EastEnders was brought to you by... Stephen Sondheim

[Scripps2]

Posted: 1/13/16 at 3:46pm

In its climactic New Year's Day episode, the BBC soap dropped its usual theme music and used a song you may recognise. Since his name doesn't appear in the titles we'll give him some credit here:

 

[Scripps2]

Posted: 1/13/16 at 3:47pm

And if the link doesn't work in the US, you'll just have to use your initiative.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 1/13/16 at 6:04pm

That was nice.

 

Was Maria Friedman doubling as music adviser?

 

(Why was he in a pink bathrobe?)

[gypsy101]

Posted: 1/13/16 at 10:10pm

lol that lady's name is Linda Bernadette Peacock. I find that much funnier than I should.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 1/14/16 at 5:45pm

Initially I thought it must have been an (early) Maria Friedman recording but you can briefly see the actual vocalist in the wedding scene.

 

Pink bathrobe because some wedding guests got into a fight beforehand, fell into the lake and he dived in to rescue one of them despite having only learnt to swim this year - hey, it's a soap. There's also mud on the hem of Linda's wedding dress.

 

 The episode seems to rely on the broader interpretation of the song (namely that positive and negative emotions are all part of Being Alive) and one that I don't agree with, rather than either of the characters getting married having a similar narrative arc to Bobby.

 

But I did like them matching some of the other lines with other characters' experience. 

[NeverSoShy]

Posted: 1/15/16 at 1:26pm

If anyone was wondering, it was performed by Alice Fearn ( Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Shrek in the West End).

 

I agree that it was a very odd song choice for a wedding, but it was still nice to hear a Sondheim number performed by a West End actress on prime time TV!