"Being Alive" is a song from the musical Company by George Furth with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The song appears at the end of Act II and is sung by the main character, Robert, a 35-year-old bachelor who at the show's end “. . . realizes being a lone wolf isn't all it's cracked up to be . . . he declares that he wants to take the chance, be afraid, get his heart broken - or whatever happens when you decide to love and be loved."
"Being Alive" was first recorded by Dean Jones, who originated the role of Robert on Broadway in 1970. "Being Alive" has become popular outside its original musical setting, and although written for a male part is frequently performed by women. The song has been performed in concert, on the stage, or in the studio by Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Barbra Streisand, Margaret Whiting, Lea Salonga, Ute Lemper, Lauren Samuels, and Raul Esparza among others.
“Being Alive” replaced the song “Happily Ever After”, which was cut from Company because it was considered too dark to serve as a closing number. According to cultural critic Jeremy McCarter, Sondheim has never been happy with “Being Alive” as the finale for Company, calling it “a cop-out”.
Read more about Being Alive: Context, Performances (on Stage, in Concert, Recorded or Otherwise), Background
Famous quotes containing the word alive:
“Marriage has, for its share, usefulness, justice, honour, and constancy; a stale but more durable pleasure. Love is grounded on pleasure alone, and it is indeed more gratifying to the senses, keener and more acute; a pleasure stirred and kept alive by difficulties. There must be a sting and a smart in it. It ceases to be love if it has no shafts and no fire.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)