Back
in 2017, just after the release of This Burning Sun, NYC-based
singer-songwriter and recording artist, Peter Galperin
told mwe3.com about his proposed rock opera depicting the heyday
of NYC master builder Robert Moses and now in early 2019, Bulldozer,
the CD is a reality. Although the Off-Broadway production received
rave reviews in 2018, this theatrical soundtrack album release sets
the record straight and also allows those who couldn't make a trip
to the Big Apple a chance to witness and marvel at Peter’s rollicking
and totally mesmerizing musical tale about Robert Moses. Most of the
great highways, parks, tunnels and bridges in NYC had something to
do with Moses and, retracing Moses' life,
Bulldozer spotlights key aspects of his historic career from
the 1930s till the early 1960s. For his much anticipated musical,
Peter has created a new kind of 21st century rock opera that will
thrill music fans of legendary theatrical masterworks like Tommy
and Jesus Christ Superstar. Reinvigorating the story of
Robert Moses as a visionary master builder and a ruthless, politically
well-connected power broker who was instrumental in transforming NYC
into the modern center of the western world, the 25-track CD release
of Bulldozer: The Ballad Of Robert Moses is sure to
be one of the most acclaimed theatrical soundtrack albums of our time.
Featuring a solid crew of singing actors and actresses, Bulldozer
is a splendid showcase for Constantine Maroulis, appearing
in both the Off-Broadway production and soundtrack as Robert Moses.
Speaking to mwe3.com about Bulldozer, Peter Galperin explains,
“This original cast recording was the final piece of the Off-Broadway
theatrical production of Bulldozer. Even though the recording sessions
didn’t take place until six months after the show had closed,
the music was still fairly fresh in everyone’s head so it only
took a day or two of rehearsals to get back up to speed. In the studio
we tried to be faithful to the actual staged show, and even included
some of the off-stage voiceovers and sound effects so that a CD listener
who hasn’t seen the show can still get a good mental picture
of the action taking place on stage.” An Off-Broadway success
story that wowed fans of the Big Apple and New York by reintroducing
the man behind an essential era of 20th century American history,
Bulldozer: The Ballad Of Robert Moses makes for a most impressive
recording indeed. www.bulldozer.nyc
mwe3.com presents an interview with Bulldozer creator
PETER GALPERIN
mwe3:
When I spoke to you last in 2017 about the This Burning Sun album,
your projected reality for Bulldozer was coming together and
now the soundtrack album was released in early 2019. Tell us about
the Off-Broadway theatrical production and how you organized the script
and the cast. What’s the difference between recording an album
and also bringing it to Off-Broadway in a theatrical show and how
well does the soundtrack album reflect the hard work that went into
the Off-Broadway production?
Peter Galperin: This original cast recording was the final
piece of the Off-Broadway theatrical production of Bulldozer.
It was important to me and my management team at Aaron
Grant Theatrical that we were able to record with the original
cast and the original on-stage band for several reasons – it’s
a marketable documentation of the show’s debut run, and it made
the recording sessions go very smoothly. Even though the recording
sessions didn’t take place until six months after the show had
closed, the music was still fairly fresh in everyone’s head so
it only took a day or two of rehearsals to get back up to speed. In
the studio we tried to be faithful to the actual staged show, and
even included some of the off-stage voiceovers and sound effects so
that a CD listener who hasn’t seen the show can still get a good
mental picture of the action taking place on stage.
mwe3: Being a native NY-er, I always found it fascinating how
you became involved in the story of Robert Moses which is brought
to light in Bulldozer. I realize I was only 9 in February 1964,
but in defense of Moses, do you think the criticism of him is slightly
biased? There was such a huge juxtaposition of fateful events starting
a couple years before the day JFK was gunned down to the day The Beatles
made their first U.S. appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.
Peter
Galperin: The life of Robert Moses was fascinating to me since
I first discovered the Robert Caro book “The Powerbroker”
about 25 years ago. I had moved to New York after college, I’m
a Seattle native, and I didn’t initially understand the city.
