This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Steven Ferezy: Take one.

[0:01] Dana Craig: Knock knock.

[0:04] Steven Ferezy: We're Steven and Dana.

[0:05] Dana Craig: We can't believe you.

[0:10] Steven Ferezy: We're so glad you're listening to it.

[0:12] Dana Craig: We would never listen to.

[0:13] Steven Ferezy: But I don't even want to listen to it to edit it.

[0:15] Dana Craig: I don't even want to wake up in the morning.

[0:18] Steven Ferezy: Stephen and Dana and we're in the room.

[0:35] Dana Craig: Okay.

[0:37] Steven Ferezy: We haven't done this in a minute.

[0:39] Dana Craig: Girl, we are rusty.

[0:41] Steven Ferezy: One, two, three.

[0:43] Dana Craig: It's it's truly, listeners, we have not been together for a podcast since Pippin.

[0:43] Steven Ferezy: Since Pippin.

[0:53] Dana Craig: Since Pippin.

[0:54] Steven Ferezy: Well then I had a nickel.

[0:56] Dana Craig: But then, but then before that, it was quite a long time.

[1:00] Steven Ferezy: I haven't been to your house.

[1:01] Dana Craig: I know.

[1:02] Steven Ferezy: You furniture that I forgot was once somewhere else you're seeing for the first time.

[1:07] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[1:08] Steven Ferezy: I mean, it's great.

[1:09] Dana Craig: Bonkers.

[1:10] Steven Ferezy: Well, listen, we have a really cool guest for you this week, but first we have to apologize for not taking the time to send a text that we took uh the month of May off.

[1:21] Dana Craig: Uh life kinda happened really fast, and I got evicted.

[1:26] Steven Ferezy: Pin in it.

[1:27] Dana Craig: We'll talk about it on our next episode.

[1:29] Steven Ferezy: We'll talk about it when it's just us.

[1:30] Dana Craig: But yeah, like Dana had to pack up her boxes and yeah, so we just moved and every it's heavenly.

[1:37] Steven Ferezy: You know, we always take summer a little slower if you're familiar with the show, but um we we could have uh carved out the time in our days to uh let you all know that we were taking a minute to breathe.

[1:49] Dana Craig: Oh my god.

[1:50] Steven Ferezy: So we apologize for being neglected.

[1:52] Dana Craig: Oh my god.

[1:52] Steven Ferezy: Okay, wait, so remember in The Kids Are All Right when the Nut Benning says you don't want to have to start with an apology.

[2:00] Dana Craig: When her daughter has to write thank you notes for graduation.

[2:04] Steven Ferezy: You don't want to have to start with an apology.

[2:07] Dana Craig: So I'm not gonna apologize.

[2:10] Steven Ferezy: I'm just gonna say we heard Steven what he had to say about it, and I'm just gonna say we're pushing through.

[2:10] Dana Craig: We're pushing through.

[2:18] Steven Ferezy: Everyone, you know, what's gotta happy May?

[2:21] Dana Craig: What's done is done.

[2:22] Steven Ferezy: And listen, none of y'all were sending us texts.

[2:25] Dana Craig: Where are you at?

[2:26] Steven Ferezy: You good?

[2:27] Dana Craig: You up?

[2:28] Steven Ferezy: Got no you ups.

[2:29] Dana Craig: Not a one.

[2:30] Steven Ferezy: Not a one you were.

[2:31] Dana Craig: My DMs are vacant.

[2:33] Steven Ferezy: So perhaps uh perhaps this is not needed, unnecessary even.

[2:40] Dana Craig: But something that is very necessary.

[2:42] Steven Ferezy: Is it a transition?

[2:44] Dana Craig: Album by our new friend, Eleri Ward, who's with us today.

[2:54] Eleri Ward: Hey.

[2:56] Dana Craig: Um, this is actually very exciting because it's kind of rare that we have a guest that neither of us know and uh you know owes us a favor.

[3:05] Steven Ferezy: So rare.

[3:06] Dana Craig: You are not in our phones.

[3:08] Steven Ferezy: There's really only a handful I can think of off the top of my head that I just slid into the DM.

[3:15] Eleri Ward: And I'm grateful.

[3:17] Dana Craig: I'm grateful for you sliding into my DMs because I'm so happy to be here.

[3:21] Eleri Ward: So thank you for having me.

[3:23] Dana Craig: It's so good, and we'll talk about it.

[3:26] Steven Ferezy: But first, we want to get to know you.

[3:28] Dana Craig: Yeah, because we don't know you.

[3:29] Eleri Ward: I know.

[3:31] Dana Craig: But I already, but I feel like we're old friends, though.

[3:35] Eleri Ward: I already know what your water bottle is.

[3:37] Dana Craig: Exactly.

[3:39] Steven Ferezy: Um, so what what's happening today?

[3:42] Eleri Ward: Where are you at?

[3:43] Dana Craig: How are we finding you?

[3:44] Eleri Ward: Because we believe you better than how we found you.

[3:47] Eleri Ward: You know what? You're already you're already uh succeeding at that.

[3:52] Eleri Ward: Um, it's been a whirlwind of the past three days for me.

[3:56] Eleri Ward: So on Monday, I moved in.

[3:59] Eleri Ward: Well, tried to move in to my new apartment.

[4:02] Eleri Ward: Um, and like nothing was right.

[4:06] Eleri Ward: Uh they hadn't painted, and there were like marks all over the walls.

[4:11] Eleri Ward: Um had to figure that out.

[4:14] Eleri Ward: Like the blinds are electric in the bedroom, and they didn't give us the remote, so they were just like stuck up in there.

[4:24] Dana Craig: Just like clapping around.

[4:25] Eleri Ward: I literally was like, really?

[4:28] Eleri Ward: The light bulb in the bedroom is out.

[4:30] Eleri Ward: Like, no one checked anything.

[4:32] Eleri Ward: There was like a weird paper towel, like I was like attached to one of the overhead lights in the kitchen with a rubber band.

[4:42] Dana Craig: Like, how random is that?

[4:44] Eleri Ward: And and the realtor was like, Yeah, I uh came in on Friday, every look everything looked fine, and now I came in.

