JMcD: So did I.

TM: Donna McKechnie doing "Tick-Tock..."

JMcD: Oh, my God!

TM: ...Pamela Myers singing "Another Hundred People," Elaine Stritch singing "The Ladies Who Lunch"...

JMcD: Beyond belief. We first did the concert out in California at Long Beach Civic Light Opera, where I worked as the resident conductor for a number of years. I had been a fan of Company for such a long time, and to have the original cast back together was breathtaking. We didn't have Merle Louise in L.A., because she had another commitment; but in New York we had everyone except Charlie Braswell, who had passed away. Every living cast member was there. Hal [Prince] and Stephen [Sondheim] and all those folks became involved at that point, so it was an amazing experience. I wish it could have lasted longer. But, because we only did three performances, each performance was really special.

TM: You've worked a lot with Patti LuPone. What's she like?

JMcD: Well, the concert that we did at the Westwood Playhouse in Los Angeles--which was recorded--is one of my favorite times with her. I met Patti in 1985 when I was the music director on a cruise ship called The Fair Sea in the Caribbean. I was just a kid--I was 24--and she came on as the headliner. I was dumbstruck. It was Patti at the beginning of the cruise and Cab Calloway at the end, and I was just in heaven. Patti and I hit it off; we had buffet lunches together, we laughed and drank into the night and had such a good time. We kind of kept in touch a little bit after that, but we really reunited when she moved back out to L.A. to do Life Goes On. Then we created this show, Patti LuPone Live, at about the same time the Company concert was happening in L.A. I was bouncing off the walls, but I was so in my element. I flew to London to see Patti in Sunset Boulevard. I'd go anywhere to see her.

TM: She's such a force of nature on stage. When I met her, I was struck by the fact that she's quite diminutive. Not unlike Bernadette and a lot of our female icons.

JMcD: It's true.