The highways and subways didn’t make any sense, it seemed like
such a mishmash – highways side by side other highways, and a
transit system that had no organizing principle or cohesiveness. And
then I read the “Powerbroker” and had an epiphany –
Robert Moses was why New York was so dysfunctional. Moses was the
reason the subways were falling apart, and he was the reason driving
on highways around New York was such an unpleasant experience. He
hated the subways and mass transit in general, and deeply believed
that the private automobile was the future of transportation. For
over 40 years he poured billions of dollars of federal-subsidized
funding into highways, bridges, and tunnels – all directed towards
car travel.
From the mid 1920s to the early 1960s, not one penny went towards
mass transit in the New York metropolitan area. The automobile was
the disruptive technology of the 1920s, and it was rapidly replacing
the horse-drawn carriage. But, as with most disruptive technologies,
the negative effects, the downside, wasn’t known for years or
even decades later. Yes, cars were so much better than streets filled
with horse manure, and so much more functional than horse carts, but
in the 1920s nobody could have predicted that by the 1960s over 50,000
Americans would die every year in traffic accidents, or that most
American cities would be paralyzed by rush hour traffic jams, or that
many Americans would have to spend 2 hours a day or more commuting
to their jobs. Similarly, today no one could have predicted 10 years
ago that our era’s disruptive technology, the internet, would
have such a negative impact on our most recent democratic election
process. The downsides of new technology sometimes takes years to
show up – we all get caught up in the new bells and whistles
and are caught off-guard when future potential catastrophes are unleashed
by technological change.
mwe3:
The soundtrack CD is superbly recorded and your screenplay is brilliant
too. Tell us about how the recordings evolved and who you worked with
on the Bulldozer soundtrack.
Peter Galperin: I recorded and produced the CD at Dubway
Studios in downtown New York City with engineers Al Houghton,
Sam Palumbo, and Russell Castiglione. And my right-hand man on the
entire project was my co-producer Gary Ray Bugarcic. Gary was our
associate director in charge of musical staging for the St. Clement’s
run, he also directed some of our early staged readings, and has been
involved in the show’s development from the beginning. We recorded
the instrument tracks as a 4-piece live band in Dubway’s large
studio, and since I was the guitarist in the band, I relied on Gary
to be my eyes and ears in the engineer’s booth. He kept track
of which takes were best and oversaw our session schedules to make
sure we weren’t overlooking anything.
25 songs, almost 60 minutes of music, is a lot of recording, but since
we had 45 performances and at least that many full rehearsals behind
us it went very smoothly. To preserve a live performance sound we
wanted the actors to be able to record their songs as they had performed
them. For example, if a song was a duet, we wanted to record the two
singers together, and not separately as overdubs. The show has a combination
of duets, trios, and quartets, so the logistics of getting the vocals
recorded was challenging, but our management team at Aaron Grant Theatrical
did a great job of scheduling everyone in and out of the sessions.
mwe3: Bulldozer is of the great theatrical soundtrack
albums in recent memory and you say you tried to create a modern day
Tommy or Rocky Horror Picture Show with the Bulldozer
album and play. It’s like a 21st century Popumentary. Tell
us how it came together so to speak, from picking the director (Karen
Carpenter) and show manager (Aaron Grant) to organizing the cast.
I must say that Constantine Maroulis was a great choice. How did Constantine
enter the story, what were the auditions like and who else were the
key members of the cast?
Peter
Galperin: Before recording Bulldozer, I listened to a whole
lot of musical theatre recordings, so I knew what I didn’t want.
I didn’t want a recording that sounded perfect but lifeless.
I wanted a recording that captured the excitement of the live stage
with a live rock band performance, and a recording that had the added
benefit of a controlled sound atmosphere. You mentioned that my guidelines
were soundtracks from rock musicals that I loved and had grown up
listening to – Tommy and Quadrophenia by the Who,
Rocky Horror Picture Show with Tim Curry, and my all-time favorite
rock musical Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar.
I was lucky enough to see the original JCS touring show in the late
1960s, with my church’s Sunday school teen group, and it had
a huge impact on me. Before seeing that show I had no idea you could
have rock music in a musical, and that you could be sacrilegious and
get away with it.