[4:51] Eleri Ward: I was like, Do you have eyes?

[4:53] Eleri Ward: Like, this was a mess.

[4:55] Dana Craig: We have different standards, sorry.

[4:58] Eleri Ward: Yeah, so basically, they had to hire painters to come in while we were moving all of our furniture in.

[5:07] Eleri Ward: Because we obviously like booked the movers to come at the time that we we booked.

[5:14] Eleri Ward: And uh so the past three they finished today, the past three days, they've been painting an apartment with all of our stuff in it, and us like trying to like live in it.

[5:25] Eleri Ward: Like we slept on the mattress on the floor in the bedroom the first night and then in the living room last night and I'm like man tonight's gonna be great because I'll actually have a bed like oh what a dream yeah so we're stepping up in the world um it'll make for a really good story later I promise oh yeah it's building character which you you clearly don't have so and you know what I gotta say I'm actually kind of grateful for this situation because I am not very good at like standing up for myself and like demanding things without apologizing yeah and I boy did I do that this time around good and so I feel like this has it it truly has brought character uh to my life it has enriched me by uh having me step up and it'll be easier to do next time you did it Joe you did it I did do it I did I I have a question do you want to share where you were moving from and now where you're moving to yeah so I was in Boston because the pandemic happened and changed uh a lot of things and that was one of them um so that's where I've been for the past over a year um because that's where my boyfriend had been uh and then we so our our place uh we had a place on the upper east side uh that in the fall we decided to just pack up, put in a storage unit, save all that money, and just like be in Boston, which is it was like a weirdly awesome thing is yeah and I went to school in Boston uh for five years, so it's kind of like a another home to me.

[7:19] Eleri Ward: And so it was it was really nice.

[7:22] Eleri Ward: Um, but you know, I started getting like I need to be back in New York now, kind of antsy.

[7:28] Eleri Ward: So now I'm in Long Island City, and it's so wonderful now that the hoopla is over.

[7:36] Dana Craig: But um, yeah, it's been kind of wild.

[7:40] Steven Ferezy: Well, welcome.

[7:41] Dana Craig: I'm I'm in Astoria.

[7:43] Eleri Ward: Amazing.

[7:43] Dana Craig: So we're Sister Cities.

[7:46] Eleri Ward: Absolutely.

[7:48] Steven Ferezy: Stephen is in the heights, which we have to talk about that pin in that as well.

[7:53] Dana Craig: Pin and that.

[7:54] Eleri Ward: Loved, loved, loved.

[7:55] Dana Craig: Um I wish I had that experience instead of my TV.

[8:06] Eleri Ward: Now that I think about it.

[8:08] Dana Craig: Do it.

[8:09] Steven Ferezy: So you have an album you did.

[8:12] Dana Craig: How about that?

[8:12] Eleri Ward: How's that for a transition?

[8:15] Eleri Ward: Um so you have an album.

[8:19] Eleri Ward: Is it your first album?

[8:20] Eleri Ward: Is it purely concept album?

[8:25] Eleri Ward: Is it a foray into a New Land?

[8:28] Eleri Ward: I mean, I think yes to many of those uh questions.

[8:35] Eleri Ward: So I have been writing my own music for years.

[8:39] Eleri Ward: Um, and then it wasn't until last year that I put out a five-song EP of my original songs, kind of just like for me.

[8:46] Eleri Ward: Like I wanted to have something out there in the world.

[8:49] Eleri Ward: Um, meanwhile, for the past two years since 2019, I've been making these Sondheim covers and posting them to YouTube.

[8:57] Eleri Ward: Um, and just like kind of didn't stop doing that.

[9:02] Eleri Ward: And then it wasn't until um February when I started a TikTok, something that I never thought that I would say.

[9:12] Eleri Ward: God bless TikTok.

[9:14] Eleri Ward: Honestly, I was so against it, and I have no idea why, because it's the best thing ever.

[9:19] Eleri Ward: I love TikTok so much.

[9:21] Dana Craig: I know, I kind of got addicted to it.

[9:24] Eleri Ward: I had to for Broadway Fanatic to find all the people.

[9:28] Eleri Ward: But yeah, I was like, oh my god, if if um I had any energy whatsoever, I would be on TikTok.

[9:35] Eleri Ward: It is, but even just to watch stuff.

[9:37] Eleri Ward: Yes, I'm like learning something new every day.

[9:41] Eleri Ward: Um, but yeah, I joined TikTok.

[9:43] Eleri Ward: I posted like all of my previous videos on there that I had already had in my arsenal.

[9:50] Eleri Ward: And people were like, whoa, please record this, like please put this out.

[9:54] Eleri Ward: And I was like, never did I think that was that there was an audience for this, like past the couple hundred people who watched them on YouTube.

[10:02] Eleri Ward: Yeah, hundred people just got off my TikTok.

[10:05] Dana Craig: And truly though, you just you really you did that.

[10:11] Eleri Ward: You did it.

[10:13] Eleri Ward: Um, but yeah, I was like, whoa, okay, there's a much broader scope to this than I realized.

[10:19] Eleri Ward: Um I was kind of just doing them for me for fun.

[10:23] Eleri Ward: Um but people really dug it, and I got more and more requests like please put this out.

[10:30] Eleri Ward: I need to listen to this in my car, like blah blah blah.

[10:33] Eleri Ward: And I was like, well, you know what?

[10:35] Eleri Ward: I just might do that.

[10:36] Eleri Ward: Twist my arm.

[10:37] Dana Craig: You listen!

[10:38] Eleri Ward: You listen, yeah.

[10:41] Eleri Ward: Clean in.

[10:42] Eleri Ward: Absolutely.

[10:43] Eleri Ward: And the thing is, like, I didn't even really think twice about it.

[10:45] Eleri Ward: I was like, yeah, I'll all I need is me, my guitar, and like my computer.

[10:52] Eleri Ward: So um, yeah, it was over the course of literally exactly one month that I recorded all 13 songs in my closet.

[11:01] Eleri Ward: Um, and it was uh it was kind of a whirlwind.

[11:07] Eleri Ward: I made this goal for myself to like I want to finish it.

