#sondheim's muse

[callmedotseurat]

Bernadette Peters during the Broadway run of Sunday in the Park with George. (May 1984)

Photos by Howard Kissel

[iphigeniacomplex]

it’s very easy to tell the good satires and pastiches from the bad ones because the bad ones are too afraid to live within the form. like if you are doing work with fairy tales and you are refusing to look closer at the underlying logic and unspoken rules of what can seem at first to be a senseless form, you are not going to create meaningful work. to borrow a turn of phrase originally used by maria tatar, if you refuse to enter “the house of fairy tale” as anything more than a gawking tourist, you will miss the particular order to the way the table is set, the rooms that are locked vs the rooms that are simply difficult to enter, the set of the floorboards and the position of the furniture. whatever you build will then be a gilded imitation of how you believe the house of fairy tale ought to look, the table set according to your educated specifications and every door open. there can be no interrogation of themes from a writer who views the form as beneath them!

[thefuckingcrowboy]

I'll draw us now, before we fade

[stellagibs0ns]

listening to raúl esparza’s version of being alive and i cannot have anyone talk to me for at least 3 days. it’s simply the best version of the song. i could flip a car. mr esparza the man that you are ….

[lauramkaye]

Okay so I was taking a bath with a fizz as you do and suddenly it hit me:

What if Steven Sondheim’s Company but it’s the Company of Thorin Oakenshield

Bobby is Bilbo, obviously. And I feel like possibly Ori should be Amy/Jamie because I feel like he could embody that neurotic spiral. Maybe Fíli could be Paul.

Nori is probably Joanne based on saltiness. Or possibly Oín is, and Nori and Dwalin are the couple who gets divorced and keeps living together after.

Either way “ladies who lunch” is about Thranduil now.

The birthday party naturally happens under the Party Tree.

“where you going?” / “Minas Tirith” / “Oh.”

…actually you know what this started out as a joke but “Being Alive” is kind of perfect for Bilbo in a sad way that makes me think of him living alone in Bag End for 80 years I MEAN marrying Thorin and becoming the Hobbit Queen of Erebor or whatever so there’s that.

Also my bath is cold now so bye

[armandjolras]

i dont believe just any actress of a certain age is a Broadway diva, you have to be a DIVA and iconic yk… Like sorry Jen c*ollela is not a Broadway diva. Imo not even carolee Carmello is, even though I love her. While Lea salonga is. Maybe it defies definition

[thesobsister]

Soneto 5

Al que ingrato me deja busco amante; al que amante me sigue dejo ingrata; constante adoro a quien mi amor maltrata, maltrato a quien mi amor busca constante.

Al que trato de amor hallo diamante  y soy diamante al que de amor me trata, triunfante quiero ver al que me mata y mato al que me quiere ver triunfante.

Si a éste pago, padece mi deseo; si ruego a aquel, mi pundonor enojo;  de entre ambos modos infeliz me veo. Pero yo por mejor partido escojo de quien no quiero ser violento empleo que de quien no me quiere vil despojo.

("Who leaves me thankless, I want to love; who loves me, I leave thankless; I, constant, love him who mistreats my love; I mistreat him who, constant, seeks my love.

He whom I love, diamond-hard is toward me, while he who loves me finds me a diamond; I want to see triumph he who kills me, and I kill who wants to see me triumph.

If I favor this one, my desire weakens; if I plead to that one, I wound my self-respect; both paths lead to my unhappiness.

But I prefer he whom I do not desire, loving me violently, than he who would treat me like common trash.")

(sobsister trans.)

Man, Sor Juana was centuries ahead of Sondheim in capturing that particular flavor of ambivalence:

The God Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues

I've got those "God-why-don't-you-love-me-oh-you-do-I'll-see-you-later" Blues That "Long-as-you-ignore-me-you're-the-only-thing-that-matters" Feeling That "If-I'm-good-enough-for-you-you're-not-good-enough," And "Thank-you-for-the-present-but-what's-wrong-with-it" stuff Those "Don't-come-any-closer-cause-you-know-how-much-I-love-you" Feelings Those "Tell-me-that-you-love-me-oh-you-did-I-gotta-run-now" Blues

[tyrantisterror]

Favorite Greek God and Goddess?

Least favorite Greek God (it’s Zeus, isn’t it?) and Goddess?

Favorite God is Dionysus because of The Frogs, specifically the Stephen Sondheim version, though the originally play by Aristophanes is also very good.

Favorite Goddess is a toss up between Athena and Hecate - the former because she was absolutely my favorite as a kid and also I had a weird pseudo-crush on her, the later because she's the goddess of witchcraft and monsters so how can she not be my favorite?