Our director for Bulldozer was Karen Lynn Carpenter and the
entire cast was hand-picked by Aaron Grant, who has been involved
with the show’s development almost from the beginning. When I
mentioned to Aaron that for Moses’ part I had envisioned a Roger
Daltrey/Robert Plant type of voice, that’s exactly what he got
us with Tony-nominated, American Idol finalist Constantine
Maroulis. Constantine is the consummate performer with a powerful
singing voice that could make the phone book sound interesting, and
his involvement in the show significantly broadened our shows reach.
He brought in a large audience of dedicated fans who had never heard
of Robert Moses or thought much about urban renewal. And what was
really fun for me was that once we had Constantine involved in the
show, I got the chance to write several new songs specifically for
his voice and singing style (“You’ll Do It My Way”
and “You Better Listen”).
mwe3: Broadway Records did a fine job on the album art and
pressing of the CD. How did you get Broadway Records involved?
Peter
Galperin: Getting the Bulldozer CD released on Broadway
Records was a huge plus for us. We were a smallish Off-Broadway show
with a limited engagement, so being in the Broadway Records catalogue
gives us much more exposure, especially in terms of potential licensing.
They are the go-to label for musical theatre across the country, and
Van Dean and Robbie Rozelle at Broadway Records gave us a terrific
time slot at their BroadwayCon booth for a special pre-order signing
event to launch the CD. At BroadwayCon our Bulldozer CD was
up in the display rack right beside well-known shows like My Fair
Lady, Jekyll & Hyde and The Lightning Thief. Our official
release date (January 25, 2019) was well-publicized in Playbill.com
and BroadwayWorld.com, and Broadway Records has set us up on Spotify
with five songs available for streaming.
mwe3: I like the “Overture” on the CD soundtrack.
Tell us about the band you assembled for the album. It’s a great
overture indeed. It even has a kind of NYC vibe to it! This is your
first instrumental composition?
Peter Galperin: I couldn’t have created this show without
the help of my band. Both our drummer, Patrick Carmichael, and our
bass player, Bryan Percivall, have been playing with me for 4-5 years
on my non-Bulldozer gigs, and a lot of these songs were first
performed publicly at those gigs. I thank them for their ongoing support
of what probably sounded like a crazy project when I first proposed
it to them several years ago.
The idea of opening the show with an “Overture” was something
I stole from the old, epic movies from the 1950s and ‘60s that
I used to watch. Those movies would have an orchestrated composition
at the beginning and during the intermission that would be a sort
of medley of musical motifs heard elsewhere in the movie. In our case,
the “Overture” is a short, aggressively funky, instrumental
version of “Voice Of The People,” a song that Molly Pope
in the role of Jane Jacobs sings later in the show. That musical theme
is the emotional heart of the show. During the show’s run we
would start playing the “Overture” while people were still
getting settled in their seats, as a kind of sonic announcement that
something was about to happen. So I kept that as the opening piece
on the CD.
mwe3:
“Masterplan” is featured in four versions on the CD. What
was your intent in the “Masterplan” tracks?
Peter Galperin: “The Masterplan” was the first song
I wrote about Robert Moses, and the idea for the musical came out
of that song (my wife suggested it). Originally written for a New
York City Parks Department song writing contest (it was rejected for
being too long), “Masterplan” is a simple Woody Guthrie-esque
type of folk song that tells the “The Ballad of Robert Moses”
in the form of a folk tale. A street musician, as an observer of history,
stands in Washington Square Park and sings the song verse by verse
at six different points throughout the show. Each version is slightly
different in terms of tempo and instrumentation. My favorite version
is the 4-part harmony acapella rendition that opens the climactic
“Stroller Mom’s” vs. Bulldozer scene.
mwe3: Your song “Straight Towards The Sun” is abridged
on the soundtrack. How does “Straight Towards The Sun” fit
into the concept? I was thinking reincarnation of Moses. It’s
always been one of your best songs.
