Two Buffy The Vampire Slayer Actors Starred In A Musical Before Once More With Feeling
The "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" musical episode rules. This was true when it debuted in 2001 and it's still true today, despite the ambivalence that now comes with being a "Buffy" fan in light of series creator Joss Whedon's extensively documented bad behavior. It took me a few years after allegations against Whedon dropped to find my way back to one of my favorite shows of all time — and untangle the impression it had on me from the misdeeds of the artist most closely connected to it. But as Jamie Gerber pointed out in a 2022 /Film piece, there's a tremendous amount of talent worth celebrating associated with the show, from writers like Marti Noxon and Drew Goddard to performers like Sarah Michelle Gellar and Charisma Carpenter.
"Once More, With Feeling" is, in many ways, a showcase for what the show's performers can do. Like most of "Buffy" it's remembered for its snappy writing, but the script could only go so far without a fantastic cast to sell it — and sing it. The season 6 musical is filled with excellent, emotional surprises, from the reveal that Buffy (Gellar) went to heaven when she died and has felt depressed and displaced since returning, to the cinematic smooch between her and former enemy Spike (James Marsters) that caps off the episode. One of the best surprises, though, is a vocal revelation: when Anthony Head's Giles started singing an unlikely duet with Amber Benson's Tara, it was the hour's most instantly breathtaking moment.
The actors playing Tara and Giles had shared a stage before
Though the pair's plots only vaguely paralleled one another and both actors sang to an off-screen character rather than each other, the layered duet "Under Your Spell/Standing" became the episode's most musically transcendent moment. The song covered a lot of narrative ground, explaining why Giles felt he needed to leave Sunnydale — and his pupil and daughter figure, Buffy — while also showing Tara's heartbreak over her girlfriend Willow's (Alyson Hannigan) magical manipulations. In the reprise, the pair's voices overlap gorgeously, making what should have been depressing plot developments feel both necessary and surprisingly lovely.
While "Buffy" fans who have caught the show on streaming and in reruns likely hadn't heard Benson and Head sing together before, "Once More, With Feeling" actually marks the second time TV fans tuned in to watch them perform in a musical together. The first came just over a year earlier, when Benson and Head both took to the stage in Las Vegas, starring in "Rocky Horror 25," a celebration of the camp classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" that aired on VH1 in fall 2000. Naturally, "Rocky Horror 25" took place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Vegas, and featured a whole host of celebrities in full glam doing (mostly great and definitely choreographed) "karaoke" versions of the songs from "Rocky Horror." Among them? Anthony Stewart Head and Amber Benson.
Anthony Head famously portrayed Dr. Frank-N-Furter on stage
The VH1 celebration of 1975's queer rock classic hasn't been preserved especially well, but the full program can currently still be found on Youtube. There, viewers can witness a tousled-haired Ashton Kutcher yelling the movie's narration, a young Rashida Jones in full Frank-N-Furter garb, and — roughly at the halfway mark — two beloved "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" castmates. Benson sings "Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me" while wearing an outfit much like the one Susan Sarandon's Janet wore in the bedroom scene, while Head appears directly afterward in fishnets, stiletto heels, and dramatic makeup to separately perform "Planet Schmanet/Wise Up Janet Weiss."
This was far from the first time Head had performed as Dr. Frank-N-Furter; the "Ted Lasso" actor actually played the gender-bending mad scientist (portrayed by Tim Curry in the film) in an early '90s West End revival of the show, as well as in another production in 1995. Head reminisced about the experience when he appeared on "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" in 2011, joking with the host — who co-starred as Rocky on the West End — about the many times they made out on stage. In fact, by the time the VH1 special filmed, Head was a bit of a "Rocky Horror" celebrity. The UK "Rocky Horror" fan site TimeWarp.org shared a diary from the filming of the event back in 2000, revealing that it was timed to a fan convention and that audiences chanted "More Head!" in hopes of getting an encore performance from the star.
The pair also delivered the episode's best duet
Whedon was definitely aware of Head's musical talent before "Once More, With Feeling," as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" gave Giles two inexplicable (but incredibly welcome) musical moments in the show's earlier seasons. The initially stuffy librarian and Watcher sang both "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Freebird," with one dreamy performance even prompting Willow to admit she used to have a crush on him. Yet his full range of talent didn't become clear to fans of the show until the musical special when it became obvious that his professional vocal talents stood out from the rest of the ensemble.
It's unclear how much of "Once More, With Feeling" had been composed by the time Benson and Head took to the Hard Rock stage (Nikki Stafford's book "Bite Me!" notes that the episode took six months to write), but in the official commentary track, Whedon says he knew during the writing process that he wanted to get these two actors singing together. "I actually had Tara find out what was going on in the dialogue," he shared, "but to have her and Tony do a duet — Amber and Tony — was again something I knew I wanted right away." The pairing is a no-brainer; both voices perfectly complement one another, and the duet still stands as one of the show's purest musical achievements. The "Rocky Horror Picture Show" 50th anniversary is on the horizon; might we suggest a certain celebrity duet to celebrate?