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[0:14] Robert Bannon: Welcome to the round table, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to us on Broadway World or over here on the Broadway Podcast Network. And we love songwriters and we love theater. And one of the best, the one of the best to do it is Peter Foley. And he left a legacy of incredible music. And I heard back in the day about this incredible tribute concert, and I'm so excited that it's preserved, and you can hear this music when this album comes out. His wife and collaborator and helped write things is here. We have a little bit of a Broadway superstar here as well. It's a party, it's a celebration. Kate, you're here. Kate. And Mana, welcome to the show.

[0:55] Manoel Felciano: Hi.

[0:56] Robert Bannon: Where have you been? Why haven't you hung out with us before? We love your work.

[1:00] Manoel Felciano: Ah, good question. I am happy to be here now, though. Couldn't be here for a better reason.

[1:05] Robert Bannon: Agreed. Thank you so much. Kate, congratulations on this absolutely stunningly beautiful project.

[1:11] Kate Chisholm: Thank you so much.

[1:15] Robert Bannon: How amazing it feels to be releasing this incredible music out into the world, performed by such amazing vocalists. And it's just, um, it's a dream. It was Peter's dream, and you know, now this music is gonna reach so many people, and we're just thrilled. Before we even get started in the nitty-gritty of it all, I want people to know that Out of Myself: The Songs of Peter Foley is gonna be out and about. You can go to Peterfoleymusic.org and get all the information about it and his legacy of music. And you could also follow them on Instagram at Peter Foley Music. And Kate just said that they started a TikTok.

[1:53] Robert Bannon: As I want Kate to do TikTok dances to Peter Foley music on the TikTok.

[1:59] Kate Chisholm: Yes, that's it. My daughter and I were dancing around the dining room last night, you know, when everything went live at midnight, the album went live, and it was just quite a celebration.

[2:20] Robert Bannon: When you got asked to be a part of this back when this concert happened, what is it about Peter Foley and his music and your relationship with them that made you say yes?

[2:30] Manoel Felciano: Well, it was maybe the fastest the word yes has ever come out of my mouth. Peter was, you know, not just a dear friend of mine, but really a mentor and, you know, an incredible artist, composer, lyricist, a true connoisseur, fan of and practitioner of what I think is the hardest art form in the world, which is musical theater. To do it well and to do it at the level of sophisticated craft that he did is really rare. And I think, you know, his great idol was, like for so many of us, Stephen Sondheim, and the level of care and detail that Steve brought to his work is what Peter brought to his work. And we always used to joke that, you know, Steve's success with West Side Story afforded him the luxury of being able to spend like two weeks on eight bars, right?

And Peter would do the same thing, and so what they, of course, didn't have is the same time frame in which they were producing, and, you know, Peter didn't have a Hal Prince to shepherd his work along. But the beautiful thing about being a writer, being a composer, is that your work can be forever and it can outlive you. And that is what is happening here. And one of the things that was most moving about this concert was how many of the extraordinary performers, really the future stars of Broadway, were interpreting and encountering his music for the first time. And that gave me such extraordinary hope to know that there is infinite possibility for where his art can still go.

[4:24] Robert Bannon: Oof, that's so beautiful and so true. Kate, for you, I know how personal this is, and I know it's become your life's work to amplify his voice and keep the music alive. How's it feel now that the album's out and a new generation of people are going to discover his work?

[4:44] Kate Chisholm: I I'm like levitating. I, you know, I mean, as Mano alluded to, that a lot of this work has not been heard before. It's been sort of tucked away in demos and, you know, trying to get shows produced. But the work is so strong and powerful, and the level of craft is just, you know, beyond. And I, you know, I do remember that one of the things that I loved the most about doing that concert. I mean, it was great to have, you know, Cape Baldwin, Mano, Melissa, Erica, all these wonderful Broadway performers. But we put together a chorus of musical theater students from sort of New York, New Jersey area. And the things that they said afterwards, they were so inspired by Peter's music and the process and, you know, getting to work with Rob Berman. And that felt like yes, we are, you know, this music is not stuck in time, it's a living body of work, and it can only just keep expanding from here, and that does feel amazing.

