# Buffy: The Musical **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 6, 2001, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888 "2001-11-06T23:23:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![domina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/96bed5/32.png) [@domina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/domina)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/101 "2001-11-11T20:35:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Peta Tzunami \* > > According to “The Monster Book”: > > While **they do not actually need to breathe** —at least not in the sense that humans do, with the intake of oxygen—vampires can simulate breathing in order to smoke cigarettes or to help them create the illusion that they are human. In “Prophecy Girl,” when Buffy had drowned and needed CPR, Angel could not help her. "I have no breath, " he told Xander. > > [Emphasis theirs.] Maybe I’m missing something because I didn’t see that episode, but I still don’t follow you. Why couldn’t Angel just have taken some air into his lungs and expelled it into Buffy’s mouth? He still has lungs, doesn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/102 "2001-11-11T22:07:20Z")
I think the Angel “I have no breath” excuse for not giving CPR is an error on the writer’s behalf. Obviously vampires breath (even if they don’t need the oxygen) because otherwise they couldn’t talk. Or possibly an error on Angel’s behalf. Maybe he never learned CPR and is embarassed. ---
**Author:** ![jmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmonster)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/103 "2001-11-13T19:37:18Z")
I really like that look on Giles’ face when Buffy sang the “I’ve died twice” line. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/104 "2001-11-13T21:26:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > **I think the Angel “I have no breath” excuse for not giving CPR is an error on the writer’s behalf. Obviously vampires breathe (even if they don’t need the oxygen) because otherwise they couldn’t talk.** Maybe it was less an error, than the need for Xander to do something useful. Vampire bodies must continue to function in some ways as a living body, otherwise they would not be able to learn, circulate blood or weep. Suspension of disbelief is sometimes necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/105 "2001-11-13T21:43:29Z")
Yes, Tara was under Willow’s spell, but Tara had no knowledge of it, therefore the song CAN’T represent a secret Tara is keeping, which is what I understood to be meant by the theory. Now if Willow had belted out a chorus of “I put a spell on you” (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, anyone?)… I thought Giles’ smiling when Buffy sang “I’ve died twice” was kind of icky. Re soundtrack CD, per this week’s _Newsweek_ Joss wants to put one out but he hasn’t been able to close a deal yet with anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/106 "2001-11-13T22:37:44Z")
For the record, I’ve had the lyric, “She eats these skeezy cheeses that I can’t describe,” stuck in my head for a full week now. OVER and OVER and OVER. Oddly, I’m not sick of it yet. ---
**Author:** ![domina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/96bed5/32.png) [@domina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/domina)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/107 "2001-11-14T01:04:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Devil’s Grandmother \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > > **I think the Angel “I have no breath” excuse for not giving CPR is an error on the writer’s behalf. Obviously vampires breathe (even if they don’t need the oxygen) because otherwise they couldn’t talk.** > > Maybe it was less an error, than the need for Xander to do something useful. > > Vampire bodies must continue to function in some ways as a living body, otherwise they would not be able to learn, circulate blood or weep. > > Suspension of disbelief is sometimes necessary. \*\* Yes, I guess we have to face the fact that being undead defies the laws of physics. On the upside, it means I’m unlikely to wake up with puncture wounds in my neck. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/108 "2001-11-14T02:36:30Z")
This doesn’t really rate it’s own thread, so I’m putting it here: I’m watching FX’s Buffy reruns. Right now its Buffy’s eighteenth birthday, and her first (?) run in with the watcher council, and I’m pretty sure the vamp-in-the-box just chowed down on the weapons officer from _Enterprise._ Am I right? I’m frequently wrong about these things: I’m still convinced that’s Stephen Webber in the Subway ads, not to mention the fact that it has only recently been brought to my attention that Meg Ryan and Melanie Griffith are in fact two different people. ---
**Author:** ![MissMisery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@MissMisery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissMisery)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/109 "2001-11-14T03:07:12Z")
Amber isn’t the only Buffy star to be in Rocky Horror… Anthony Stewart Head did RHS in England. The pictures are easy to find online if you want to see him as Frankenfurter- very becoming! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/110 "2001-11-14T17:28:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*I’m watching FX’s Buffy reruns. Right now its Buffy’s eighteenth birthday, and her first (?) run in with the watcher council, and I’m pretty sure the vamp-in-the-box just chowed down on the weapons officer from _Enterprise._ Am I right? \*\* According to this site: [http://www.x-lander.net/btvscast.htm](http://www.x-lander.net/btvscast.htm) Hobson: David Hayon-Jones–Died in Helpless Zachary Kralick: Jeff Kober–Died in Helpless Blair: Dominic Keating–Died in Helpless And this site ([http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/7683/enterprise.html](http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/7683/enterprise.html)) lists Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed So yes, you’re right. \ ---
