Wattpad's Got Talent 2

spacetodream's Performance

In the Song Cover category, spacetodream performs "Not A Day Goes By" from the original Broadway musical Merrily We Roll Along, composed by Stephen Sondheim!

Interview Questions:

Why did you choose to cover this song?

I recorded this song in rehearsal on a rainy day a few months ago (you can hear the rain in the background!), in preparation for an audition. It's from Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along. I've always loved the complexity of both stories & emotions in Sondheim's music. One of my youngest memories of Sondheim was watching clips from Sunday in the Park with George in an elementary school art class; I sat transfixed, perhaps the only student in the class who left wanting to know just what that music was. After that, I fell in love with Sondheim's Into the Woods, West Side Story, A Little Night Music...and the list goes on.

This song is one I've wanted to perform for a long time; Broadway diva Bernadette Peters is well-known for it. But I hesitated to try it for years, because the emotional arc in it scared me. I think it forces singers to let go of the need to sound "pretty," instead embracing painful, raw emotion. It's the story of a woman who's realized her love's infidelity, and has made the choice to forgive and stay with him. But she's angry and hurt; she hasn't reached forgiveness yet in her heart, and maybe never will. Also, it wasn't written for a high soprano! However, keys can (thankfully) be changed! :-)

What does music mean to you?

From a young age, music was the way I felt free to explore and express myself without fear of rejection or reprimand. It was also a pathway to fantasy and dreams, a place I could turn to when I needed a type of magic and solace that wasn't available in the real world. I didn't think that I was any good at it; I wasn't trying to compete with anyone or gain popularity with it - I simply loved it, and therefore, kept immersing myself in it.

When I was in high school, a music teacher encouraged me and opened me (and my parents) up to the possibility that music might be a part of my future. After that, music began to be not just the stuff of dreams to me, but a passion to pursue. No - I may never be under the dazzling lights of the Great White Way - but I will never stop singing, and will always be grateful to the teachers who believed in me.

What do you love about performing?

I love the exhilarated feeling of being on that stage, seemingly alone yet surrounded by so many living, breathing, thinking, feeling people - all listening to the story the music is telling. The story that I am telling, through the notes, phrases - and even silences - within the song. But more than that, I love the entire process from beginning to end, of receiving a fresh copy of sheet music, the tentative first rehearsals of marking and learning the notes, phrases, lines - hearing the accompaniment played, envisioning the character I'll be portraying and imagining the piece as a whole.

When I'm engaged with learning, rehearsing or performing a song or scene, I'm energized, I'm free, I'm wide open to possibility and dreams. I'm the girl who first heard that music and wanted to know what it was, how it made people feel, and if my voice could create such magic. I'm the girl who stood, small and unpopular and afraid, in the middle of the stage, and sang - because my heart told me it was what I was meant to do.

Who/what are your major artistic influences?

I'm pretty eclectic, though my musical tastes are most often Broadway, Classical and Jazz/Standards influenced. But, I was a teen of the 90s and therefore, Alternative & Folk Rock bands were in heavy rotation on my CD player, particularly those that were female-lead (The Indigo Girls easily taking the top spot). And I'm a huge fan of the legendary singer/performer Judy Garland, as family and friends would all attest to. But my biggest influence from childhood was my Dad, who played acoustic guitar and favored classic boomer-generation rock bands like The Eagles & Creedence Clearwater. He was the first person to show me a great love of music, and his musical taste has influenced my own.

Today, it's usually the mood I'm in that defines that music I want to sing or listen to - but my latest crushes are the soundtracks Hadestown and Dear Evan Hanson. I'm also an avid fan of Opera - and will listen to anything two of my favorite soprano divas, Anna Netrebko and Renee Fleming, record! They are, simply put, divine. :-)

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