What's for Dinner: A Guide to Managing Expectations
What’s for Dinner: A Guide to Managing Expectations
song cycle for female voice and piano
(High/Low keys)
Sean Pflueger, composer
Laura W. Fuentes, librettist
I. An ode to lifestyle magazines
II. The party line
III. Having it all
IV. The bake sale
V. Chicken dinner, impromptu
Recording- Click to hear the full cycle.
What’s for Dinner: A Guide to Managing Expectations is a an Art Song Cycle around the theme of the expectations of the Modern Woman.
Duration: 17 minutes
II. The Party Line
Be smart, but don’t know it.
Ambitious. Don’t show it.
Look pretty, but not like you tried.
Hide, lady, hide.
Be fun, but not funny.
Don’t talk about money.
Know your value, but deny it.
Diet.
Be fierce, but be gentle,
and never judgmental.
Be caring but don’t cry.
D-I-Y.
With all the things I’m meant to do,
and think, and say, and be,
there’s not a lot of room that’s left
for authenticity.
IV. The bake sale
I’m helping with the bake sale.
My kids are bringing treats.
I bought them at the grocery store
on sturdy cardboard sheets.
It’s not that I resent it.
It’s not that it’s a bother.
It’s just, I wonder now and then
why no one asks their father.