[6:11] Manoel Felciano: Yeah, I felt like watching those kids that night, I was like, you know, oh, I'm seeing his music turn into this like benign virus, and it's like infecting them, and they will pass it on to others. And, you know, the way young people get excited about a song they heard at somebody's cabaret, and then they sing it for showcase, and then somebody saw it on YouTube, and before you know it, you know, there's a production, here's another production, now you're on Broadway, now you're at Encores because, like, you know, one of his shows could someday be a show at Encores that gets revived that never had the success it deserved back in the day, or that's now being rediscovered and revalued in a way.

There are lots of artists for whom that has been the case. I mean, when we think of the three greatest classical music composers of all time, Robert, you might say, you know, Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach, for instance, right? Well, Mozart and Beethoven were both like superstars during their lifetime, but Bach was not. In fact, like it was like 200 years later, but when Mendelssohn was like, y'all, this guy's a genius, and like really brought his work to the attention of the world in a way that then was sustained and continues to exist to this day, you know. And that's the beauty of art, right? What is the Latin phrase is, um, vita brevis ars longa, I think, and what it means is life is short, but art is long, and that's I think what we are in the process of doing here with this album. The music lives forever, it will live forever.

[7:52] Robert Bannon: So, Kate, did y'all, Mano and Kate and Peter, are you all like a Yale reunion team? Like what did you all meet there? What is the story, Kate? Tell us.

[8:05] Kate Chisholm: Sure. Um, so well, yes, Peter was one of the very first people I met freshman year, and we were just sort of friends and acquaintances. And then when we were seniors, um, he was a music major in a very academic music department. And he chose to write a full-length musical as his senior project, which was, you know, a little unorthodox at the time, but they let him do it. It was called Whitechapel. And I got cast as one of the leads, excuse me, across and Melissa Erika was the other female lead in that show. So we met there, and then I think I already knew Mano, but Mano played viola, right?

[8:54] Manoel Felciano: In the orchestra.

[8:55] Kate Chisholm: In the orchestra, and Rob Berman played piano for that show. Rob was the associate music director as a freshman, and I was just fiddling away in there. Yeah, so you know, that was sort of the beginning. And I remember going and listening to the demos for that show before auditioning because I wanted to know what I was getting into, and it was just Peter at the piano singing all these songs, and I could not believe how incredible the music was. You know, it's definitely evoked Sondheim for me, but Peter has a unique sound that layers into anything that he's working on, any style. And I just feel like his music has just spoken directly to my soul my entire life since I first heard it, so I'm sure maybe it works for many people who know and love his music and have sung his songs.

[8:55] Manoel Felciano: Mono, what was the first time you remember hearing Peter's work and meeting him and becoming a part of it?

[8:55] Manoel Felciano: It was that same production of Whitechapel, which is about Jack the Ripper, by the way. And of course, when you're just in the pit and you're playing, you know, you're like, I don't know what the story is, I'm just gonna play whatever this music here, it's a gig. And then I kept hearing it was like, what is going on behind me? You know, and you start to try and turn around to see what's going on on stage, but I was struck by, because I'll confess to being kind of a snob about musical theater coming from the classical world when I was a freshman in college, and I was expecting umchuk umchuk umchuk, and I was so struck by the harmonic complexity and the, you know, use of the limited orchestra that we had and just catchy melody after catchy melody after catchy melody.

I mean, I still remember that score to this day. And then we were in the same a cappella group. He was a scary senior and I was a scared freshman, but he was assigned as my quote unquote big brother. And little did I know how much of a big brother he would become for me for life. And after college, I moved to New York, and Kate and he had a home that was very much a kind of like artistic center. They called it the Karma Hut, where Melissa and I and all these, you know, recent Yale grads who were in the theater or in the performing arts would gather. And so they very much became the kind of like godparents of a whole group of musical theater folks from Yale during that time and then eventually a whole bunch of other people.

So of course, when it came time to sing on the demo or to be in the reading or whatever it was, this kind of unofficial ensemble, this unofficial company of actors that they had kind of collected and curated around them. A lot of that company was on stage at Symphony Space when we made that album. So it was a wonderful contrast to have these old guys who are the old friends with these young people who had no connection at all to him, except through those extraordinary songs.

[12:19] Robert Bannon: Well, we're talking Out of Myself: Songs of Peter Foley now streaming wherever you listen to music. Kate, nothing says romance like a Jack the Ripper musical in your personal life. I know you guys end up being together and being married.