[11:11] Eleri Ward: I want to, you know, have everything recorded, and then I can take however much time I need to like, you know, finish put finishing touches on it.

[11:20] Eleri Ward: Um, but yeah, I I it just kind of rolled out as it went.

[11:26] Eleri Ward: Um and then I was like just gonna release it myself.

[11:31] Eleri Ward: I had that all planned, and then uh the the president of Ghost Light Records sent an email to me this one Monday evening, and I was like, what?

[11:43] Eleri Ward: Like, this is why I check my email like a psycho bag every day.

[11:48] Eleri Ward: Like, it's because I'm somehow like hoping that this email will show up one day, and it finally did.

[11:57] Dana Craig: That's the dream.

[11:58] Eleri Ward: I can't think of anything better than doing what you do for the love of it, and then just getting picked up like that.

[12:05] Eleri Ward: Like, you didn't have to wait for anyone.

[12:08] Eleri Ward: Yeah, you didn't stand in a line.

[12:11] Eleri Ward: It was literally so I was like, wait, I I suddenly have people who want to help me.

[12:18] Eleri Ward: And I it was honestly like a learning curve for me, this whole experience of like the release and everything.

[12:24] Eleri Ward: Having literal people whose job it is to help me do this.

[12:30] Eleri Ward: Whereas like I'm used to doing everything myself and like, you know, wearing every hat and you know, covering all those bases.

[12:37] Eleri Ward: That to have people do those things for me, I was like, wait, that's right.

[12:43] Eleri Ward: I can email him and he'll help me with that.

[12:46] Dana Craig: Yes.

[12:47] Eleri Ward: Remind myself because that's a team.

[12:50] Eleri Ward: Yeah.

[12:51] Eleri Ward: I was like, wow, this is this is that is what made it feel so gratifying.

[12:58] Eleri Ward: And did you produce it on your own?

[13:00] Eleri Ward: I uh yes, and my friend Tom uh did mixing and mastering um while I gave notes uh back and forth to get it to how exactly how I wanted it to sound.

[13:13] Eleri Ward: Um so it was fully remote, which was really kind of cool.

[13:17] Eleri Ward: Um I don't know.

[13:21] Eleri Ward: It it made me realize like, wait, why haven't I done more things like this?

[13:26] Eleri Ward: Like I I kind of uh discounted myself uh in terms of like, oh well, I'm not a producer and like I don't know how to work technology well, so like I can't do that, but that is so dumb.

[13:42] Dana Craig: You did it, you did it, and that was possible, and something else is possible.

[13:46] Eleri Ward: That's yeah you you remind me of um a queen, like an angel.

[13:51] Eleri Ward: No, um I watched the Bo Burnham special on my flex.

[13:56] Dana Craig: Oh my god, oh my god, I've watched it yet.

[13:58] Eleri Ward: Oh my god, I'm so excited.

[13:59] Eleri Ward: I just took my earphone up.

[14:07] Eleri Ward: He gave, you know, himself yes, this chunk of time, and it's literally what every 13 or 14 year old does. I'm speaking on my own by myself. Like this is what I would have done. Whatever you find stimulating and creative, you're just doing it. Yeah. Like there isn't any like other other stuff in the way. You're hanging up laundry and singing, you know, like you're just doing it for the love of it. And then you put it up and it's scrappy, and it's something that came from you, and super super creative. If any of us did anything that came up in our heads, but we don't do it. You know what I mean? Like it's the doing of it that is so impressive. It's like, how did you do that? Of course you did it.

Please do it again. I appreciate that so much, especially because I feel like I wasn't aware of how I wasn't using social media to the best of my ability, or like to my you know, utmost advantage. And it really is something that I'm realizing more people need to utilize. Like I literally want all of my friends to put everything that is in their head out into the world because you just don't know who's watching, who's listening. Something that you made a long time ago can be the thing that makes you to be a star tomorrow. Like you just don't know. Wait, so Steven showed me, is it just Living Baby? It was this woman who just talks with her nails. It's like this. That's like, excuse me. And it's like, okay, that was a thing, and now you're a millionaire, and I just I like it.

I'm the one who's watching it. Like, it's great. Exactly. There are things that I see where I'm like, thank God this person is making this video. Like, thank goodness they don't have some saboteur in their head that is making them, you know, rethink things. Like their delusion is so great that I'm getting the benefits. Right. Absolutely. I'm reaping the rewards. Absolutely. And so that I just like urge everyone to just shut that voice in your head out of town. How do you look at me when you say that, Eleri? It doesn't, it doesn't exist. Like, whatever that bar is, that doesn't exist. Like, that's not real. Yeah, like just put it out there. Also, I saw speaking of things that I see on TikTok that like, you know, make me feel enriched.

Um, there's this, there's this video of this girl being like, you don't get graded on your posts. You don't get graded on what you put out on social media. No one's grading you. Sure, you have views and you have likes and comments and whatever, but that's not a grade. And you're allowed to put content and stuff out there that isn't amazing. You're allowed to do that, and it doesn't define you, it doesn't, it doesn't make a difference. It's not like getting an F on a test and then you like fail the class. That's not how that works. Um, you know, I love I love just like, oh, I'm gonna make this video. Okay, that wasn't my best, but like I got it out of me. I created something, and I fully believe as myself that each thing that you put out into the world is a stepping stone to the next thing, and so just keep keep stepping stones, you know, like keep stepping on those stones until you get to the next the next thing, the other side, and then you know, because I feel like if you don't get whatever's in you out now, it's somehow going to fester in a way that isn't necessarily beneficial.

Like a pressure cook. That's a demon. You have to exercise it. No, but like for real. That's real. For real, for real. Pretty women. Fascinating, sipping coffee, dancing pretty women are a wonder. Pretty women sitting in the standing on the standing.

[18:47] Dana Craig: Yeah, go ahead. You go selection.

