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Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a cult world-wide
hit TV show and No.1 in it's timeslot in the US, UK, Germany and France.
Once More With Feeling was the seventh episode in the sixth
season of the series. In the US it was the most-watched show of the
season and is a unique and entirely musical episode performed by the
cast, featuring music and lyrics written by Buffy’s creator,
Joss Whedon.
Click here for more...
Things begin with Buffy, Willow, Tara and Dawn
preparing for a regular day. After their waking ritual, the gang resumes
its typical activities at the Magic Box. It seems to be the same old
song.
Click here for more...
It’s Shakespeare’s fault. The rat bastard.
We had a reading at the house (it was Much Ado) one Sunday,
the first in a series. Me, some of my actors and writers (from both
shows), some friends. Terrified — the writers ’cause we
weren’t actors, the actors ’cause they’re supposed
to be good. So, okay, there may have been some tequila shots. Maybe
many. There must have been some inebriation involved, ’cause
something sat me down at the piano in public (pretty much a first
— I can’t play) in order to get Tony Head to sing.
Click here for more...
Click here...
Click here...
 
Photography:
Mitchell Haaseth & Richard Cartwright, Illustrations: Adam Hughes
Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a cult world-wide
hit TV show and No.1 in it's timeslot in the US, UK, Germany and France.
Once More With Feeling was the seventh episode in the sixth
season of the series. In the US it was the most-watched show of the
season and is a unique and entirely musical episode performed by the
cast, featuring music and lyrics written by Buffy’s creator,
Joss Whedon.
The soundtrack to Once More With Feeling is a unique and highly
desirable purchase with additional features including:
• Deluxe cover illustrations by Adam Hughes, a highly collectable
comic book artist, responsible for X-Men, Wonder Woman
and Justice League and many more.
• Bonus tracks including an unreleased demo version of Going
Through The Motions, sung by Joss Whedon and his wife Kai Cole,
as well as score segments from three other Buffy episodes,
Restless, Hush and The Gift.
• CD Booklet contains full lyrics to all tracks as well as additional
artwork of main characters and stills from the episode.
back to top
(taken
from www.buffy.com)
Things begin with Buffy, Willow, Tara and Dawn preparing for a regular
day. After their waking ritual, the gang resumes its typical activities
at the Magic Box. It seems to be the same old song.
That night, Buffy patrols. Troubled, the Slayer begins singing about
being the Slayer. Suddenly, she is attacked by vamp. Without missing
a note, she dusts him. Moving on, she comes across two more vamps
and a demon, who are ritually sacrificing a man. She grabs the demon's
sword, dusts one vamp and then fatally stabs the demon. Buffy saves
the man and then dusts the last vamp.
The next day, an uncertain Buffy asks the gang if they broke into
song the previous night. As it turns out, everyone did. Without warning,
“The Ripper” himself instigates a number about the cause
of the musical spell. The song ends as the gang discovers that the
entire town is singing and dancing.
After school, Dawn joins in and shares that a song broke out in her
math class. While no one is looking, she steals a talisman off of
the counter. Citing that they have a book that could explain the phenomenon,
Tara and Willow leave the rest of the gang. The two take a shortcut
home through a park and Tara bursts into a song about being under
Willow’s spell.
Right after they wake up, Anya and Xander begin singing and dancing.
Revealing their true feelings, the two sing about each other’s
little perks. Finishing their number, they collapse on the couch and
begin laughing.
That night, at Spike’s crypt, Buffy and the vamp talk about the
spell. Suddenly, Spike breaks into a song about his love for Buffy
and her unwillingness to return his affection. Horrified, Buffy runs
away.
At Buffy’s house, Dawn accidentally rants about the Halloween
fight between Willow and Tara. Not remembering a fight, Tara rushes
out of the house. Quietly, Dawn begins singing only to be cut short
by some evil puppets.
Later, at the Bronze, Dawn wakes up. While dancing, she tries to escape
and is surrounded by puppet men. Then, a demon, Sweet, appears and
informs Dawn that she summoned him and must become his queen. After
finding out that the Slayer is Dawn's sister, the demon orders his
henchmen to find Buffy and tell her that he has Dawn.