Peter Galperin: “Straight Towards The Sun” was the
second song I wrote for the show. I first recorded it back in 2014
on my second CD A Disposable Life. I think even that early
folk-rock version showed the potential power in the song. Now we have
it in the show twice, as musical bookends - first as a quiet, solo
preprise at about 10 minutes into the show, and then again as the
show’s grand finale featuring Constantine and the full ensemble.
The song is Moses’ soliloquy as he comes to terms with how history
will treat him. The Icarus reference in the chorus “I couldn’t
see a thing, because the light was in my eyes. I was heading straight
towards the sun,” is his attempt at rationalizing some of
the things he’s done.
At the end of his life, at least in his own mind, his questionable
tactics and unconscionable maneuvers were still overshadowed by his
achievements in concrete and steel. He’d been beat-up pretty
badly by Jane Jacobs, Nelson Rockefeller, and by the court of public
opinion, and more or less forgotten in the 1970s until Robert Caro’s
“Powerbroker” was published and categorized his successes
and sins all over again. I have to admit that I do feel some sympathy
for Moses - the world that he was born to dominate in the 1920s, ‘30s,
and ‘40s no longer existed in the 1950s and 1960s, yet he was
still the same guy. The lyrics from the song say it best “I
realize now the times have changed, and I’ve been left behind,
but look at me… what else can I do.”
mwe3:
I really like “View From My Imagination” and Constantine
does a great job on it. It’s a great way to humanize Moses as
well. Did you try to humanize Moses in that track and others?
Peter Galperin: The challenge was to make Moses a very likable
fellow at the beginning of the show. The story needed to do that so
the audience would be empathetic with his downfall later on. “The
View” is a great ‘I want’ song. It lays out all of
Moses’ youthful ambition and exuberance, and Constantine sings
it in such a playful, yet powerful way that you can’t help but
root for Moses at this point in his life. After all, he is about to
remake how the modern American city functions, and forever change
how people use roads, parks, and beaches. And it all comes out of
his imagination - no committees, no focus groups, no long-term government-funded
studies. Granted, he was well-educated (with multiple degrees from
Yale, Columbia and Oxford) and was usually the smartest guy in any
room he was in, but this soon-to-be complete makeover of the urban
environment was just Moses implementing his ideas on how to make city
life better. He was very sure of himself and he wasn’t really
interested in anyone else’s opinion.
mwe3: How does “Fresh Cut Flowers” fit into Bulldozer?
Who is singing that track and does that show the more personal
side of Moses and his lady friends? (wife, girlfriend?)
Peter Galperin: Moses’ romantic life was not well-documented,
so I felt I had some leeway to create something original and fun.
Moses had been married twice – his second wife was his longtime
assistant whom he married 30 days after his first wife passed away,
after an extended illness. And there were rumors of him hanging out
with some of his friend Guy Lombardo’s showgirls. There’s
even photos of him and Guy frolicking on Jones Beach in their bathing
suits with a few leggy gals in swimsuits. Our Vera Martin, played
beautifully in the show by Kacie Sheik, is a composite character based
on what we know of Moses’ domestic life and some imagined possibilities.
I’ve made her into her own person – a young, working-class
woman who initially is charmed by a sophisticated, slightly older
gentleman. But over time, Vera begins to understand the ramifications
of Moses’ work, and in the process becomes empowered enough in
her own views to the point where she feels independent enough to leave
him.
Some people
who saw the show went away angry that I didn’t stick strictly
to the facts, and others thought that our Vera was a scene-stealing
delight. “Fresh Cut Flowers” sung by a teenage Vera is a
ragtime tune set in the Central Park Casino in the mid 1920s. The
Casino was where gangsters, politicians and showgirls all mixed together.
After Moses has a rough meeting at the Casino with Gov. Al Smith and
some Tammany Hall political thugs (some of his proposed ideas for
parks and roads are initially ridiculed), he runs into Vera for the
first time. She was working as a “cigarette girl,” selling
flowers, candies, and smokes to the Casino’s patrons. She and
Moses flirt, he joins in on the song, and the next time we see her
in the show she has become his girlfriend. The Casino location was
also an early example of Moses’ cunning, treachery, and vindictiveness.