[18:50] Eleri Ward: Okay, amazing. Go. Well, I mean, the album is called A Perfect Little Death. Great. Which you can find on Spotify, Apple Music, and Ghostlight Records. Alright. Yeah, literally anywhere you stream or buy music is there. Song selection. Yeah. Why why those songs was um what what else was on the list that didn't make it on the album? Well because your choices are very good. Oh, I think that's a good mix of like I want to hear some of the classics, but I also want to hear Joanna Reprise. Yeah, um I you know I think that this is a really dumb answer, but I chose what I like. That's not dumb. That's not the best answer. That's it's coming from you. You get to make those choices. Yeah, I like kind of didn't totally think about what people would like.

I just knew what I liked. And I mean some of them were like, oh, people have requested this song, but that's a song also that I like and have and have like a clear image of where it can go in terms of an arrangement. So my friend Kaylin I actually requested take me to the world, and I was like, wait, I hadn't thought about that, and I barely even I knew that song at the time. I did I all I knew was take me to the world, and I was like, okay, I don't know what else happens after that, but I know I know it, and I knew that it was from Evening Primrose, which is like the weirdest show ever, and I love weird, yeah, and so I was like, cool, I'll learn it and I'll do it. Like if I'm inspired by it off the bat, then that's all I need.

It's so beautiful because that melody lends itself so beautifully to the style in which you are delivering this album, which is um right. It's like Sufjan Stevens, right? Yes, yes, yes. Now he he is uh my he's one of my all-time favorite artists ever. And you're getting to him. Yeah. Well, my uh I had this friend, uh, so I went to Berkeley College of Music for a year, and I had this friend who went to Berkeley prior to when I enrolled there. And he played me um one of Bonnie Bear's albums, and then he played me Age of Ads by Sufjan Stevens. That was my introduction to Sufjan Stevens, which if you are a Sufjan Stevens person, that's like kind of weird. Um, but I listened to that album and I was like, this is the most insane thing I've ever heard.

It literally blew my mind, like little 16-year-old me, like, oh my god, music. Yeah, by only discovering your own stuff. And yes, yes, because it's like when you're a teenager, that's when you really start kind of like going out and venturing out into the wild of the internet to find the sounds that you like. And that was really influential to me. That album still to this day is one of my all-time favorite albums. I mean, I had never heard anything like it, and there isn't anything like it. I mean, a 25 minute song with like five or six movements in it as the ending track is like, hello? What? Who makes that? That's crazy. Um from there, I obviously just like became obsessed. Um, I also have an obsessive personality.

So if I if I like if I like something off the bat, I'm like, I need to know everything. Oh my gosh. Part two, part two with you. We need a whole other podcast. I mean, I went to town, I bought every single Sufjan Stevens album. I listened to it a million times. I literally was like, who is he? Like, what is his origin story? Like, I needed to know everything about him. Pre-Wikipedia. I love that beginning um age of fandom, which I am at right now with Gene Smart. Okay, continue. Oh, oh. Um, I can also hear the influences. Um, correct me if I'm wrong, uh, uh, a Joni Mitchell in your voice, uh, Lorenzo. I, you know what's crazy is people say Joni Mitchell all the time, and I don't really listen to her.

I was hoping you'd say that. I love to be proved wrong. No, that's that's why I said correct me if I'm wrong. Um, that's fascinating. Yeah, it is kind of fascinating. Who else is on your Mount Rushmore? Okay, so we start with Sufjan, and then we move to Caroline Polachek, who I literally just my stomach literally just did a twirl just saying her name. I'm obsessed with her. Um if you that's exciting. If you know the band Chairlift, they uh they have that really famous song called Bruises. Um uh ooh. I wanna do handstands for you. Da da da da da da da dou. Well, it was okay. Okay, total like indie pop bop. Yes, yes. Um, so she and this other guy started this band called Chairlift. They had that song, it was like on a an iPod commercial, they blew up.

And then she also like recorded this other like weird album all through her her like laptop, like even used the a laptop microphone to sing the songs um uh under the name Ramona Lisa. And uh yeah, she's it's so weird, but really cool. Um, and then she also makes electronic uh instrumental music under CEP, which are her initials, and then in 2019, she came out with the album Pang under Caroline Polachek, her debut album. And uh her most popular song is So Hot You Hurtin' My Feelings, can't deal. It's really poppy and fierce. It sounds like a bop. It totally is, but the rest of the album is like even better than that song to me. And so I listened, I heard this song Door come up on my like Spotify radio.

I don't know what artist I was like radioing. Um, but the song Door came on, and it was literally the craziest thing I had ever heard. And I her voice is like an alien, like it sounds like it's auto-tuned and it's not, and uh I needed to see the squeeze number two most popular, yeah. It's literally the best song, and I've listened to it so many times. My Spotify rapped last year was all Caroline Polachek. I love getting this glimpse into your inner life. Oh my god. All you have to do, she's a trigger word for me. So all you need to say is Caroline Polachek, and I'm done for um I'm obsessed. And but I was like, oh my god, I've never heard a voice like this that also like operates in similar ways as mine, because I have a huge break.

Yeah, yeah. I love that you use your break. I love it. And I have to say it's not only her, but it's also this whole Sufjan project of mine that has allowed me to embrace that, to be honest. Because in musical theater, it's like all about that mixed belt. And when you have a break as big as mine, it's it's like it's not the mo it's not where I live, you know. I can do it, but it's not like oh, that's just my comfort zone. My comfort zone is like a freaking yodel, you know. Like, so I after kind of delving into this and actually like embracing what my voice naturally just does when I don't think about it. I was like, okay, this is where I need to, I need to emphasize. I need to capitalize on my strengths, which is such a simple concept, but yet we fight it.

You you Bob Foxied yourself, you know, you're using exactly what you do, and bang everything else. I like to have it all. I had to I had to do that. There was a little show I mean, I am wearing Liza Minnelli. She came salty. But yeah, so like uh her she really kind of pushed me to do that in terms of my vocal stylings, but also uh just as like a songwriter and an arranger as well. Um so yeah, they it's like Sufjan Stevens, Caroline Polachek, Leanne La Havas, which you wouldn't totally think about if you like just heard me. Um, but huge influence to me in many ways, and then Andrew Bird, who oh my god, like oh that man is so talented, and uh something that all of these artists have in common.