While sparring with Buffy, Giles breaks into song. Meanwhile, in the
front room, Xander, Anya and Willow work as Tara enters. Musically,
Tara confronts Willow about her evildoing as Giles explains to Buffy
why he is leaving. After the song, Spike busts in with one of the
puppet men — who tells everyone that Sweet has kidnapped Dawn.
After the puppet escapes, Giles insists that the gang let Buffy go
alone on the mission.
In unison, the Demon and all of the Scoobs begin singing from different
locations. Everyone seems to be worried. As the song concludes, Buffy
kicks open the door to the Bronze ready for battle. As singing commences
between Buffy and the demon, the rest of the gang shows up. Carelessly,
Buffy reveals her trip to Heaven and then begins dancing out of control.
Still angry with her, Spike holds her so that she doesn't explode.
Things wind down and the demon informs the Scoobs that he must take
Dawn because she summoned him with the talisman. To Sweet’s chagrin,
we find out that Xander actually summoned the sharp-dressed monster.
After one last verse, the demon leaves them all with a final note
about being truthful.
The gang breaks into one final song asking the question, “where
do we go from here?” Angry, Spike leaves the Bronze, only to
be followed by Buffy. The two break into a reprise of their previous
song and the vamp and the Slayer lock lips in a long passionate kiss.
back to top
It’s Shakespeare’s fault. The rat bastard.
We had a reading at the house (it was Much Ado) one Sunday,
the first in a series. Me, some of my actors and writers (from both
shows), some friends. Terrified — the writers ’cause we
weren’t actors, the actors ’cause they’re supposed
to be good. So, okay, there may have been some tequila shots. Maybe
many. There must have been some inebriation involved, ’cause
something sat me down at the piano in public (pretty much a first
— I can’t play) in order to get Tony Head to sing.
He sang. (Rocket Man, in point of fact, and he kicked it out.)
All of a sudden, everyone was singing — and everyone could sing.
Amber, James… such pipes! My not-remotely-secret desire to do
a musical episode of Buffy began to become a vague reality.
All I needed was four months to write it.
It’s possible the word “vacation” has a different meaning
for other people, but in my tribe it means “chance to work really
hard on something else”. So when I took my first real vacation
since Buffy started, I brought with me an outline for an episode
and a chart of every cast member’s singing ranges. I figured
it would be fun to write a musical.
I grew up on musicals. Stage, screen — if there was singing and
dancing in it, I was there. There is no more glorious form of expression,
and my greatest ambition had always been to write one. Of course,
in order to do that, you should, I don’t know, train? Practise?
Be able to play an instrument? Ha ha! (You have to imagine me as a
huge Viking-type guy for that laugh to work.) These are for little
men! I could bang a few chords on my upright piano, and even fewer
on my guitar, what need had I for such petty things as the slightest
idea what I was doing? Hubris is so cute.
Four mounths later, I returned to L.A. with a demo CD of 34 minutes
of music, my hubris replaced by craven terror. Who was I kidding?
How could I hide? Why didn’t I learn to play the damn piano?
But I had an ace in the hole. A failsafe. I knew however mediocre
the work might seem to me, everyone who would hear it did in one way
or another WORK FOR ME, so they’d probably be gentle. And they
were. I think they even liked it. And that helped ease me into the
“surround myself with talent” phase of the operation. Besides
my extraordinary cast, I had Chris Beck and Jesse Tobias working night
and day to make me sound like a pro. Chris had already won an Emmy
for scoring Buffy (check out his orchestral tracks at the end),
and Jesse had played guitar for Alanis Morrisette and the Red Hot
Chili something-or-others and was Musical Director/guitarist for Michelle
Branch and Vanessa Carlton (as well as fronting the band Splendid
with his wife Angie Hart — they’d been on Buffy twice).
They were opposite extremes, and exactly what I needed for a show
that was going to mix old-school musical orchestration with serious
pop/rock. There is nothing more deadly than the pop/rock musical if
it’s done wrong, but these guys were the absolute sweet mesh.
They put together tracks that made the whole mush sound coherent,
and then we brought in the cast. Some kicking and screaming —
and, you betchya, crying — but all singing their hearts out,
and most of them — I strongly suspect — having fun. And
they blew me away. I came from that experience thinking I might actually
be able to write songs. (Notice how they all work hard and somehow
it’s still about me? Welcome to my brain.)
