That same year I was in a special show called Hey, Mr. Producer , a celebration of Cameron Mackintosh's work. There was a Sondheim section, and Cameron asked if I'd be part of it. I'd already recorded 'Losing My Mind' from Follies , which is one of my favorite songs of Steve's. But I hadn't yet done a particularly traditional treatment of it. Steve said he wanted me to do it absolutely straight, the way it was heard in the original show, which I was delighted about. And he worked with me on it--just him, and me, and a pianist in a tiny room, for an hour-and-a-half master class on this song. I came away knowing every nuance; why he wrote everything that he did; why every note was in its place; why the phrasing was like this--can you imagine how thrilling that was? And he is so articulate in explaining his work; you can be under no illusion why something is there. When you have that understanding, that is when his work opens up to you. Of course, they put me between Judi Dench singing 'Send in the Clowns' and Bernadette Peters doing 'Being Alive.' You try holding your own in that company!»

«They are a club of Champions League stature and, when someone like Guus Hiddink calls, you listen to what is said.»

«[? Smaller jets. The number of flights is increasing mainly because airlines are replacing large planes with smaller ones. Flying regional jets saves money and lets airlines offer more frequency on routes, but] you now have 10 planes doing what eight could do, ... That tends to exacerbate delays.»

«Are you gonna put it in? You're gonna put it in!»

«Yes we are. We had a lovers spat.»

«I was just proud to be onstage with her. It's just proper old-school theatrical heart.»

«Music. I do songs that have appeared on the pop charts, but they're music for grownups.»

«I like to listen to talk programs and sports.»

«They get a job, they're fact-checking and doing grunt work. They are like, 'Wait a minute. I thought I was going to be doing this. About 57 percent are likely to leave within the first year for that reason.»

«What's happened to me? ... I used to be this lovely juvenile leading man who gets all the girls and now I'm a fat evil bastard who's only loved by his rat. It's all gone horribly wrong!»