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[0:00] Paul Lazarus: Hi, this is Paul Lazarus. In the 1980s, I produced and hosted a radio series called Anything Goes, a celebration of the American musical theater. Now, the Broadway Podcast Network is bringing back these shows. This is the first of a two-part series featuring director-choreographer Martha Clarke and composer Richard Peaslee. This program originally aired in 1984 and featured early work by Richard Peaslee, as well as both Clarke and Peaslee discussing their stunning collaboration on the dance music theater piece, The Garden of Earthly Delights.

[1:09] ♪ Musical number: "Medley of songs from MARAT/SADE" — performed by Richard Peaslee ♪

[6:21] Jeff Lunden: One of today's featured guests on Anything Goes. Good afternoon. My name is Jeff Lunden, and I'm sitting in for Paul Lazarus, who will be appearing later on in the program in a pre-recorded interview with both Mr. Peaslee and director-choreographer Martha Clarke. The two have collaborated on an exciting new music-theater dance piece called The Garden of Earthly Delights, and based, of course, on the famous Hieronymus Bosch triptych. The show is currently playing at St. Clement's for the music-theater group, and we've recorded several music selections from it exclusively for this program. But before we take an in-depth look at The Garden of Earthly Delights, let's look at some of Richard Peasley's earlier work.

[7:09] Jeff Lunden: Here is Glenda Jackson singing a song from Marat Saad, Corday's Waltz.

[9:05] Jeff Lunden: That was Glenda Jackson singing Corday's Waltz from Marat Saad with music by featured guest on Anything Goes today, Richard Peaslee, who we will be hearing an interview later on with Martha Clarke talking about their new show, The Garden of Earthly Delights. Next up I have two songs from a Richard Peaslee-Jean-Claude Van Italie collaboration called King of the U.S.

[9:36] ♪ Musical number: "THE CORDAY WALTZ" — performed by Glenda Jackson ♪

[11:26] ♪ Musical number: "BRANCHES" — performed by Richard Peaslee ♪

[11:46] ♪ Musical number: "Let's Have a Party" — performed by Richard Peaslee ♪

[18:23] Jeff Lunden: You're listening to Anything Goes with guest host, Jeff Lunden. Last Tuesday, Paul had Martha Clarke and Dick Peaslee over to his apartment to discuss the recent collaboration of the two on a show called The Garden of Earthly Delights, based on the Hieronymus Bosch painting.

[18:45] Jeff Lunden: It is a rather interesting amalgam of dance and music and flying, and was created in collaboration with six dancers, Robert Barnett, Felix Blaska, Robert Faust, Marie Foucault, Margie Gillis, and Polly Styron, and also created in collaboration with three musicians, Eugene Friesen, Bill Ruhl, and Stephen Silverstein. It has superb lighting by Paul Gallo, costumes designed by Jane Greenwood, and flying by Foy, the people who flew Mary Martin in Peter Pan.

[19:27] Jeff Lunden: Paul asked Ms. Clarke how The Garden of Earthly Delights began, and was told that Lynn Austin gave Martha Clarke a telephone call one day.

[19:41] Martha Clarke: Lynn called me last September and said, this year is going to be your year, last year was Stanley Silverman's. And she said, I have to get an NEA application in by 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. This is about 6 o'clock in the evening. She said, what do you want to do? And I said, call back in 20 minutes.

[20:04] Martha Clarke: When she called back, I thought, Bosch. And she was not particularly up on his work. And I said, go out and get a book of his paintings and look at it. I think it would be a terrific evening of work.

[20:16] Jeff Lunden: Did you know it was going to be Garden of Earthly Delights at that point, or just Bosch?

[20:19] Martha Clarke: Well, I had seen The Garden of Earthly Delights at the Prado a few times when I was with Pilobolus. We were touring in Spain, and I've always loved Bosch's work. But I had not been cogitating on it, or ruminating, or whatever. It just really sprang into my head at the moment. And that's the way most ideas come to me. They're not things that are longingly nurtured. They're pretty quick.

[20:43] Jeff Lunden: If I can jump ahead, what was the first dance connection to the painting you had?

[20:48] Martha Clarke: The first image that I remember making? You saw it the other night. The flying on the floor, sitting on Rob Faust's back. Rob Faust is very tall, and he's lying down on his stomach. And Felix Blaschke and I sat in the middle of his back while Rob flapped his wings. So it was like somebody being grounded, but thinking they were flying. I don't know if you remember, we gazed down, and it looks like we're high in the sky.

[21:16] Jeff Lunden: Oh, no, I do remember the image. That was the very first image we got. And then, of course, torturing. It's a specialty. Does that image come right from the painting?

[21:25] Martha Clarke: No, but there are many images of flying figures, and figures in water. And there are references to ice skating and boats and airborne things and trees. I mean, the painting has enormous subject range.

[21:40] Jeff Lunden: Oh, yeah. Dick, how did you get involved?

[21:43] Richard Peaslee: Well, it was also a phone call from Lynn about this deadline. To get some music over to her that might relate to this Bosch piece. Actually, the musicians had done a tape at Martha's house. A couple of them were friends of Martha's, went over there and improvised some ideas for the benefit of the NEA, I guess. Who did not find it.

[22:14] Jeff Lunden: So given that Lynn Austin called both of you and put the project together, what was the next step?

[22:19] Richard Peaslee: For me, it was lining up musicians. Actually, Martha had done that mostly. She'd lined up two of the three musicians. Actually, I'd requested four or five.

[22:34] Jeff Lunden: Well, I was going to ask you why three, but now I just got answered.

[22:38] Richard Peaslee: Well, it's like Copland's story about why were there, whatever, 16 instruments in the original Appalachian Spring. And his answer was that was the size of the orchestra pit. Basically, a music theater group could handle three.

[22:50] Jeff Lunden: Financially, right.

[22:55] Richard Peaslee: Well, it's amazing what you did with three. Given the limitation of three, did you decide to use percussion, mouth instruments, and cello? Was that the next step?

[23:06] Richard Peaslee: Well, Martha knew Steve Silverstein and Eugene Friesen, who were the cellist and the reed player. So I said we should probably have a percussionist. And Bill Ruhl is a friend of Steve's. That was the lineup. It was actually not probably what I would have thought of to begin with.

[23:33] Richard Peaslee: I think I would have chosen one brass instrument to give some guts to the sound of the score, but I had no idea that Steve Silverstein could play as many instruments as he does. I think he plays about 18 in the course of the piece. He really is extraordinary, and so are the other two guys. They're all extraordinary players. Yeah, Eugene plays with Paul Winter's consort. What I was struck by is not so much how many instruments they play or whatever, but the sounds they get out of the one instrument. Eugene gets more texture out of that cello than I've ever encountered. I know, I've learned a tremendous amount in the course of the rehearsal period. It's phenomenal. Sometimes it sounds like a classical guitar. Sometimes it sounds like a synthesizer. I've never heard anything quite like it. Yeah. It's unusual because string players are not always the best improvisers, but Eugene is.

[33:42] ♪ Musical number: "Music from the Garden of Earthly Delights" — performed by Eugene Friesen, Bill Ruyle, and Steven Silverstein ♪

[34:25] Richard Peaslee: You've been listening to part 1 of a two-part series featuring director-choreographer Martha Clarke and composer Richard Peaslee. Associate producer Geoff London, Anything Goes Backstage with Broadway's Best is produced and hosted by Paul Lazarus. For more information, visit AnythingGoesPL.com. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate and follow us. Thanks for listening!