Least favorite God is... hrm... I guess Poseidon? Like, Zeus causes a lot of problems with his infidelity, but he at least tries to make them right, whereas Poseidon is just as careless if not moreso with his libido and never really gives a shit about the consequences. Hell, even avenging Polyphemus was less about protecting his son and more about his ego. Poseidon's a cockwaffle.

My least favorite Goddess is whichever one of the muses inspired Zack Snyder and Michael Bay. Had to be one of 'em, and that one sucks.

[stargazer-tps]

Undertale Voice Musings + Choir

Fact: I am a huge choir nerd.

Fact: Back in like 2019, I made a soundfont using the Undertale characters' voice blips, and recently re-made that soundfont to work better, creating things like this:

This one is "Your Fault" from Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. Featuring Asriel as Jack, Sans as The Baker, Shyren as Cinderella, Gaster as Little Red Riding Hood, and Temmie as The Witch.

In addition to making a soundfont that just re-pitches the blips as they exist in-game, I also made one that loops a portion of the sound so the notes can be sustained, which means I can make cool choir pieces like these:

This one is "Dunkelian Lullaby," a choir piece I composed a while back. If you like this one, I do plan on selling the sheet music for it on MusicaNeo as Eila Mirlen! Keep an eye out for it there ;)

This one is "Love is Love is Love is Love," by Abbie Betinis, from the Justice Choir Songbook. If you're a choir nerd or a teacher looking for free, accessible, quality music, I would definitely check it out!

Anyway, the fun part is that if you listen closely, even in the sustained soundfont, you may be able to pick out the characters' individual voices. For example, Sans and Gaster tend to be pretty loud. Flowey and Temmie are also pretty obnoxious (I have them turned way down in the last example, but they should be in your right ear.)

Some Notes on Ranges

The thing about these guys is that they are... not real and literally just cool synthesizers, so technically they can sing in any range. However, like with voices, they do have ranges they sound the best in and—related specifically to this soundfont I made—here are my notes about where I would place each character in a choir! (Note that I often break these assignments when I arrange choir stuff with these guys just because the number of characters on each part is out of balance otherwise.)

Temmie and Gaster have the largest ranges, being able to sing 5 octaves (although Gaster cheats and goes back down the octave sometimes, like a Shepard tone—I’ve futzed with his voice enough already and don’t feel like fixing it). Temmie’s 5 octaves, surprisingly, starts an octave lower than Gaster’s. (Damn, Temmie.)

Shyren, Mettaton, and Undyne are close behind. They can each sing 4 octaves; Shyren’s range sits one octave higher than Mettaton and Undyne’s.  (Admittedly, Undyne’s very low range sounds a lot like burps, but it’s very strong anyway.)

Toriel, Asgore, Asriel, Flowey, and Alphys have a large range of 3 octaves, Asgore starting lowest, then Flowey, then Asriel and Toriel and Alphys.

Sans and Papyrus have the smallest ranges, at 2 octaves, and they are exactly the same.

NOTE: technically—being synthesizers—all of them can sing past these given ranges. But at the low end they tend to sound burpy and bad, and at the very high end they might be too quiet to be worthwhile.

Ideal Ranges:

Note: many of them can sing in multiple ranges—as seen above—but these are the ones I put them in most often based on where their original voice clips sit (the root) AND the vibes they give me (with some exceptions).

Alphys: Alto - root = F4

Asgore: Bass – root = E3

Asriel: General Treble (tend towards soprano range) – root = A-A♭4

Flowey: General Treble (tend towards mezzo range) – root = E4

Gaster: Baritone/Tenor – root = all over the place because I used 7 different clips for him. Most of the fun timbre switching happens in the two octaves between C3 and C5.

Mettaton: Baritone/Tenor (tend towards tenor range) – root = E♭4

Papyrus: Baritone/Tenor (He CAN sing in a lower range, but it’s not quite as nice as the higher range) – root = E♭4

Sans: Tenor/Countertenor (controversially, I might add. IDK, he can sing in a low range but IMO it sounds... bad, especially when he’s not sustaining the notes because then he just sounds like he’s burping. Actually, for that reason I usually stick him on alto parts) – root = E-E♭4 (you could argue I have the octave wrong, but even then, his root is E-E♭3 and I would still probably stick him more in the tenor range than the bass range—pitches lower than his root sound... not very good. I think he just has a very resonant voice.)

Shyren: Soprano – root = B♭4

Temmie: Soprano – root = G4 (with the caveat that if she’s not sustaining notes, the mezzo-range is stronger for her)

Toriel: Soprano/Mezzo – root = E♭4 (I try to put her and Asriel on different parts because *technically* their voices are exactly the same; Toriel’s speaking voice in-game is just lower. I did add some vibrato to Toriel’s voice to help a little.)

Undyne: Alto/Contralto – root = B♭3

Other Notes:

Asriel sounds good staccato but is really pitchy when asked to hold a note. (I went back and fixed this. But now it’s a headcanon that he can’t hold a pitch any better than your average human child can, I guess.)