[28:23] Eleri Ward: Um that I I was just talking about this today because of Saint Vincent, she's another person I really really am inspired by. Um, all of these artists uh reuse and recycle their own ideas and motifs, both musically and lyrically, and I find that really fascinating. And so I I was like, all right, when I'm making this album, what is something like motif-wise or stylistically that I can use that creates kind of a motif uh throughout? And so it was like very little things, like you probably wouldn't like pick up on it if you just like you know, listen to it, but it was definitely on my mind because that's something that I find really freeing um to reuse stuff because I feel like as artists we're always like, oh, we have to make new new, new, new, new, we can't do the same thing over again, but I think there's something in doing the same thing over again, but in new ways that is very exciting to me. So that's kind of like the the sphere in which the album lives in. It's like it clearly lives in this similar groove, but how it comes out is different, you know.

[29:38] Dana Craig: Well, that's a question I had is so you do all of these Sondheim songs from different shows. What are some of your favorite versions that other people have done of those?

[29:50] Eleri Ward: I I have to say, when it came to learning the songs and then basing my like my thing off of something, I I didn't really listen to anything other than whatever the original cast recording was. Because then I could take what Sondheim himself had truly envisioned for the orchestrations and then kind of stripped it and like played around with that. Because anyone else I I don't know. I I kind of didn't in the same way, kind of a purist in that way. At least start with like start there. And if you know you want to hear Bernadette's version of it too, go for it. But right, but I'm start with it in its purest form.

[30:34] Dana Craig: Exactly.

[30:35] Eleri Ward: Cause then it allowed me, because one of the things I really had in mind when I made it was how can I use my voice as the orchestrations? Yes. So, and I wanted to use my voice and like my harmonies with those orchestrations per se, based off of what Sondheim had written himself. Um he's like the basis of the whole project. And I didn't really want to play off of anyone else's ideas, really. And I also don't think I even thought about it, to be honest. I think I was just like, oh the original cast recording not listening to anything else.

[31:19] Eleri Ward: I love anything where it sounds where you don't have to try. You know what I mean? Like something that is just so pure from you that it's you're not trying to like add anything else onto it, try to be someone else or absolutely, and uh that's why some of my arrangements like kind of took a while to marinate because I wasn't I wasn't trying to force anything. Like if you have to try to like make it a certain thing I feel like that kind of robs it of its of that purity of of the like the intention that I went into it with which is this very like raw and open wound type thing and if you like try to force it and make it contrived that that's like trying to slap on a band-aid when I really it hurts good like let it open you know so um in the spirit of doing the same thing over again but in a new way what was your gateway to Sondheim music?

[31:41] Eleri Ward: Well I would have to owe it all to my high school teacher Andy Robinson as well as as Pat Rusk they were the department heads of my musical theater program at my high school I went to an arts high school called Chicago Academy for the arts um it was the best place in the world like I I can't imagine going anywhere like having a different education than that. It's most people can't say that their high school still supports them and like still um gives them opportunities and like you know checks it Watoma area school district oh my god I'm just saying like it's a rare thing and so I'm really grateful for it and my department heads they always did Sondheim show like every year and I obvious I like knew who Sondheim was and had known his music before. Um, because I've been doing theater since it was like eight. Uh, and if you do theater, like somehow along the way, like you find something.

[33:26] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[33:27] Eleri Ward: Um, but I didn't actually study him or like really delve into it until high school. And like it was Andy who showed us the Sondheim birthday concert with like all the leading ladies in red, and it changed my life. And um, we we did uh company lol high schoolers doing company. Yes, but we did company and drink to that. Honestly, though, my friend Alexa Lois, she played Joanne, and she was so fierce. Um but we he introduced us to the the whole like original cast recording documentary and like seeing that at how old was I? I think I was 16. Seeing that at 16 years old, I was like, what is this? Like this is the coolest thing ever. And then I like went home and like tried to find it again so I could watch it again. Like it it's so Elaine's stretch is terrifying in it.

[34:30] Eleri Ward: They're re-releasing it in 4K. I mean, she is a Disney villain in that. She is just like fabulous. It's fierce proving every point and tired, like she's amazing. Oh my god. And it and then I don't know if you guys have ever seen the the documentary now, spoof on that. It is the best thing. It is so so I have watched that way too many times.

[35:01] Dana Craig: Me too.

[35:02] Eleri Ward: It's the most perfect representation of what it's like to be my brain. And and you know what I appreciate most about it is it it is the most niche thing in the world, and I'm all for that thing. I'm all for the case. Because we were watching for it. We're like, oh, they think they're gonna make this funny. Okay, do your little spoof. And we're watching. They did the homework. Like, I mean I appreciated it so much because it's coming from like a different world than like theater kids. It's coming from comedy, which is very male straight. And I was like, oh, you're seeing us! Oh wait, you know that too? Like, yeah. I thought that was awesome.

[35:47] Dana Craig: I know.

[35:47] Eleri Ward: It was on what? Like comedy central?

[35:50] Dana Craig: Yeah, and like HBO and stuff.

[35:52] Eleri Ward: What the hell? Like, I shouldn't have been on it. I'm excited that a whole other like group of people are now gonna try to hunt down this documentary, which is hard to find.

[36:02] Dana Craig: Yes.

[36:02] Eleri Ward: If you need it, I have it on DVD. I can host a screening. It was on Netflix for a while.

[36:08] Dana Craig: Was it really?

[36:09] Eleri Ward: Yeah, because uh I saw it and I was like, I have to watch it again, even though I've seen it 17 times. Formative. It's completely formative. It totally is. It's so good. It was cool. Shout out to high schools everywhere.

[36:23] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[36:23] Eleri Ward: So it really, yeah, it was my it was my teachers. And then I was like, I I mean Were you in any of the Sondheim show?

[36:30] Eleri Ward: Oh, yeah, you did company. Who were you in company?

[36:32] Eleri Ward: I was Amy. Um, you know, give me a little patter.

[36:38] Dana Craig: Is that not getting married today?

[36:41] Eleri Ward: Yes. Yeah. It was so fun. Um and uh uh what else? We also did Marrily, we were all long. Um, fab. Which is what Dana worked on that documentary if you watched that.

