![]() The LA Times also commented on the switch from "individually sought wish-fulfillment" to "togetherness" that becomes realised in this song. The Cambridge Companion to the Musical suggests the song is a "benevolent anthem to outsiders". New York Magazine thought the song was the closest to being a self-contained tune, as opposed to the others which come across as musical "foreplay". While claiming that the song has the potential to come across as "unearned sentimentality", Vanity thought the crew of the original stage version managed to turn the song into an "affirmation of the newfound society of sorts that represents a clearing in the woods". The LA Times thought the song was "remarkable". In 2014, the publication's Stephen Holden suggested that the song was a " double-edged lullaby" due to "acknowledg that everyone is ultimately alone" while asserting that the "shared understanding of that isolation makes life bearable". In 1987, Frank Rich of The New York Times described the song as "cathartic" and "beautiful", and thought the song's "terrifying opening admonition" of mother cannot guide you as a callback to the frantic rant in the Gypsy number "Rose's Turn". ![]() ![]() The song serves a dual purpose to demonstrate that even when life throws its greatest challenges, you do not have to face them alone and there are still people who love you, and secondly that each of your actions are not made in a bubble and that you are not guaranteed to be the protagonist of your own story. In the musical, the song is interrupted by the arrival of the Giant, but the uninterrupted version appears on the cast album. In the musical, this song is sung during Act II, as the four remaining leads (Baker, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack) try to understand the consequences of their wishes, and begin to decide to place community wishes over their own. Rob Marshall recounted a story where he heard President Barack Obama quote the song during a speech at the 10th anniversary of 9/11, which inspired him to direct the film version of the stage musical. In 1994, lyrics from the song was emblazoned on a signed charity t-shirt for the Minnesota AIDS Project. Stephen Sondheim liked the duality of the title, which trumped the alternate title of "No Man Is An Island". James Lapine explained to LA Weekly that he killed the Baker's Wife in Act II because in real life, tragedies happen to human beings, and quoting "No One Is Alone," "Sometimes people leave you halfway through the woods". The next day Sondheim and Lapine left for New York." There was initially an issue over whether the song had been inspired by a preexisting poem. The LA Times recounts: "At that point, there was simply a spot in the 'Woods' script that said 'quartet for Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Baker and Jack.' During intermission at a Wednesday evening performance, Sondheim showed up with 'No One Is Alone.' He played it for the cast after the show that night, and it was part of the score by Friday. ![]() " No One Is Alone" is a song by Stephen Sondheim from the musical Into the Woods, performed toward the end of Act II as the piece's penultimate number.ĭuring the show's tryouts at the Old Globe theatre, this song was absent.
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