#Raúl Esparza just eats up Being Alive

[the-hovel-of-a-nerdy-rabbit]

A while back (before I was on Tumblr), there was a post about Aziraphale and Crowley watching musicals and it said that most of the shows they watched were Sondheim, but they enjoyed Hamilton. Instead of thinking "Aw that's cute that they watched Hamilton," my musical theatre brain tried to deduce which Sondheim musical would be THEIR musical.

My proposal is that the musical in question is Company (but secretly).

I know I could easily say the other big titles like Into the Woods or Sweeney Todd, but Company just makes too much sense to me.

For those who are not familiar with the musical, Company is a concept musical (A musical without a linear plot but has an overall theme) about a single man named Bobby who, on his 35th birthday, is essentially having a hard time understanding marriage and relationships. Throughout the show, he interacts with all of his married friends and past relationships to answer, "What's the point of being with someone when you could be alone?"

For Bobby, each couple acts as an aspect on marriage and relationships:

- Bad Habits and Activities you may or may not do together (Sarah and Harry)

- Divorce, but still love each other (Peter and Susan)

- Knowing you and your partner's limits (Jenny and David)

- Being scared about marrying and understanding why you would want to marry (Amy and Paul)

- Being contempt can be enough and the idea of caring for someone else (Joanne and Larry)

Aziraphale and Crowley can easily see their own characteristics in Bobby and his friends while watching it for the first time. Sarah is a foodie while Harry enjoys his liquor; Peter and Susan aren't together but they are; Jenny is willing to go out of her way for David and he will actively put her first; Paul drives Amy to the brink of insanity and Amy pushes his affection away, yet they love each other like crazy; and Joanne is jaded but Larry balances her out by being over caring.

The Ineffable Husbands get to question 'why' alongside Bobby and feel that same experience of thinking you understand but realizing you may have not been right. That there is more to understanding what a relationship is.

Even though the music is wonderful, two songs will resonate with them the most, 'Sorry-Grateful' and 'Being Alive'.

'Sorry-Grateful' brings out the contradictions a spouse may feel in a relationship. It's a response to one of Bobby's questions, "Are you ever sorry that you got married?" The idea that you are in a constant barrage of enjoying or regretting your relationship just melds with the angel and demon. We're enemies, we're friends, we're on opposite sides, we're on our side.

'Being Alive' is the conclusion of all that was learned from Bobby. The understanding of why some may marry or be in a relationship is cultivated in this one song. Each little supposed annoyance that is sung adds up into a consciousness of feeling like a real person, alive and happy. It's knowing someone is there for you and knowing you are there for them.

The way Aziraphale and Crowley are there for each other...well them pre-S2E6.

I will say, I don't think they openly admit that Company was their favorite. Aziraphale may say West Side Story since it's based on Romeo and Juliet, and Crowley may say A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (long name I know) on the comedy alone. However, this musical would be the one they watch on multiple occasions together for reasons they don't want to say, and they don't need to.

TLDR; Company has to be Aziraphale and Crowley's Sondheim Musical. Someone please make an edit of them with Being Alive (Raúl Esparza version). I don't have the talent for that. PLEAAASE!

[dulcetpill]

hiya! for the beyond evil ask thing 🎵

Thank youuu for interacting, you lovely person with a very good name<3

🎵 What five songs do you associate with Beyond Evil?

 I realized I don’t have that many song associations in general, especially if not counting those that are caused by fandom video edits. Quite often, listening to a song and hearing an exceptionally good line, I get a moment of association (“oooh, this is so jwds-core!!”), but the song as a whole doesn’t make me think about Beyond Evil (or any other media for that matter). But I’ll try to scrounge up some good ones and not cheat with easy fandom-edit picks :P

Дарья Виардо — Возвращайся домой Daria Viardo — Come Back Home

A gentle, sorrowful song in Russian about dealing with loss, pointlessly hoping that your loved one will come back home just like usual, as if returning from a very long walk.

“But I wait on the porch I’m covered in mold But I wait on the porch In the hope of saying “hello” once more.”

It’s so Dongsik-about-Yuyeon… I even contemplated making an edit with this song, but I don’t have the will to cut all of the appropriate footage for it, and not many people would be able to appreciate it fully anyway. But the song is still wonderful. A real tearjerker.

“And even if I know There won’t be a miraculous day The sky won’t give you back And the door lock won’t click… You won’t come back home Won’t come back home You’ll never come back home. But I still feel like…”

Nothing But Thieves — Your Blood

Listen. LISTEN. Your Blood is basically Han Juwon (Daddy Issues Edition): The Song.

“You know it's your blood that I bleed Tell me that there's some way that I'll get through the night. I carry your moral disease I don't wanna be something I'm not to stay alive.”