[36:57] Dana Craig: Oh my god, fierce.

[37:01] Eleri Ward: That documentary also on Netflix.

[37:03] Dana Craig: Yes.

[37:05] Eleri Ward: Best worst thing that ever could have happened. That document.

[37:09] Dana Craig: No, it's I I think that name is Legends. I just know that we talk about that documentary every episode. But that that is also a great show and very also concept-y.

[37:19] Eleri Ward: Yeah, I uh was like, I don't know, featured ensemble. So I and I wasn't very appreciative of what that experience was. I was like, well, we always do cool shows, so like whatever. I don't know. Marilee Marilee is like a weird one. And if you're in high school, I don't know. I generally across the board, I can't imagine like high schoolers being like, Merrily, we roll on isn't that a thing.

[37:47] Dana Craig: True.

[37:54] Eleri Ward: Listening to my blog. Yeah, high school and also I think after that introduction via my teachers, um, my mom was like, yeah, okay, so she likes Sondheim and I I like Sondheim. My mom is really cool. She always had liked theater and like it was we always saw shows. Um didn't even think twice about it. And my mom got tickets for her and I to see Stephen Sondheim speak uh at the Harris Theater in Chicago. Um and it was literally like an evening with Stephen Sondheim where it's like an an on stage interview of him just like telling stories and talking about stuff and like all these anecdotes that were just so cool to hear from his mouth.

[38:45] Eleri Ward: Sitting in the audience, like this little teenager with my mom. Like, oh my god, this man is just so he's right there. Yeah, he's insane and a genius, and I am so inspired just to know that like he exists and his work exists. And we exist at the same time.

[39:03] Dana Craig: And his wide clap exists.

[39:05] Eleri Ward: His wide clap. Yes. I love it. It's so it's wholesome. Um one of my favorite things is uh theater songs, but done in a pop culture way. Uh country rap, you name it, disco.

[39:26] Dana Craig: Album.

[39:27] Eleri Ward: Well, okay, so yeah, that's the other way. I was thinking more like Jay-Z using hard knock life or Grace Jones singing tomorrow.

[39:35] Dana Craig: I stopped.

[39:37] Eleri Ward: Disco. It's my favorite. So I I totally appreciate that your versions of these songs just done. Yeah, it strikes. I was a product of the late 90s, early 2000s dance competition circuit. So I oh my god, bless you. That's where all my Tori Amos and Tracy Chapman and all those people. Your Lisa Loebs, if you will. The loops, the loveliest love in the world. Um that's how that all fell onto my orbit. So here I was like this weird theater kid who now knows everything about Stephen Sondheim and Kandor Nab, but doesn't know what anybody's listening to at school.

[40:19] Dana Craig: Yeah, well, but does know what everyone's mom at school is listening to.

[40:23] Eleri Ward: Ah, yeah. So, like, where do I go with this information? I get it because the answer is an album like this. I mean, my my music taste has never fit in with like the general group. Uh like in high school, like all my friends were like, you know, singing along to whatever pop song it was. And like, because I'm not really a big like top 40 listen to the radio girl. Your album is the first new thing I've listened to in a year and a half.

[40:52] Eleri Ward: Oh my god, I'm honored. It's just because nothing's come out. I just I I don't know what it is about about like mainstream stuff that doesn't appeal to me. But I I don't know, I never felt like uh in college as well, like people didn't and still people don't know who Sufjan Stevens is. Um, but I would say, oh, these are my favorite artists, and no one would have any idea who the people I was listening to were.

[41:25] Dana Craig: But was that fun for you, or was that a torture for you? Or did you like to have a thing?

[41:30] Eleri Ward: I think both. I mean, I will always I I pride myself on liking what I like because it's genuine to me. Like, I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not gonna listen to something that I don't like just because everyone else is listening to it. Right. But at the same time, I was like, I feel like uh people don't get me outside of this musical theater bubble. Like, I feel like I don't fully fit into this vibe because I'm not like kick your face, yes, let's go, blah. Like I can be loud and crazy, but I'm not like the typical, like stereotypical like musical theater gal. And so there were times where I was like, are there other people who are like weird and moody and like listen to this shit? Like, and so um I I feel like that is a huge takeaway of like putting this work out there is there is an audience for this.

[42:24] Eleri Ward: Like there's so many people who have reached out saying, I didn't know that I needed this, but these are two of my favorite things, and they're being put together, and I'm like, okay, cool. Like, I'm actually not alone, and all I needed to do to figure that out. No one is alone.

[42:42] Dana Craig: How did I not see that coming?

[42:44] Eleri Ward: Can you even see yourself out, please? It's my it's my bedroom. Thank you. We'll call you.

[42:51] Steven Ferezy: Wow.

[42:53] Eleri Ward: Wow, getting the boot on my own. Yes. But yeah, I I I all I had to do to prove that I wasn't the only one who liked these things, was to put myself out there. Because there really is something for everybody if you just put yourself out there. Um, and now I know that, and I think that's super cool. So I'm here for the movie. You know things now, theater babes. Many beautiful things.

[43:26] Dana Craig: Are you how many do you think I can get in the next 15 minutes?

[43:30] Eleri Ward: You know what? Just go. We've we've already unscrewed the cap. Just go ahead.

[43:35] Dana Craig: Do you know if um Lessanheim has heard your album?

[43:40] Eleri Ward: Well, I know his hands. It it has been in his hands. I don't have any feedback though, yeah. And it has crossed his desk. Yes. Uh, I was told because um uh Kurt, who's the the president of Ghost Light, he's also the SVP at Warner Chapel, which is Sondheim's um publisher. Uh his he handed the album over to Sondheim's rep.

[44:10] Dana Craig: And his rep listened to it and loved it.

[44:13] Eleri Ward: And then he sent it to Sondheim. And that is the last that I have heard.

[44:17] Steven Ferezy: Well, we shall see how this. Please keep us posted.

[44:20] Eleri Ward: I will. I mean, I'm just knowing that it he even like has the capacity to listen to it. Like he it's right. Uh yeah. That alone is satisfying.

