Trivia
Don't give up the day job:
Writer/producers Marti Noxon and David Fury both cameo in the episode. Marti plays the woman arguing over a parking ticket (beware of spoilers) and Fury is the man singing about his dry cleaning - "They got the mustard out!"
Fury actually started his career in musical comedy and has previously appeared in the Angel episode Reprise, as he mentioned in his interview with us. Requires RealPlayer.
Close to the edge:
Joss is a big fan of progressive rock band Yes. The final confrontation with Sweet features music very much in the style of the band's classic track Close To The Edge from the album of the same name. Another track on the album, And You and I, refers to a "Mutant Enemy" in its lyrics - hence the name of Joss's production company.
Life is Sweet:
The character of Sweet is played by Broadway star Hinton Battle. Battle has won Tony awards for his stage work.
It could be bunnies:
Anya's fear of Bunnies has previously been mentioned in such episodes as Fear, Itself, where she dressed up in a rabbit costume for Halloween.
Splendid Music:
Joss spent all summer writing the episode. "[He] came up with lyrics, melodies, the underlying chords/harmony, as well as general stylistic direction for each of 16 musical numbers," composer Christophe Beck told the Bronze posting board.
"The songs started out as four-track recordings Joss made himself. I co-arranged and co-produced the songs with Jesse Tobias of the band Splendid," Beck added.
"Tim (Angel co-executive producer Tim Minear) and I went to Cape Cod to work with Joss in early July," Angel producer David Greenwalt told the Bronze posting board. "He had four or five of the songs sort of finished. We were staggered, just staggered. They're really just what you would expect. It's going to be the most amazing show of the year."
Joss on the episode:
Joss Whedon spoke exclusively to the BBC Buffy web site during the summer. Requires RealPlayer.
Sarah scary singing schedule:
"I'm not a singer, and I hated every moment of it," Sarah Michelle Gellar said of making the musical episode.
"It took something like 19 hours of singing and 17 hours of dancing in between shooting four other episodes."
Soundtrack and book:
The full soundtrack of Once More, With Feeling is out now to buy. There is also a book with the score and notes about the creation of the episode available for all you hard core Buffy fans.