After his mentor Gov. Al Smith, a man Moses felt tremendous loyalty
to, was defeated in his bid for the 1928 Presidential nomination,
and treated poorly with little support from the Tammany Hall crowd,
Moses has the Casino torn down in an unannounced midnight raid, purely
out of spite.
mwe3: “We’re Impressed” features some great
guitar work from you and the track underscores just how influential
Moses was among the people who he used to implement his vision and
work.
Peter Galperin: “We’re Impressed” is sung by
Wayne Wilcox as Nelson Rockefeller and Ryan Knowles as the Newspaper
Reporter. While reading the latest headlines together they marvel
at the achievements of the ambitious Moses. He has just completed
Jones Beach, the world’s largest municipal beach facility, and
the newspapers are praising him, the worker’s unions are indebted
to him, and the political world is taking notice of him. In a larger
production I’d love to see this scene and song turned into a
big dance number with a group of construction workers, businessmen
and politicians. The song celebrates the special kind of American
dynamism and drive that epitomized the early decades of the 20th century.
mwe3:
What does “You And I” say about Moses and what aspect of
Bulldozer does the song reflect?
Peter Galperin: “You and I” establishes the initial
bromance between Moses and Nelson Rockefeller. It’s a comic scene
and song set in a small prop plane high above the Palisades over New
Jersey with Moses at the controls. Moses and Rockefeller are working
together to build the Palisades Parkway on land that the Rockefeller
family has donated to New York and New Jersey. Moses is eager to impress
the younger Rockefeller, and Rockefeller wants to learn about large-scale
construction from Moses.
Secretly, Moses idealizes the WASP elite class that Rockefeller represents,
so much so that he downplays his own Jewish roots and brags to Rockefeller
about attending a beautiful Episcopal chapel on Long Island. Rockefeller
dryly asks him what his rabbi thinks about that. Over the next three
decades they go on to work on many Rockefeller projects together throughout
the U.S. and South America, and Moses begins to think of Rockefeller
and himself as equals. He rarely thought that of others. Later on
in the 1950s when Rockefeller becomes New York State Governor, their
relationship sours, and leads to Moses eventual loss of power. But
in 1934 they act like they are best buddies.
mwe3: Does “When The World Isn’t Watching” reflect
the personal side of Moses and Vera?
Peter Galperin: Moses is a celebrity. Newspaper reporters
court him, paparazzi follow him. “When the World Isn’t Watching”
is a quiet moment in the show where Moses and Vera are intimate. Moses
sings “No one understands me better…” and Vera
responds with “I’ve never met anyone quite like him…”
as she is still in awe of Moses’ power in the world. But even
in that moment of intimacy, Vera has some apprehensions about Moses
and when she sings “But can you promise you’ll never
push me away?” she is voicing a sixth-sense she has of future
trouble between them.
mwe3: How does “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide”
fit into Bulldozer?
Peter
Galperin: Moses used a number of dirty tricks to keep his hold
on power. One of his favorite’s was to keep dossiers on his colleagues,
on politicians, on anyone who worked with him or whose support he
might need. He would blackmail someone if he needed to – to get
a better bid for a project, or a faster completion time, or a quick
construction permit approval. In “Everybody’s Got Something
to Hide” the setting is his office as he sings to one of his
construction crew bosses “We both know you’ve got a weakness,
a fetish you’d rather not discuss,” to coerce the man
to do something not very ethical – evict people from their homes
– just so Moses’ highway construction can proceed on schedule.
And in the middle of the song we hear him on the phone blackmailing
another man who Moses knows hasn’t been faithful to his young
wife. Moses gleefully sings “Everybody’s done something
they’re not proud of, everybody’s got something to hide,”
and here we see Moses at both his finest and at his worst.
mwe3: What does “We Like What We Like” say about
Moses in the Bulldozer story? Jane Jacobs is brought into the
story at this point? She was a Moses critic.