[44:35] Dana Craig: We could call it now that you're done.

[44:38] Eleri Ward: It's yeah. I honestly I haven't even really thought about it because I feel just like satisfied with that. Like just knowing that he has it.

[44:50] Dana Craig: I think that is the healthiest place to be.

[44:53] Eleri Ward: I mean, what more really though? What more could I ask for? Set it and forget it.

[44:59] Dana Craig: I have a question. Are you going to tour anywhere? Or do you have some gigs lined up?

[45:07] Eleri Ward: Well, now that I'm going to be back in the city, I am gonna be meeting with my team.

[45:15] Dana Craig: Yes!

[45:17] Eleri Ward: Meeting with my wonderful people at Ghost Light uh to figure out what what venues um and what dates and what works and all that jazz. And so once we have a better like idea of all of that, then I am just ready to put together a good show.

[45:38] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[45:39] Eleri Ward: Um I was that we will be obviously. We'll be the street team. I and and I'm I'm excited for that because I've never performed these songs out in a venue ever before.

[45:54] Dana Craig: Um whenever I've played at a venue, I've played my own stuff.

[45:59] Eleri Ward: Um so now to have this new experience is is exciting. It's gonna be a very different vibe than my I feel like my music, like under Eleri Ward versus SUF/SOND are these like two alter egos that live within me.

[46:16] Dana Craig: And it's really fun to see what comes out.

[46:20] Eleri Ward: Like they they conjure up very different vibes, and it's really fun to uh to see how they live.

[46:20] Dana Craig: To see how they yeah, truly mischief mischief.

[46:33] Eleri Ward: Uh it's a lot of things.

[46:34] Dana Craig: Your eyes got so big.

[46:36] Eleri Ward: Because I really just want to be the beggar woman in Sweeney Todd so bad.

[46:43] Dana Craig: Dreamroll.

[46:44] Eleri Ward: That's why track one, Joanna Reprise, because I'm sitting there listening to it, and I don't think you're going to sing City on Fire. So I'm like on my couch and I like hum it to myself, but I hear the words and I know I didn't say them, and I was like, this bitch is just tickling my keys.

[47:04] Dana Craig: Because I okay, to erase Beggar Woman from that like that whole song is a crime.

[47:13] Eleri Ward: But I wanted to make it a palatable song. Like, I I feel like with a lot of these songs, like so much of my uh take is like how do I decontextualize these songs, not only from their original musical theater style, but decontextualize them from the shows themselves in order to see okay, how do these songs live without the context of the show without seeing them on a stage?

[47:41] Dana Craig: And like how many lives are there for them to live without that?

[47:45] Eleri Ward: I I think there it's it just proves how brilliant these songs are, honestly.

[47:51] Dana Craig: Absolutely.

[47:52] Eleri Ward: I mean, the greatest shock of my life was learning the context, learning the context of Pretty Women, because all I had known was the Barbara Streisand version from concert.

[48:02] Dana Craig: Oh my god.

[48:03] Eleri Ward: And then I finally watched Sweeney Todd over quarantine. I'd never seen it before. For this podcast, we did a Broadway blind spot segment where we corrected some blind spots in our yes.

[48:15] Dana Craig: Now my repertoire is even wider.

[48:18] Eleri Ward: But she had never seen Sweeney Todd.

[48:20] Dana Craig: I mean, okay.

[48:22] Eleri Ward: Welcome.

[48:23] Dana Craig: I had one I can say.

[48:25] Eleri Ward: And you did it, thank God.

[48:29] Dana Craig: I mean, man, I love that show so much.

[48:33] Eleri Ward: And that I mean, the most songs on the album, like from a single show, are Sweeney Todd.

[48:39] Dana Craig: I uh can't help myself.

[48:41] Eleri Ward: It's your show, it's your one.

[48:42] Dana Craig: Yeah, and I know that like when I make another album, because I definitely plan on doing it, it's gonna be just more Sweeney Todd, like heavy, Sweeney heavy album, which I'm not mad about.

[48:55] Eleri Ward: Um but yeah, I Joanna definitely was like, okay, if I if I take this out of context but still honor all the moving pieces, what what like what does it look like? What does it sound like? What does it say?

[49:11] Dana Craig: Um, and it's this, it's a love song, but from these varying perspectives in a way where it's actually like listenable because I'm someone I hot take, I hate listening to Broadway cast recordings.

[49:28] Eleri Ward: Um that's me.

[49:29] Dana Craig: I'm gonna wave at you for that one.

[49:30] Eleri Ward: Oh my god, thank you.

[49:31] Dana Craig: Okay, thank you for making me like feel a little better about that because I feel like so many good.

[49:38] Eleri Ward: Um I really don't like it. It's not an ex it's not really a listening experience that I care for or really can like take while I appreciate the music while I'm watching the show so much.

[49:52] Dana Craig: Um, but just to like listen to a Broadway cast recording while I'm like drinking my coffee, no, thank you.

[49:59] Eleri Ward: Um yeah, and so it's like, well, what is that? What what is that like Broadway cast recording that I am able to listen to while I'm drinking my coffee?

[50:09] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[50:10] Eleri Ward: Because I think it it it if we allow these songs to be uh put in like different costumes, I think it just gives that much more life to such brilliance.

[50:24] Dana Craig: Um and I don't know.

[50:26] Eleri Ward: I it's also just fun.

[50:28] Dana Craig: I love it.

[50:29] Eleri Ward: I love it.

[50:30] Dana Craig: I'm going to be taking a bath with your music, so just putting I'm just being honest right up top.

[50:37] Eleri Ward: No, but that is that is the energy.

[50:40] Dana Craig: So buttery.

[50:41] Eleri Ward: I'm gonna light a few candles and get my Joanna on, girl.

[50:46] Dana Craig: I love that.

[50:47] Eleri Ward: I'm stealing that and I'm using that.

[50:50] Dana Craig: Girl, I'm getting my Joanna on tonight.

[50:54] Eleri Ward: A few.

[50:57] Dana Craig: Ooh.

[50:59] Eleri Ward: City on fire.

[51:08] Dana Craig: I'm all.