Gaster’s sustained low range is also incredibly pitchy. A little sharp, maybe, up until A3. (I fixed this, too. He also no longer jumps octaves in the middle of his range for no reason.)

Papyrus is also INCREDIBLY pitchy when sustaining notes. (This got fixed. But now the headcanon is that he’s maybe a little tone-deaf, or maybe he just gets overexcited and pushes himself sharp or flat.)

Sans actually sounds like… a lot BETTER when sustained, throughout his range because it no longer has the quality of a burp.

Shyren’s voice is strong but her major scale sounds minor when she sustains notes and its weird??? Very flat. (This was also an error on my part, because my tuning skills are bad at 9 o’clock at night. Maybe she tends to fall flat when she’s nervous.)

Temmie sounds good no matter what range. A little trumpet-like, though, and can be overpowering.

Toriel also sounds really good sustained and a lot stronger. She’s still pretty quiet tho.

Alphys’ high range is stronger when sustained.

Undyne’s fine. Weaker in the high range in general.

Flowey is LOUD and OBNOXIOUS.

Range Samples

The image above just shows you which notes and stuff are playing in the above example. Each character starts with "speaking" on the same pitch their voice sounds in game (approximately, in some cases), then a two-octave scale to show off the qualities of their low, mid, and high ranges.

[droughtofapathy]

"Welcome to the Theatre": Diary of a Broadway Baby - February 2024 (Total: 22)

Kimberly Akimbo February 1, 2024 | Broadway | Booth Theatre | Evening | Musical | Original | 2H 30M You Can Pry This Show Out of My Cold Dead Hands

White Rose February 4, 2024 | off-Broadway | Theatre Row | Evening | Musical | Original | 1H 30M A Long Slog to Curtains

Selected Shorts: with N.K. Jemisin February 7, 2024 | Symphony Space | Evening | Reading | Series | 1H 20M A Lovely Night

Audra McDonald: Musings through Music with Andy Einhorn February 9, 2024 | 92NY | Kauffman Concert Hall | Evening | Concert | Solo | 2H My Soul Transcended Space and Time

Gospel Brunch at 54 Below February 10, 2024 | 54 Below | Matinee | Cabaret | 1H 20M Well...I'm Glad I Saw It

Fiasco Theater's Pericles February 11, 2024 | Off-Broadway | Classic Stage Company | Matinee | Play | 2H | Talkback Why I Love the Theatre

A Sign of the Times February 11, 2024 | Off-Broadway | Theatre | Evening | Musical | Original | 2H 30M A Lovely Night

Manhattan Theatre Club: Open House February 12, 2024 | MTC | Evening | Open House | Event | 1H 30M A Lovely Night

Munich Medea : Happy Family February 14, 2024 | Off-Broadway | WP Theatre | Evening | Play | Original | 1H 15M Well...I'm Glad I Saw It

Smash Open Rehearsal February 15, 2024 | Pre-Broadway | Morning | Musical | Original | Invited Rehearsal | 3H A Lovely Night

The Seven Year Disappear February 15, 2024 | Off-Broadway | The New Group | Evening | Play | Original | 2H | Post-Show Talkback A Lovely Night

The Night of the Iguana February 18, 2024 | Off-Broadway | La Femme Theater Productions | Matinee | Play | Revival | 2H 40M A Long Slog to Curtains

The Apiary February 18, 2024 | Off-Broadway | Second Stage | Evening | Play | Original | 1H 10M You Can Pry This Show Out of My Cold Dead Hands

Brooklyn Laundry February 20, 2024 | Off-Broadway | Manhattan Theatre Club | Evening | Play | Original | 1H 30M A Lovely Night

Russian Troll Farm February 21, 2024 | Off-Broadway | Vineyard Theatre | Evening | Play | Original | 1H 40M Why I Love the Theatre

An Evening with Stephanie J. Block: The Mother February 22, 2024 | February 9, 2024 | 92NY | Kauffman Concert Hall | Evening | Concert | Solo | 1H 30M Why I Love the Theatre

Doubt: A Parable February 24, 2024 | Broadway | Todd Haimes Theatre | Matinee | Play | 1H 35M Well...I'm Glad I Saw It

Encores! Jelly's Last Jam February 24, 2024 | NYCC | Encores! Series | Evening | Musical | Concert | 2H 30M Why I Love the Theatre

Sondheim Unplugged at 54 Below February 25, 2024 | 54 Below | Evening | Cabaret | Series | 1H 5M Why I Love the Theatre

On the Evolutionary Function of Shame February 26, 2024 | Second Stage Theater | Tony Kiser Theater | Evening | Musical | Early Reading | 1H 30M Well...I'm Glad I Saw It

