Confirm or Deny: Joe Mantello

Maureen Dowd: You had an inkling you might be interested in theater because you were the only 10-year-old in your crowd who adored Sandy Dennis.

Joe Mantello: Confirm. I have her 1963 Tony Award for “A Thousand Clowns.” Her manager read that I loved her, and he sent it over in a brown paper bag one night after the show when I was doing “The Normal Heart” and my legs gave out.

MD: You’re a control freak.

JM: Confirm. Let me put it this way: I tried to get Donna Brazile to slip me your questions beforehand.

MD: You like girl pop more than show tunes.

JM: Triple confirm.

MD: You’d rather eat lunch at a taco stand than at the Four Seasons.

JM: Confirm.

MD: You resent Sarah Jessica Parker because the “Sex and the City” tour bus stops out in front of your home in the West Village every morning and wakes you up.

JM: Deny. I do not resent Sarah Jessica Parker. We’ve been friends for decades. I just do not like what “Sex and the City” did to my neighborhood.

MD: You secretly like shopping, especially at Target in Palm Springs.

JM: Proudly confirm — and it’s not a secret.

MD: You would like to get Dolly Parton and Glenda Jackson on the same stage.

JM: I’d sure like to see what would happen.

MD: Larry Kramer is indestructible.

JM: Confirm.

MD: Whenever you get a new play to read, your first thought is always, “Is there a part for Laurie Metcalf?”

JM: Confirm, even when — and especially when — it’s an all-male cast. She can do anything.

MD: Stephen Sondheim will deliver a completed musical that you’re directing by the end of the summer.

JM: Hopefully confirm.

MD: You like red meat, martinis and sitting in 110-degree heat in Palm Springs — even with all the Republicans there.

JM: Confirm. Palm Springs is an eccentric stew. And they’re old-school Republicans.

MD: Nobody should make “Wicked” into a movie while it’s still selling out on Broadway and in road shows.

JM: Confirm.

MD: You work the phones with the gusto of Roy Cohn.

JM: Deny. No one talks on the phone anymore.