The characters sing because they cannot speak. The main theme, that we keep hidden those things that we most need to share, could only have been expressed as effectively in this format. This is not a pastiche done to try to get the songs on the radio and just to do a musical episode for the fun of it. It is clear that, like so much of the work that inspired it, “Once More, With Feeling” really leans into the thematic and emotional resonance of the musical form. By signing, they were able to express things about themselves that they never could have done in a straight dramatic fashion. In that interview, Whedon expressed what made the episode so essential for him was the ability to take the lessons on the art and apply them to the characters. Whedon got to interview Stephen Sondheim at the “ Wall to Wall Sondheim” celebration for the composer’s 75th birthday in 2005. This struck a chord with Joss Whedon who decided to write a musical and joined up with Christophe Beck to do so. Along with bringing the musical genre into a new form, Sondheim has also inspired generations of creators to new heights of experimentation. He took on themes, both dramatically and musically, that no one before him and dared to do, and few that have followed him have actually succeeded in matching. Sondheim’s musicals redefined the entire genre of musical theater.
Once more with feeling full episode series#
The idea of the musical episode is among the most grounded and emotional of the entire series is sometimes hard to grasp, until you realize that Joss Whedon’s muse for the project was Stephen Sondheim.
Say you’re happy now., once more, with feeling.” The themes of loss, grief, and overcoming internal and external demons are laid bare. The songs don’t just fit and serve the plot, they are the crucial driving character building and emotional framework not just for the episode, but for the entire season of the show.Īll of this is summed up by the demon, Sweet, the primary antagonist, who memorably sings near the end of the episode: “All these secrets, you’ve been concealing. It is more fully realized and more relevant, both to the story and the thematic and character moments it expresses.
And, as an intense fan of musical theatre and the art of making musicals, many of them work for me. Many shows, especially fantasy shows and particularly in the years after Buffy did it, try musical episodes. More than just a single episode of a television show, “Once More, With Feeling” is the type of indelible experience that can stick with a person forever. “You would love the show,” they would say, “and even if you don’t love the show, this particular episode was made for you.” As has been the case with almost everything I love the most (all the way to my relatively recent discovery of Avatar: The Last Airbender, they were right. But, as tends to happen with getting me to try new things, my friends wore me down over the next several months. I was living in Colorado working at a ski resort and I’m not even certain I had a television. When the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode, “Once More, With Feeling,” first aired in November of 2001, I did not watch it.
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