Peter Galperin: As a social comment on the fickle nature of
public opinion, and the role of the press in helping formulate that
opinion, “We Like What We Like” is a rousing number sung
by the Newspaper Reporter, Nelson Rockefeller, and a reluctant Jane
Jacobs. Prior to this scene we are introduced to the serious, studious
Jacobs who catches Rockefeller’s attention with an obscure magazine
article she has written on urban blight and neighborhood vitality
– an article that is in direct opposition to Moses' brutal theories
on urban renewal.
At this point in time Rockefeller is still a young idealist and prophetically
sings that elected politicians will “say almost anything,
just to get your vote.” In the song, Rockefeller and the
Reporter work on convincing Jane that with their help and resources
they can expose her progressive thinking to a much broader audience.
She is intrigued but wonders if they aren’t “manipulating
the press and the public…” to which the Reporter replies
“…it’s simply public opinion,” and Rockefeller
shouts out “C’mon Jane, don’t be so naïve,
this is just human nature.” By the end of the song, Jacobs
has aligned with the two of them and the battle for taking on Moses
starts to take shape.
mwe3: Does “You’ll Do It My Way” reflect the
more aggressive side of Moses as he got his way and the way he got
things done? The song also introduces Nelson Rockefeller into the
story right?
Peter
Galperin: The scene and song are set at the 1959 groundbreaking
ceremony for the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. By the late 1950s Rockefeller
has been elected Governor of New York, and both men are finding that
working on projects together has become much more difficult - mainly
because Rockefeller is no longer willing to let Moses take the lead
and get major credit in the press. The song is given a comic visual
twist as they both sing while wrestling over a ceremonial golden shovel
(hand over hand as if grabbing a baseball bat) while the press flash
bulbs pop. In an instrumental section of the song they both retreat
to opposite corners of the stage and speaking directly to the audience
deride each other. Rockefeller mocks Moses’ age and methods by
saying “He’s so corrupt and set in his way,”
and Moses claims that the rich, elitist Rockefeller “wouldn’t
know a nail from a screw.” The song ends with both of them
physically wrestling each other over who gets to hold the shovel for
the press cameras.
mwe3: “Don’t You Dare” shows how formidable
the opposition was to Moses back then. Pretty ruthless song Peter.
Peter Galperin: “Don’t You Dare” is set in a
Greenwich Village community board meeting as Jane Jacobs is giving
a lively lecture about Moses’ proposed demolition of the neighborhood
for yet another highway. She is interrupted by a surprise visit by
Moses (in the show Moses and Vera enter the scene by working their
way to the stage through the audience). It’s not the first time
someone has challenged him about his plans, but he has grown impatient
with the public and is trying his best to keep from exploding in anger.
Molly Pope (as Jane Jacobs) matches Constantine’s Moses, and
stands toe-to-toe, eye-to-eye with him without giving up an inch.
It’s a riveting scene and the audience always got caught up in
the excitement (in the show we placed hecklers in the audience who
booed and hissed at Moses). Originally this song was the end of Act
I, but we decided we didn’t need an intermission.
mwe3: Tell us how “There’s No One Else” fits
into the show and what did you think about the relationship between
Moses and Nelson Rockefeller? The track is truly one of your great
songs.
Peter
Galperin: One of the ongoing themes in Bulldozer is the
idea of empowerment – the process of personal enlightenment.
We watch as this happens with Vera and also as it happens with Rockefeller.
Early on in the story Rockefeller is introduced as an avid admirer
of Moses. He’s impressed with Moses’ achievements and since
he’s 20 years younger than Moses, he sees an opportunity to learn
from the older man. But over the course of 25 years he has watched
Moses transform from a young idealist to power-insulated destroyer.
At the same time Rockefeller has become much more sure of his place
in the world, and his ego reflects that.
In “There’s No One Else,” Rockefeller has finally realized
that he’s the only one who can stop Moses – he is Moses’
perfect wave of opposition. Moses had always relied on the fact that
most, if not all New York politicians needed his support, they needed
the backing of the Triborough Bridge Authority, a massive, financially
successful public/private corporation that Moses controlled completely.
With the tolls that Moses’ highways and bridges collected year
after year, the Triborough Authority had more capital and cash flow
at their disposal than almost any other government or private entity.