I literally spent a whole night writing a cheesy twitter thread about Juwon while listening to nothing but this song, even though it’s much more somber than the feeling I was trying to invoke. Because it’s just. So. Juwon. Ugh. Listening to this makes me really want to play some golf. At night. In the rain. You know the feeling.

“Oh no, there's no escape No matter how I try Now I'm stuck on one day For the rest of my life.”

Stephen Sondheim Company OST — Being Alive (by Raúl Esparza)

And this version. THE jwds song, I'm not joking. From Juwon’s POV, because he’s such a miserable flop (I love him so much).

“Someone to hold you too close Someone to hurt you too deep Someone to sit in your chair To ruin your sleep Someone to need you too much Someone to know you too well Someone to pull you up short To put you through hell.”

Even trying to quote it feels silly, because every single line is just IT. Such a powerful, beautiful song, really.

“Make me confused Mock me with praise Let me be used Vary my days.”

I want(ed) to make an edit with this one, too, but I couldn’t even decide on which version to choose… Maybe there's someone more capable than me who'll actually do it one day.

“Somebody crowd me with love Somebody force me to care Somebody let me come through I'll always be there As frightened as you To help us survive Being alive.”

Tamino — Indigo Night

It’s a perfect fit for Juwon, I’m a little insane about it. (Please do not notice that this is my third Juwon association, please do not perceive me.)

“He says, “I, I have seen the world's most beautiful places Still I feel, as If I'm a walking machine Watching it all through a screen There is nothing in between to me This might as well not be real.”

It’s a song about Juwon being his miserable self (though not as self-aware), and Manyang gang teaching him how to finally not be a flop who thinks having no friends is a flex, basically.

“And he cries, “Why can't I sing along with some feeling, or some meaning? It feels like I've always been blind I don't know why you girls are so kind For there are so many in line Whose lives aren't as lost as mine.”

Think of Juwon obsessing over that one stalker photo of Manyang gang gathered at Jaeyi’s, eating and having fun, so full of life and joy. And Juwon being anything but. Until he actually meets Dongsik and the rest and learns how to eat soup with the love of his life staring at him across the table so lovingly. Yeah.

“’Cause he's never been More alive.”

Florence + The Machine — No Choir

Beyond Evil finale from Dongsik’s POV. And post-canon, too. Dongsik and Juwon, Dongsik and his Manyang gang. Just eating well, sleeping well, having people you love around is enough to be happy—and to just be.

“And it's hard to write about being happy 'Cause, the older I get I find that happiness is an extremely uneventful subject. And there will be no grand choirs to sing No chorus could come in About two people sitting doing nothing.”

The song fits with the feeling of the show’s ending so well. It’s so… mellow, yet melancholic, yet light and soothing.

“But I must confess I did it all for myself I gathered you here to hide from some vast unnameable fear But the loneliness never left me I always took it with me But I can put it down in the pleasure of your company.”

To some people the ending was too soft or too open-ended, rather unsatisfying, not dramatic enough. But that’s what made it so perfect in my eyes. The mystery is solved, the chase is over, all that is left is the unspoken words, the smiles, the silent promises, all of the implied in-betweens… The show’s over, practically dead, yet, to me, the characters couldn’t be more alive, continuing on with their quiet lives filled with quiet love. I hope they’re pooping well, too.

“And there will be no grand choirs to sing No chorus will come in No ballad will be written This will be entirely forgotten.”

[hermitreunited]

get to know tag!!✨

Tagged by:  @wireless-telegraph Thanks for tagging me!! 

(also fyi if you or anyone tag me in things and I ignore them it’s just because I’m barely around anymore and things get lost. I like being tagged in things!)

Last song: Being Alive. @raulsparza is the reason for this. Like, her the blogger and also Raúl Esparza’s fault for being so talented, ugh I can’t stand it. The way he launches into the “make me confused” bit?? just STOP ugh

Last movie: Probably A Christmas Carol (1984) with my parents. I don’t watch a lot of movies, but they really wanted me to join them on this one. I couldn’t stop thinking that I don’t think that it would work on Jeff Bezos.

Currently watching: I have been ‘watching’ Hannibal seasons 1 and 2 on repeat in the background as I work. Mostly listening, but then when Will makes a face like trying to smile but it’s more crying than anything else, then my eyes are glued to the show. Me? Be into angst? Noooo wayyy.

Currently reading: Trickster’s Queen by Tamora Pierce. For some reason around the holidays always gets me craving her books, maybe because I used to get them as gifts at Christmas a lot and spend all of Christmas break reading? If only I had a Christmas break for such things now.

Currently craving: I have no answers for this... I almost never have an appetite these days and eat just because I’m aware that I need to in order to live. Can I say that I’m craving Will’s sad smile face?

Tagging @cowgaykermit, @softforklave, @anglophile-rin, @bsquadbra, @intricatecakes, @maundering-marauder and raulsparza up there!