‘A Weekend in the [Texas Hill] Country’ and Sondheim’s invitation to play

This article explores Stephen Sondheim’s ‘A Weekend in the Country’ from A Little Night Music, and details how, for two musical theatre queens on a weekend getaway, this song became our road map and rallying cry. As we examine the way that our lives mirrored the characters’ lives, we also rewrite Sondheim’s lyrics as a mode of updating them to explicate our specific twenty-first-century contexts, needs and desires. Our cheeky adaptation, we suggest, matches the cheekiness of the song on offer from Sondheim, and answers Sondheim and A Little Night Music’s invitations to play. Though some may cry sacrilege, we see our rewrites as requiem, as a fitting tribute to Sondheim, as we sing with, through, in lieu of and after his characters. Ultimately, we contend there is sustenance and knowledge for audiences through such appropriation. Our play is serious, and Sondheim helps us see how things become just a little bit better each time we attune ourselves to life’s musical possibility.