[12:42] Kate Chisholm: Yeah, Peter was um, you know, he was a true artist. He in the in that he he was always thinking about the work and and kind of um you know a little dreamy and and uh and he had the heart and soul of a poet. Um and at the same time, he was this kind of you know erudite uh hilarious person who could talk to anybody, any any he could have a anyone could have a conversation with him about any topic, and it would be fun and interesting. He was so knowledgeable, and he was such a um, he had such a big heart and and a sense of light. And he just I I think that impacted so many people over the years. And and that essence honestly really comes through in his art and his songs.

[13:47] Robert Bannon: I love that. And I love that you both not only shared uh you know your marriage and and and and your family, but you also worked together. And the Hidden Sky is maybe one of the most awarded and known pieces. Um tell us a little bit about how that came to be, Kate. How do you work with your husband?

[14:04] Kate Chisholm: I have a husband. It's challenging. I mean, it's wonderful, but it it is challenging. So that show, The Hidden Sky is based on a very short story by the acclaimed science fiction writer Ursula LeGuin, who I think it was her first published short story. And we, you know, Peter read it and thought there was something there. And it's set in a post-apocalyptic world where science and math have been forbidden. Hmm. I feel like we might be hitting there. But it the her writing is very spare. It's really interesting. And so that made Peter think of kind of like an and it's almost like a passion story. So he that made him think of an oratorio. And but he was also really interested in, you know, bringing in rock and world music.

And um, so there's this score is very eclectic. It and it kind of merges um well, there's sort of these very exposed um ensemble singing. There's a chorus, uh, and that's incredible. You don't really hear that so much on this album, but it's a really integral part of the show. And then you have some Mono, some songs. Mono has sung some of these songs that totally rock out, like Bono, you know, you two, Peter Gabriel. Um, and it's just such a it the the rhythms are so the grooves in that show are so great. Um so we um, you know, he started writing it, he actually started writing it alone and but being married we were talking about it all the time I was a you know actor the emerging director and you know we just talked about it and finally he said I think you should write this with me this is I I can't do this by myself and um and then he got an NEA grant uh I think it was called the New American works it was the very last cycle of individual artist grants it for opera and musical theater wow the next year when he had to do his report there was no department to to send it to I mean so that was and you know those grants made such a huge difference in artists' lives um so I'll leave that there but um yeah so we so we got to spend a whole summer together just just diving in and um not having to do day jobs and and writing and writing um and then we won the Richard Rogers award and Steven Sondheim was I like the chair of the committee I think I still have his little handwritten note to us um and we did a reading and then we immediately got interest from the what was called at that time the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia um which was a you know always did such interesting work they were really daring they don't exist anymore um but we had a big you know big premiere production there and then we did it again in 2010 with Prospect musicals in New York.

[17:34] Kate Chisholm: So when we're looking for ways to do it, do it again. I think it's it's so it's a story that is just you know, it's this struggle between science and religion, and then and then how do you the main character ultimately finds her own third way, right? Just doesn't get caught in that dialectic. Um, but it's it's a beautiful journey. So to get that show done. I'm sure you and I I hope you will, and I'm sure you will, and I'm sure somebody out here is dying to do it uh with you. You have worked with, you know, if you go back to your Tony nomination, speaking of Sondheim and talking about Sweeney, or you in Parade and Jason Robert Brown and what what he writes, and then you talk about the work of Peter Foley and singing these songs.

You you seem to like to sing some of the best songwriters that are out here. What is it about as a singer and as a performer, Peter's work and the works that you've done that inspire you that makes you be like, hey, I want to sing his song, I want to sing this.

[18:35] Manoel Felciano: Yeah. Um, I think it is, you know, precisely that same level of um, I don't know if this adjective exists, but Sondheimian hair that um both Peter and Jason, um, you know, especially in Parade, bring to their work, right? They both came up in the same generation who idolized Steve and who thought that the musicals that of Steven Sondheim were the beginning of a sea change in how Broadway musicals what could be possible with the Broadway musicals. And I think both of them might agree that sadly a lot of Steve's work now has become more of an anomaly rather than uh wholesale change in what is commercially viable on Broadway. But you never know, and things can change back. What they both have in common.