Grand Hotel Reunion February 27, 2024 | 54 Below | Evening | Cabaret | Reunion | 1H 40M A Lovely Night

Teeth February 28, 2024 | Off-Broadway | Playwrights Horizons | Evening | Musical | Original | 1H 40M Enjoyable, But Left No Lasting Impression

Monthly Masterposts: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

[callmedotseurat]

Bernadette Peters 🤝 Brass Instruments

[teddypmedley]

Tv shows I like with absolutely bangin soundtracks

Gilmore Girls - Carole King, Grant-Lee Philips (troubadour), The Bangles, The Shins, Sam Philips, Bowie, Blondie, Nancy Sinatra, The Smiths, Talking Heads. Everything from the oldies to current stuff, mostly various flavors of rock. Lots of new wave and post punk vibes. It’s got everything from greatest hits to deep cuts. The whole show is a love letter to (mostly American, mostly white) art/media in general. While I acknowledge plenty of the references do not hold up, I hold that the soundtrack has zero misses in terms of well-chosen bangers.

Sex Education - Ezra Furman does a lot of it, and then they throw in loads of rock and pop classics and current stuff. Violent Femmes, Fleetwood Mac, T.Rex, The Velvet Underground, Brenton Wood, Queen. It’s honestly on par with Gilmore Girls, Furman takes the place of Carole King/Grant-Lee Philips and then everything else is an eclectic and fun mix. It’s more diverse than the GG soundtrack and also has zero misses.

Grace & Frankie - the intro theme is Stealers Wheel but the rest of it is a mix of oldies and current stuff. Eclectic as hell, I adore it. Everything from Gloria Gaynor to Bahamas. A bit of it is covers but they’re good covers. Then you’ve got Any Winehouse, The Milk Carton Kids, Kenny Loggins, Dionne Warwick, Alabama Shakes, 7horse, Little Richard, Adele. I think I caught a bit of punk in Frankie’s car in one scene, it might’ve been the Clash but I forget.

Madam Secretary - ok hear me out!!!! You’ve got Andra Day, Adele, Bowie, Peter Frampton, Joni Mitchell, a song from a Sondheim musical, several songs performed by the cast with their vocals and piano (inc. Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, a parody of a Billy Joel song, a few Christmas songs…). And then the song of all time, Cemalım (Erkin Koray) which slaps.

Our Flag Means Death - every song in the soundtrack is a banger I just personally always have different associations with them already because they’re always quite important to me before i see the show. Which is why it’s so low on the list for me personally. Also I have spent the last year and a half overthinking every song I hear through the brainrot lens and I associate like a whole other group of songs with that show now instead of the soundtrack. But the actual canon soundtrack is good, I love Lou Reed, Fleetwood Mac, etc.

How to Get Away With Murder - man I didn’t even finish watching this show and some of the songs stuck with me. Mostly IAMX.

What We Do In The Shadows - the fucking intro Norma Tenga song alone changed my life. It goes so goddamn hard. And then you add King Luan, Tol-Puddle Martyrs, Matt Berry’s originals, MUSE!!!!, Echo & The Bunnymen, Haley Heynderickx (who is SURELY also in Sex Ed), THE CRAMPS (perfect choice, I was furious until they finally put ‘em in), Siouxsie and Bauhaus (both almost certainly also in Gilmore Girls, but I could be wrong)… man I could continue from just season 5 alone they really don’t miss.

Community - their soundtrack includes The Police, Florence + The Machine, The Fratellis, The Cranberries, Lord Huron… and of course loads of cast originals.

Criminal Minds - pixies, NIN, the Kinks, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Jeff Buckley… all of this was also on Gilmore Girls. Billy Joel, Sara Bareilles, Jason Mraz, Deep Purple, Korn, Boston, Johnny Cash, AC/DC, Bob Dylan, THE BLACK KEYS!!!!, REM, Leonard Cohen, Cage the Elephant… all bangers. Honestly that’s part of what kept me watching for so long.

I’d just like to acknowledge Twin Peaks, The Sopranos, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Father Brown, and Heartstopper, Derry Girls, the Good Place, and Parks and Rec, which all also have soundtracks.

[encntada]

for all my sondheim girlies, i've added johanna to my list of muses

[stellagibs0ns]

we’re not allowed to pregame at my place because i will play the 2007 company cast recording featuring raúl esparza and barbara walsh

[desertdreamingariver]

I hope Bernadette is making $$$ for Old Friends because she is THE get for Cameron Mackintosh. Like to get THE Sondheim “muse” for your Sondheim show

[into-the-woods-truther]

In the opening number of Company by Stephen Sondheim, all of the couples sing “Bobby” at precisely different times as an introduction. This is the 20th century version of Homer’s invocation to the muses in the Iliad. In this essay I will