All you have to offer as a performer is yourself.

I've recorded a few Bacharach songs over the years and performed some in concert and always felt they suited me.

I play roles, but when I'm off stage, I always try to be myself.

I need to have a sleep before a show and a quiet hour. I need to get dressed following the same routine. And I like to smell right for a show.

I'd always had this hankering to try some opera.

Musicals allow a depth of emotion that you don't get in another form of acting, the chord changes, the lyrics really affect people, so that in two hours, you've forgotten about things.

I'm a fairly traditional British cook, as my partner Cathy doesn't enjoy spicy food, although I like to experiment myself.

I adore Dartmoor, where I grew up, and the Cotswolds are amazing.

Wilbur Smith's novels make terrific holiday reading.

In 2005, I played Count Fosco in 'The Woman In White' on Broadway. It was a disaster. I was physically run down and terribly homesick and I just knew I had to leave. I lasted three months before the producers released me.

It's a mantra I've lived by for as long as I can remember. Nothing lasts for ever.

Working is learning.

I made a conscious decision to stop watching 'Big Brother.' I was an avid fan, but I felt it was time to move on.

Working every day isn't hard if you love what you're doing.

I absolutely love 'Big Brother' and 'Celebrity Big Brother' and have never missed a series - but I would never appear on them.

You must never ask or expect anyone to do anything that you would not be prepared to do yourself.

I sometimes feel I want to release an album without people knowing it is me.

I can't properly explain it, but I don't mind admitting I suffered a breakdown.

When you're on stage and the stars are aligned and the audience is as one and you're guiding them, steering them... It's a feeling of incredible potency, of unity, of such, such joy. It's almost overwhelming to know that you're making that number of people feel better.

I just work so much and so hard that I love the idea of being around family, friends and my animals quietly at home, just chilling out.

I do all the cooking at home and love it.

I've never been fashionable, so I'll never be out of fashion.

People will assume what a record is going to be like and they are loath to even give it a listen.

When I was starting, I was working with actors who came up through the rep system, and they understood the discipline required: you were never late for rehearsal, you were never not ready to go on, you were always prepared; it was about showing respect to the rest of the company.

You can't make a star - they just have it.

I think shows like 'Dancing on Ice,' 'X Factor' and 'Britain's Got Talent' make great telly, but I'd never want to be contestant. I'm far too insecure and competitive. Also, working in theatre, you're being judged all the time - and I'd rather not be told I'm awful in front of millions of people!

There are certain fans who come to everything I do.

Anyone who's suffered from panic attacks knows how frightening they are.

I have far ascended beyond every ambition my 16-year-old self ever had.

Music is music and there are only two types: good and bad.

I saw 'Hairspray' in New York and had one of the best nights I've ever had in the theatre.

It is as polar opposite as it comes for the man who was Edna Turnblad in 'Hairspray' to come back as Sweeney Todd.

Having grown up in musical theatre, I know what works and what doesn't.

The bravery and pioneering of early Hollywood was absolutely incredible.

That's what distinguishes the pros from people involved in amateur theatre. You just go out and do it again and again.

Les Mis' was an amazing experience, to be in the original cast of 'Les Miserables,' and 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' God bless it that was fantastic, at the London Palladium the biggest theatre in London the most successful show that has ever been at the London Palladium, that was fantastic.

There's something about the security and warmth of knowing that one person who, whatever happens, will always be on your side.

I've heard everyone do 'Bring Him Home' from 'Les Miserables.' When Colm Wilkinson did it, I truly never thought I would hear anyone as good, never mind better.

How many millions of times have I sung 'Love Changes Everything?' But when I see how it matters to people, it gives me the impetus to rediscover it and remember how lucky I am to have a song like that.

You will never, ever catch me at the gym.

I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. But then a lady at the youth theatre asked me if I'd ever thought of going to drama school.

The only thing I won't eat is swede - I can't bear it.

I like to walk around John Lewis or Selfridges window-shopping.

Leona Lewis made some really nice albums.

Theatres, stages are dangerous places.

Musicals aren't two-dimensional froth.

I never thought of myself as a particularly controversial figure.

The biggest myth I'd like to bust isn't about me - it's about musicals. So many people dismiss the entire art form through highbrow snobbery, but I think a lot of those people would be suprised if they actually saw some.

I'm really superstitious.

As a person, Stephen Sondheim is a very funny, very dry and very shy man. I've never witnessed any diva-ish moments, he just always seems so thrilled people are doing his work.