**Author:** ![Peta\_Tzunami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b487fb/32.png) [@Peta\_Tzunami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peta_Tzunami)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/111 "2001-11-14T18:12:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MissMisery \* > \*\*Amber isn’t the only Buffy star to be in Rocky Horror… Anthony Stewart Head did RHS in England. The pictures are easy to find online if you want to see him as Frankenfurter- very becoming! \*\* On page two of this very thread I posted a link to him as Rocky – includes photo and song. Check it out. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/112 "2001-11-17T02:13:05Z")
So what do we think of the edited version? The cuts I noticed: The opening morning montage Buffy’s entering the Magic Box The second half of “Theory” with dialogue Dawn’s line re birthing a pterodactyl and Anya’s reaponse Part of “Under Your Spell” I think (it seemed shorter) Xander’s line about Willow and Tara’s “singing” Xander and Anya in bed shortened A verse of “Rest in Peace” Part of Tara and Dawn’s exchange Bits of Dawn looking at her stolen jewelry Dawn’s dance at The Bronze Willow suggesting a confusion spell and Tara objecting A verse from “Through the Fire” Dialogue just prior to “Life’s a Show” Bits of Buffy’s dance (looked out of synch with the music) Dawn’s lines at the end of “Life’s a Show” Xander’s asking if he has to be a queen Bits of Spike leaving The Bronze Dawn took quite a beating in the edits. I think she lost more than anyone else. What did you think of Joss’s choices for cuts? What would you do differently? ---
**Author:** ![lolagranola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea5d25/32.png) [@lolagranola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lolagranola)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/113 "2001-11-17T15:21:30Z")
Wow! I haven’t seen the edited version, but it sounds like it’s a pretty brutal cut. Here, it didn’t run long (as in over the hour), but we did get 8 minutes less of commercials. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2001, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/114 "2001-11-18T03:01:29Z")
Yeah, it was like the entire flow was disrupted, with Xander’s funny innuendo and some of the salient points of the musical were cut out. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/115 "2002-04-04T05:46:41Z")
… what the hell. I loved the musical and I want to say some things about it: Amber Benson weighs 118 pounds, which is 2 pounds less than her ideal weight of 120. What this means is that Amber is of _normal weight_ - it’s the rest of the cast who is too thin. A couple of points that weren’t mentioned… The Tara song to Willow is _very_ ironic given that Tara doesn’t even know that she is singing nothing but the literal truth: [q]I’m under your spell Nothing I can do You just took my soul with you You worked your charms so well Finally, I knew Everything I dreamed was true You make me complete! [/q] To go from singing metaphorically, only to realize that you sung nothing less than the truth: [q]I’m under your spell God, how can this be? Playing with my memory You know I’ve been through hell Willow, don’t you see? There’ll be nothing left of me You made me believe [/q] Her and ASH’s bit had to be a duet because they were singing about the same thing: leaving the one person they loved the most. Also, did you notice that when Tara was levitating and (supposedly) about to receive some heavy-duty oral from Willow she sang: [q]I break with every swell Lost in ecstasy Spread beneath my Willow tree[/q] :eek: Speaking of Willow, I thought her line during “Walk Through the Fire” was very telling of her character devolvement: [q]I think this line’s mostly filler.[/q] Her best friend is in emotional torment from a resurrection spell that Willow performed on her, Dawn is in danger, Tara is mad at her for some as-yet then unknown reason, and despite all this, Willow really just doesn’t have anything meaningful to say. Another example of where the songs were referred to later in the show (once again Anya), this was in “Walk Through the Fire:” [q]Beady Eyes is right! We’re needed! Or we could just sit around and glare![/q] I was surprised at how weak Spike’s voice was - I expected that of Xander, but not of James Marsters who supposedly sings for pay. Could’ve fooled me. You know, one of the unexplored themes of S6 is whether Buffy can get back into Heaven. In “Life’s a Show”, she sings: [q]Life’s a song You don’t get to rehearse And every single verse Can make it that much worse.[/q] You think that she’s worried that she’s going to screw it up and not make it back? Probably not, for why jump into bed with Spike? Argh! That’s enough. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/116 "2002-04-04T05:48:05Z")
Obviously I didn’t do my quote tags correctly. Would one of the kind **mods** please fix? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/117 "2002-04-04T13:56:49Z")
Eh. It read fine. And I actually like how you read into the music. When the show actually aired, I was too busy staring in ghastly shock to really pay much attention. Reckon I’ll see it in a rerun some time and try to work past the goofiness and listen to what they’re saying.:wally ---
**Author:** ![Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c67d28/32.png) [@Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weird_AL_Einstein)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/118 "2002-04-04T21:49:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JohnT \* > \*\* > Also, did you notice that when Tara was levitating and (supposedly) about to receive some heavy-duty oral from Willow she sang: > > [q]I break with every swell > Lost in ecstasy > Spread beneath my Willow tree[/q] > > :eek: > > \*\* Heh. _I_ sure noticed. That’s why I _still_ haven’t taped over that ep yet :D. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/119 "2002-04-04T23:10:54Z")
Not to mention that slight but oh-so-significant pause after the first syllable of “complete.” “You make me com - plete.” Heh, Joss, you dirty bugger, you. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Frink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Mr.Frink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Frink)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888/120 "2002-04-05T05:05:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JohnT \* > \*\* > Speaking of Willow, I thought her line during “Walk Through the Fire” was very telling of her character devolvement: > > _I think this line’s mostly filler._ > \*\* I’d say it’s more telling of Alyson Hannigan’s lack of singing ability. Yikes! So that’s what a tone deaf person sounds like… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-the-musical/91888.md?page=5)