Only Singing in the Building
In the current Season 3 of the series, Only Murders in the Building, they decide to turn a stage play into a musical. The play is awful, making it a musical is a loony idea, and the snippets of songs we hear are bombastic -- but there’s one song, “Look to the Light” that’s done all the way through, and it’s…well, absolutely wonderful. And terrific as it is, it’s taken up a notch because of how it’s performed by Meryl Streep. (Which is spectacular.)
I figured that, compared to the goofy snippets (meant to be silly), this particular song was too good, too impeccable crafted that it was likely written by serious songwriters, so I checked the end credits to see. And it turned out that, yes, it was, indeed. The song was written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who wrote the score to the movies La La Land and The Greatest Showman, and the stage musical Dear Evan Hansen. I like their work, some songs I enjoy very much, and it’s all highly professional, though I can’t say I find their scores especially memorable overall. But I was surprised and pleased how really wonderful this song was, a bit different from their other work, I thought. And then underneath the credit, it said – “and Sara Bareilles.” Ahhhh, okay, got it. I’m sure this was a joint collaboration, but when you hear it, there’s clearly a lot of her influence in there.
For the scene, the only thing that helps knowing is that (in the musical) she plays a nanny of triplets, and this is during a sort of tryout to convince the producers to accept adapting the play into a musical. And instead of auditioning the big, bombastic, silly showstopper, as was the intent, at the last minute director Martin Short decides to go with this lullaby. Streep is the least-professional of the cast, and awkwardly shy and a bit offbeat. And then she gets up to sing the number –
Comments