A little less thinking, a little more feeling—
I'm just quoting Mama!


A common phrase in the language, and in Sondheim:  A Little Priest, a Little Death, A Little Night Music, Marry Me a Little... and I suspect there are more than a few other instances. "I'm just" may not be quite so ubiquitous, but it's likewise pretty utilitarian, common enough in everyday speech, and it too pops up numerous times in the oeuvre.

Fortunately B has no reaction to fireworks.   She will bark at anything else, but doesn't care the slightest bit when fireworks are going off.

It is 80° here, about an hour before sunset, and I am going to call that "cool."

Happy Fireworks Day!
I hope everyone is staying cool during this hot weather.  
I do not have much else to say at the moment.  
Be well.  Be healthy.  Be happy.  

Someone who, like it or not, will want you to share
A little, a lot...

today I got my pulleys so I can now exercise with them in yet another painful way. With any luck, the door that the pulley is attached to will stay closed and not fly open in the middle of an exercise. I had occupational therapy today, and my shoulder was forced into positions into which it does not want to go.

Normally I spend the first of July listening to a lot of Canadian music in honor of Canada Day, which I might still do later today, but I spent the morning listening to Days of Wine and Roses, and am now listening to a jazz sampler while my shoulder is being iced up.

NYT:  Where Can Sondheim's Operatic Musicals Find a Home?
              Jonathan Tunick, Stephen Sondheim's longtime collaborator, unveiled a grand
              orchestration of A Little Night Music that deserves more than a concert.

Quote from: Joshua Barone, New York Times, 28 June, 2024In the past, [Night Music] was programmed at New York City Opera, which is now more or less dead.

Ouch.  Granted, as to the point he's making, it's hard to imagine NYCO remounting their much-loved 1990 production anytime soon, even without Tunick's sumptuous new orchestration (which I trust will be recorded sooner than later, though Barone's complaints with this particular showcase -- underrehearsed, balance issues, sluggish tempi -- have been widespread enough to make the concert, whose brief limited run ended last night, seem a weak candidate for recording).  Still, "more or less dead" is harsh; City Opera does still exist, albeit not at the scale of its glory days.

Old friends don't make demands on you—

          —Should make demands on you!

—Well, don't make demands you can't meet!

          Well, what's the point of demands you can meet??

                    Well, there's a time for demands, whether you meet them or not...


I guess I could've just used Mary's line all by itself, but the full exchange is just such classic Sondheim, so conversationally compressed that it's actually tripped up some listeners — as here, where a helpful Redditor unpacks it with admirable clarity and concision:  "Consistently with his character, Charley thinks we need to demand the impossible of our friends to help them grow."  (Another contributor on the same thread quotes SJS, in Sondheim On Music, explaining the line himself at much greater length.  Interestingly, he had earlier treated the same idea — of "easy" vs. "hard" demands, as a measure of commitment — in Company, with Frank's spiritual cousin Bobby yearning for a relationship whose terms explicitly dictate that it never be tested: "Make a few demands I'm able to fulfill.")

Hey, I thought you said tonight'd be Tony's--

This joint is just as grand.

We girls got dressed for dancing at Tony's--

This joint is in demand.

...But here you are,
And what was just a world
Is a star
Tonight.

Wherever we go,
Whatever we do,
We're gonna go through it together.
We may not go far.
But sure as a star,
Wherever we are,
It's together!