Um, and what I strive to do with both of them is to honor the level of care that they bring to their work. Every note and every word is carefully chosen. And with Peter in particular, there was this longing that was at the heart of a lot of his songs that I believe was actually something that he he knew was a kind of connective tissue between human beings. And I felt the responsibility to be the messenger of that message. Um that can be heavy sometimes, but it can also be so exhilarating and inspiring when you feel like you've done it. When you feel like you have pierced the hearts of the people who are listening. Because ultimately he's a writer and he relies on us to make that bridge that final gap.

And that's something that this album does. I can't wait for people to, I gotta I got a sneak peek, but now it's available. So now you can listen to it from beginning to end in some of the best Broadway voices, some of the some of the greatest singers that are out here singing, uh, all are singing this beautiful, gorgeous. I mean, you saw the beladies, um gorgeous, gorgeous, stunning melodies. Kate, you were you and your daughter and and carrying on his legacy and and and this. I'm sure these have not been uh easy past few years. Um, and I'm sure that uh there are many hard days, but I'm I know that many people are gonna find a lot of joy in you persevering in getting this music out what would you like us to do how can we support and and keep the music of Peter Foley alive.

[21:20] Kate Chisholm: Oh thank you Robert um visit our visit our website peterfolemusic.org so so we formed a nonprofit 501c3 the Peter Foley music project to advance Peter's legacy and and you know our mission is to get is to encourage performance recording and uh publishing of his work to get his music out into the world um so go listen buy the album stream the album however you want to listen to it um we are you know we do feel that if you have time and to listen to the whole album from beginning to end um it is really rewarding it's a remarkable journey there's so many um different styles of music but again always with that Peter Foley sound that voice um and you know share it with your friends share it on Instagram social or now on TikTok unbelievably so who knows um but yes please share the music that's really what we're asking people to do we we we want so we want we want this music to be discovered by you know new people new fans new generations we want the benign virus to keep spreading yes well what I love while I was thinking about it is um when you're if you're if you're a musical theater uh Nista out there and you're on the on the hunt for looking for new new songs for your book and new new things that are not overdone and and things that show your musicality.

Listen to this album and and find the song you love and learn how to sing it because there's songs that they just have the breath of emotion and they just fly. So they're they're perfect. When you're looking for the next song for your book, this is this is the album to listen to.

[23:09] Kate Chisholm: Thank you. You know, and I'll just mention that that um really our next project is to get the sheet music all ready to share. But anyone can reach out to me at Peter Foley Music Project and we'll work something out in the meantime.

[23:26] Manoel Felciano: Yes. Uh just gonna say, Robert, that was so beautifully put, you know, because I know that young people, when they're looking for the right song for them, um oftentimes they young people have huge feelings. The size of their feelings is big, and so much of Peter's work was about young people coming of age, young people trying to wrestle with the size of what it is that they are feeling. So it feels like such a perfect match for those folks who are looking for something that can then you know match their talent and the size of their personal experience. So just really well said.

[24:08] Manoel Felciano: I'm stealing, I'm stealing what you just said.

[24:10] Kate Chisholm: No, please.

[24:11] Manoel Felciano: Thank you. I I appreciate it. Look, you don't have to sing nothing's gonna harm you. Mano did it already, Nick. You gotta find the new song, the next the next version of that, and and put it into an audition room or add it to your cabaret show or record all of that stuff. So Kate, kudos to you, and um, we are so excited for this project and and for the the music to live forever. And Mono, we'll be looking forward to you on stage on a record uh somewhere all around the world. And um, it's an honor to talk to you both. Thank you so much for being here.

[24:39] Kate Chisholm: Thank you, Robert. You've just been wonderful.

[24:41] Manoel Felciano: It's been great.

[24:43] Kate Chisholm: Yeah, this was really delightful. Thank you.

[24:46] Robert Bannon: Out of Myself, Songs of Peter Foley is out now. It's streaming wherever you can listen to music. Make sure you go to peterfoleymusic.org and find out all the information and follow them over at Peter Foley Music on Instagram. We'll put the secret TikTok link on the bottom too, so that we can share that as well. Congratulations.

[25:01] Kate Chisholm: Thank you all.

[25:02] Manoel Felciano: Thanks, Robert.

[25:03] Kate Chisholm: Thank you.