Sean Pflueger
 Bass-Baritone & Composer

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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

The song cycle What's for Dinner: A Guide to Managing Expectations considers the burden of expectations that contemporary society places upon women as mothers, employees, wives, and sex objects, and contrasts that with the reality of living with these competing priorities. 

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.