[51:11] Eleri Ward: Oh my goodness. What time is it? I feel like you're looking at that one.

[51:15] Dana Craig: We're we're we're coming up on our time. Listen, we have we have a question that we ask all of our guests.

[51:22] Eleri Ward: Okay.

[51:22] Dana Craig: Are you mad at me?

[51:24] Eleri Ward: No, I'm just kidding.

[51:26] Dana Craig: Do you regret saying yes to this email?

[51:29] Eleri Ward: Um, that's hard no. I'm so happy.

[51:31] Dana Craig: No, that wasn't the question, but I'm very glad.

[51:36] Eleri Ward: Um there are seven very well-known dwarves in history. If you were the eighth dwarf, what would your name be?

[51:48] Eleri Ward: Okay, so this could go a couple of ways. Because okay, I'm gonna take a moment, gather like what my gut is telling me. Um I think it would have to be Sparkly.

[52:10] Dana Craig: I think we've had two other Sparkly in our 80-something guests.

[52:16] Eleri Ward: Who are my brothers and sisters?

[52:20] Dana Craig: Haley Pachoon.

[52:22] Eleri Ward: Is it was it Brittany John's Glinda herself?

[52:27] Dana Craig: I don't know.

[52:29] Eleri Ward: But I do remember saying, oh, there was another Sparkly.

[52:32] Dana Craig: There's definitely at least one.

[52:34] Eleri Ward: I think just that I think it's a few.

[52:36] Dana Craig: You're right. We should have had a running document.

[52:38] Eleri Ward: That makes me really happy because then we're like, we're really out there, we are out there.

[52:45] Dana Craig: Yeah, but like all talented people. I wonder if the three Sparklys could like get together and do a dwarf number.

[52:51] Eleri Ward: A trio.

[52:53] Dana Craig: Yeah, the first image in my head was like if I had like a dwarf's hat, it would have a sequence on it.

[53:00] Eleri Ward: So I was like, it's Franklin.

[53:02] Dana Craig: I don't know if you can see our mic, but it is bedazzled.

[53:06] Eleri Ward: Oh my god.

[53:07] Dana Craig: That was the best reveal.

[53:10] Eleri Ward: That possibly could have happened.

[53:14] Dana Craig: Yes.

[53:16] Eleri Ward: Where can people find you online to be kept up to date with you and your goings on?

[53:22] Eleri Ward: Yes. So you can find me at Eleri Ward, all one word, E-L-E-R-I, W A R D on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and uh if you somehow use Facebook pages, I am Eleri Ward Music.

[53:40] Dana Craig: I barely even use it, and it's my own page.

[53:43] Eleri Ward: Our aunts and uncles use it. But yeah, um, other than that, it's Eleri Ward everywhere. It's I'm the only one with my name.

[53:52] Dana Craig: Uh so beautiful.

[53:55] Eleri Ward: Um, it was such a treat to meet you, and we're so glad that you spent an hour with us.

[54:00] Dana Craig: Thanks for watching.

[54:01] Eleri Ward: And we really can't wait to um embrace you in person and see you live and hang and be new friends.

[54:08] Dana Craig: I know.

[54:09] Eleri Ward: I'm really I can't tell you. I'm I actually am really grateful that you reached out because it's like uh if you guys are interested in what I'm doing, then I know I'm interested in what you're doing, and we need to be friends.

[54:21] Dana Craig: Like, that's how that works.

[54:22] Eleri Ward: That warms my little icicle of a heart.

[54:25] Dana Craig: Oh, there are some really cute. I don't know if it's like venues, but like Long Island City has very cute um well things going on.

[54:33] Eleri Ward: I'm very excited to explore my new hood.

[54:36] Dana Craig: As does Manhattan, but whatever.

[54:39] Eleri Ward: Listen to your block.

[54:40] Dana Craig: Yes.

[54:41] Eleri Ward: I'm very I'm excited. I'm it's so cool over here.

[54:48] Dana Craig: Enjoy, enjoy nesting.

[54:50] Eleri Ward: Um, enjoy the new place your bed is gonna be tonight.

[54:53] Dana Craig: Yes.

[54:54] Eleri Ward: Open those windows.

[54:56] Dana Craig: Yes.

[54:57] Eleri Ward: Yes. I'm very excited for the little things.

[55:01] Dana Craig: The little thanks, a little thanks, a little thanks.

[55:03] Eleri Ward: I here, I had to end it.

[55:04] Dana Craig: You did one!

[55:05] Eleri Ward: I had to end with me bringing it!

[55:10] Dana Craig: On that note.

[55:12] Eleri Ward: Bye.

[55:13] Dana Craig: Bye.

[55:15] Eleri Ward: Bye.

[55:19] Steven Ferezy: I was like, wait, that sounds really good. Should I even should I ruin it?

[55:23] Eleri Ward: Yes!

[55:24] Dana Craig: We need your sparkly hat on.

[55:26] Eleri Ward: Oh my god.

[55:28] Eleri Ward: In the room with Steven and Dana is produced by Steven Ferezy.

[55:32] Dana Craig: And Dana Craig.

[55:34] Eleri Ward: Special thanks to Joel Wagoner for tinkling the ivories on our theme song.

[55:38] Dana Craig: Hit him up at Joel Wagoner.com.

[55:41] Eleri Ward: We apologize, and you're welcome.

[55:43] Dana Craig: We'd also like to thank Jesse Wiener, W I E N E R, for our jazzy original music sprinkled throughout each episode.

[55:51] Eleri Ward: You can find him at jessewiener.com.

[55:54] Dana Craig: Last but certainly not least, we'd like to thank Kevin Thomas Garcia for taking all of our ridiculous photos.

[56:00] Eleri Ward: You can find him online at KTG N Y C dot com.

[56:07] Dana Craig: We are all over the internet on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at In the Room Pod.

[56:12] Eleri Ward: Follow us, like us, share us, pimp us out.

[56:15] Dana Craig: And don't forget to subscribe to In the Room Podcast.

[56:18] Eleri Ward: We everywhere, so subscribe.

[56:21] Dana Craig: And thank you so much for listening.

[56:23] Eleri Ward: Thank you so much.