But by the late 1950s Nelson Rockefeller was at the height of his
power, he had the enormous family wealth of Standard Oil behind him,
he was Governor of New York, and he had Presidential aspirations.
When he sings “There’s no one else… no one else
like me,” he’s not bragging, he’s stating a fact.
And he realized that he needed to do something big to shore up New
York’s failing transit system. His brilliant solution was to
merge the cash-rich Triborough Bridge Authority with the financially
bankrupt New York subway system. To do so he had to push Moses out
of power by promising him a leadership position in the newly-created
MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority). It was a promise that Moses
trusted at face value (with a simple handshake) based on his long-standing
relationship with Rockefeller, but Rockefeller had no intention of
fulfilling that promise. In other words, Rockefeller was going to
sucker-punch Moses.
mwe3: “You Can’t See” is another highlight and
one of your best songs. The division of Jane Jacob’s feelings
are palpable.
Peter
Galperin: This song is where Jane Jacobs realizes what she is
truly up against, and voices some doubts about whether she’s
up to the task. It’s a temporary dark moment for her as she draws
on inner strength to ready herself for a battle with the most powerful
man in government - a man who has bullied many mayors, governors,
and even a few presidents. And who is Jane Jacobs? –“just
a girl from Scranton” she says at one point talking to Vera.
But she’s so much more than that. She understands what makes
a city vibrant, she’s empathetic to people who don’t have
very much, she doesn’t believe that progress means destroying
the past, and she knows that Moses (“You and your goddamn proposals”)
can’t see any of that. “You Can’t See” is her
prayer for strength.
mwe3: What is “Not Afraid of The Future” about?
Peter Galperin: This is another empowerment song. Vera has
been with Moses for 25 years since meeting him as a teenage “cigarette
girl” at the Casino. They’ve been through a lot together,
personally and professionally. She became his assistant, and eventually
his wife. She believed in him as only unconditional love can believe.
But now she understands that his policies have hurt a lot of people,
and when she sings “You’re not the man I thought you
would be, and I’m not the little girl you once rescued,”
she is heartbroken. She has decided to leave Moses, and in this song
she acknowledges “I’m not afraid of the future, it’s
something that I learned from you.” Moses slowly comes to
realize that he’s going to lose her and he breaks down, but not
before arrogantly blaming “the people, the politicians…
the papers” and Vera for letting him down.
mwe3: “Straight Towards The Sun” is a great way to
end the Bulldozer soundtrack. Looking back, because Moses did
such a great job so everybody wanted to come to New York and that
also contributed to the dysfunction you cite, and you are right.
Peter
Galperin: In “Straight Towards the Sun” Moses sings
“No one can say I didn’t do my job, like it or not I
got things done. Though Roosevelt and Rockefeller will never be my
friends, I can admit… I don’t like what I’ve become.”
On the surface he seemed to be someone who didn’t care what people
thought of him. He believed that the means justified the end result.
If he needed to displace families from their homes in order to build
a highway that he believed was for the greater good of society, then
so be it – “You can’t make an omelet without cracking
a few eggs” he once said. He was very willing to take the knocks
against him in the name of what he considered to be progress.
Deep down what I think he cared most about was his legacy – what
would he be remembered for? At the end of his life he knew that the
times had changed, that he was a product of another generation, but
he still felt proud that he had done what was necessary to help bring
New York, and America, into the 20th century. For the last ten years
of his life he lived alone, waiting for the phone call that Governor
Rockefeller had promised him. A call that he thought would put him
back to work for the MTA. It never came. A rather sad ending to an
important life, no matter what you think of the man personally.
mwe3: So now you’re planning to work on your proposed
musical about global warming? Yet with Bulldozer you’ve
once again made me a believer on the power of the Broadway Soundtrack
genre.
Peter Galperin: Yes, we’ll see how far I can get with
my next concept musical about global warming, certainly not a subject
that people usually sing about. But like one of the published reviews
said of Bulldozer “Who knew that songs about construction and
urban development could be so engaging? Apparently Peter Galperin!”
So maybe I can do the same thing for climate change!
