[Editor’s Note: This interview contains minor spoilers for High Desert.]It’s no stretch to say that Bernadette Peters is a living legend. Though she’s perhaps best-known for her work in the theatre, having been nominated for seven Tonys (and winning two) for shows like Sunday in the Park with George, Song and Dance, Annie Get Your Gun, and Gypsy. She’s also had a successful career on the screen. Peters has been nominated for four Emmy Awards for shows like Ally McBeal and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and won a Golden Globe for the film Pennies from Heaven.

There’s a good chance you’ve seen Bernadette Peters before — but probably not quite like this. High Desert is a new dark comedy starring Patricia Arquette as Peggy Newman, a former addict who attempts to change her life by becoming a private investigator. The show actually requires Peters to pull double duty, playing both Peggy’s late mother, Rosalyn, as well as an arrogant doppelganger named Ginger, who Peggy enlists to play her mother in a theatre production to help her heal.
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I spoke to Peters about the show’s portrayal of grief, working in that wild Pioneertown environment, acting alongside two Arquettes, and what’s next for her in her career.

COLLIDER: You said in an interview that you always have to find a way to connect with your characters, even if they initially feel sort of far away from you. How did you find that connection with Rosalyn?

BERNADETTE PETERS: Well, you know, I get to meet Patricia Arquette, and I get to fall in love with her. And so it’s easy to play her mother and to be her support system and her soulmate and to love her. She’s such a great actress that all you have to do is just look at those eyes — into those beautiful blue eyes — and be there with her. She’s right in the moment, and that’s a great thing to be able to do with another actor. It was a great gift.

You can definitely feel that chemistry. And she’s not the only Arquette that you work with in this show. You also work with her daughter Harlow, which is such a fun scene. Can you talk a little bit about that experience?

PETERS: That was great. Harlow plays her mother as a young girl, and she’s a wonderful new actress that’s come on the scene. It just felt so great. And she auditioned for the role, you know — she wasn’t just given it. She was auditioning for the role, she got the role, and she’s another great Arquette that’s another great actress. That was a thrill to be able to be there with her.

You play an actor in the show. I’m so curious about what it’s like to be an actor playing a character who’s an actor because I always find that so meta.

PETERS: It’s so fun. I’m having so much fun. I had so much fun with that because she’s someone that’s very self-involved. She was a TV actor in the 70s — Ginger Fox, that’s her name, who really was a day player. She had one line once in some movie that was cut, and she was sure it was because the actress felt intimidated by her. So Peggy convinces her that her career isn’t over yet because she’s a doppelganger for her mother. She gets her to come to Pioneertown where she gives her a script, and — unbeknownst to Ginger — she’s playing her mother. She gives her a script to act out. Peggy is trying to work out her grief within this script that she’s written with this actress that looks like her mother but doesn’t have her mother’s personality at all. Those are such fun scenes.

And speaking of Pioneertown, I’m so curious about what it was like to like act in that environment. It looks like such a fun set to be on, and there’s so much wacky stuff going on. Can you talk a little bit about filming in that environment?

PETERS: Yeah. First of all, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Pioneertown.

Me neither!

PETERS: But apparently, there is. What was interesting was that we were dressed in these pioneer clothes with corsets and hats, but we’re not pioneer women. We’re actually modern-day women that are just dressed up in these outfits because she’s got me there to try to work on this stuff with her — the script that she’s written. You find the whole thing kind of a little odd. Now, the people that work there, a lot of the time they’re in character unless you have a personal scene. And they’re walking around, and it’s a weird juxtaposition, which is fun.

Rosalyn has a unique approach to parenting, and I think we really see how that sort of shaped Peggy through the flashbacks. I’m curious if you gave any thought to Roslyn’s own parents and how her childhood might have shaped her in terms of giving her a background story.

PETERS: I knew some of the story with Rosalyn’s husband and what that was about. I got all the information from the writers, you know. And I think when the father leaves the family, that’s when Peggy and Rosalyn bond. Peggy, at that moment, I think starts to take care of Roslyn, and that’s why she’s closer to Peggy than with anyone else. And Peggy lives with her. Peggy lives with Roslyn. So the other kids have kind of made their way in life, and they’re okay, and that’s why — when Rosalyn dies — Peggy is a mess and tries to get her footing back.

I feel like their dynamic and Peggy mourning her mother is kind of the heart and the core of the show. One of my favorite lines that I think is going to really stick with me for a long time is when Peggy asks her mother where she went after she died, and she says, “That would be like trying to tell an unborn baby what life is like.” That’s such a beautiful line.

PETERS: Isn’t it?

Can you talk about how the show explores the idea of grief and mourning?

PETERS: That’s what’s so beautiful about this show because it’s irreverent, and she’s dealing with her drug addiction, and she becomes a private investigator, which is kind of crazy. But she’s a con artist and kind of fits the personality because private investigators have to con a little bit. And yet, when her mother dies, that’s the heart of the show — dealing with the loss and the grief. It keeps flashing back on her and flashing back on her. That one moment, she drops acid, I think, and then her mother appears to her as a ghost. She’s there. And she goes, “Where did you go? What’s it like where you are?” I said, “I can’t really explain.” But the most beautiful part is her mother is still there for her. Her mother is still a support system for her. And trying to tell an unborn baby what life is like — it’s really quite a lot. [Laughs]

So there’s a lot of beauty in the show besides the craziness and the irreverence, and the heart of the show is that great love and loss that she had. And it’s also about trying to overcome obstacles, you know — even if you put them there yourself. Peggy puts them there herself, but moving forward, she’s like, “I’m a private investigator now.” No matter what, even if it’s a left move, at least you’re moving. At least you’re moving. It gives people, I think, in this crazy world hope that there could be hope to move forward.

You’ve had such an incredible career, and you’ve played so many different characters that have so much variety. I’m curious if there’s anything that you haven’t gotten to do yet that you are really wanting to explore.

PETERS: Every time I would plan — I want to do this, I want to do that — it never works out. It seems like the universe just brings me what I’m supposed to be doing the next time, and I’ve been very fortunate, and I’ve loved everything that I’ve done. Very rarely am I in a situation where I’m not happy with it. So I choose carefully because of that. And I wanted to do this, and I love doing this. The next thing is I’m off to London, and I’m going to do a Sondheim show in the West End. I’ve never played the West End for a run. So I’ll just see what the universe brings me next. It brought me High Desert.

High Desert is available to stream on Apple TV+.