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“The God-Why-Don’t-You-Love-Me Blues” from Follies - Danny Burstein
idolidolidolidolidol
Also, “Buddy! Bleh!” is probably my favorite joke in the entire universe.
Fun Opera Fact of the Day:
Samuel Barber’s “Vanessa” was meant by both Barber and the MET to be a star-vehicle for Maria Callas, but Callas turned the role down after seeing the score, because she predicted that whoever sang the role of Erika, the younger niece, would steal the show.
It turns out that she was correct and Rosalind Elias, the mezzo who originated the role of Erika, became an overnight sensation.
One more fun fact: The most famous aria from Vanessa wasn’t even originally in the score. After receiving the score one day, Elias humbly pointed out to the conductor that she was the only character that didn’t have an aria. Dmitri Mitropolous then called up Sam Barber and asked him to write her an aria. Barber then wrote “Must the winter come so soon?”
A related fun Sondheim fact: Rosalind played the role of Heidi in the recent revival of Follies.
Excuse me while I cry for the rest of the night.
(Source: somethingbypuccini)
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Don’t Look at Me - Bernadette Peters & Ron Raines
Favorite favorite.
“Me, I’m a hundred. You, you’re a blessing.”
Y’ALL. THERE IS FOOTAGE FROM THE ORIGINAL PRODUCTION OF FOLLIES ON YOUTUBE.
INCLUDING ALEXIS SMITH DOING THE STORY OF JESSIE AND LUCY. I AM DEAD. DEAD.
The way Bernadette sings “Don’t look at me” (just the phrase) drives me wild.
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Prologue from “Follies” - Stephen Sondheim. Price Walden, sucky piano.
This is a very rough demo I just made, just to see how something like this would go. I’m starting to think that recording some more of these and doing an EP type thing would be a really fun/interesting/good project, that is if there is any interest.
About mid-way through this my dog absolutely goes to town tearing apart a newspaper.
Oh, and also, this is totally Sondheim at his most Ravel. Forget A Little Night Music, this is his Valses Nobles et Sentimentales.