My head was suddenly filled with visions of greatness: the musical
would be a phenomenon! Under Your Spell would go straight to
the top of the charts! Videos! Soundtrack album! Emmys Emmys Emmys!
Why, Stephen Sondheim himself would descend from the heavens to tell
me I truly was a songwriter!
Well, okay, most of that was far-fetched. For one thing, Sondheim
lives in New York, which is east of the heavens. And I’m pretty
sure he doesn’t watch. But the one dream that mattered most came
true, and you’re holding it right now. A soundtrack. Of my musical.
It took a year (and the tireless and occasionally devious efforts
of Chris Buchanan) to get it out, but now I have a real soundtrack
album of my musical. with endless, pompous liner notes, just like
the real thing. This makes it real. It makes it forever. Some shows
never get recorded. (Does anyone have a copy of Smile with
Anne Bobby and Jodi Benson? Anyone?) But this little piece was preserved,
and since it’s the hardest and most rewarding work I’ve
ever done, I’m grateful.
Two more things. One, it occurs to me that liner notes usually explain
what the hell is going on. So if you’re not a Buffy fan,
here’s the basic rundown: Buffy is a vampire slayer brought back
from the dead by her friends. They thought she was in a hellish sort
of place, but she was actually at peace, a fact she has only shared
with Spike, a vampire who’s madly in love with her. Then this
demon comes and makes everybody sing. You can pretty much follow the
rest, or just make stuff up. This part isn’t about me so much,
and I’m bored already.
And lastly come the thank-you’s. To save time, just look over
the album — the cast, the credits, the pompous liner notes. All
of those people have my heartfelt thanks. To their ranks I want to
add my writing staff, literary gods all… the Plebian Shakespeare
Company, sobering up nicely thank you… Dusty Chaulk, guitar god,
for playing a few tracks on the demo… My father Tom Whedon, the
greatest lyricist ever to hang out with me…
And most of most my wife, Kai Cole. She sang every girl part on the
demo — the first singing she has ever done outside of a shower
environment. The little bonus track at the end is from that demo:
Something to Sing About, sung by Kai (with me valiantly banging
out chords and singing the man part) in the foyer of our house. She
has an extraordinarily sweet voice, and is as much a part of this
work as anyone. Except me. Let’s not stray too far from the “me”
subject, okay? It’s getting weird.
That’s about it. I wrote a musical. This is the soundtrack. Very
occasionally, if you really pay attention, life doesn’t suck.
Joss Whedon
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1 Overture/Going Through The Motions
2 I’ve Got A Theory/Bunnies/If We're Together
3 The Mustard
4 Under Your Spell
5 I’ll Never Tell
6 The Parking Ticket
7 Rest In Peace
8 Dawn’s Lament
9 Dawn’s Ballet
10 What You Feel
11 Standing
12 Under Your Spell/Standing — Reprise
13 Walk Through The Fire
14 Something To Sing About
15 What You Feel — Reprise
16 Where Do We Go From Here?
17 Coda
18 End Credits (Broom Dance/Grr Arrgh)
19 Main Title
20 Suite from Restless (Willow's Nightmare/First Rage/Chain
Of Ancients)
21 Suite From Hush (Silent Night/First Kiss/Enter The Gentlemen/Schism)
22 Sacrifice (from The Gift)
23 Something To Sing About (Demo)
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Buffy Sarah Michelle Gellar
Xander Nicholas Brendon
Anya Emma Caulfield
Dawn Michelle Trachtenberg
Spike James Marsters
Willow Alyson Hannigan
Giles Anthony Stewart Head
Tara Amber Benson
Sweet Hinton Battle
Christopher Buchanan Executive Producer
Christophe Beck, Jesse Tobias & Joss Whedon Producers
Christophe Beck & Jesse Tobias Arrangement
Joss Whedon Music & Lyrics
Dawn’s Ballet composed by Christophe Beck.
Main Title composed by Nerf Herder.
Suite from Restless, Suite From Hush, Sacrifice
composed & produced by Christophe Beck.
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