Meaning of "Being Alive" from Company

It's basically suggest that Robert wants a meaningful relationship. I'm not that big an expert on "Company", so anyone correct me if I'm wrong.

Company is a very complex show, but at heart it is about Robert's inability to understand what relationships are about and the different situations (and people) who lead him to realize that comittment and "company" are very complicated, yes, but ultimately there is so much to win. The first part of "Being Alive" (as performed in the show, the solo versions tend to cut the first part which has always bothered me) tells about Robert's initial, sometimes superficial, views on relationships and committment. "Someone to sit in your chair, and ruin your sleep," "someone to need you too much," etc. Those views aren't exactly lies, those are some of the negative elements of a serious relationship; however, as he sings, his friends tell him to look closer and deeper (in my opinion, as Robert performs the first part of the song he is remembering all the previous scenes we saw throughout the show), and then there is a shift in the song and it becomes Robert's cry of help, Robert's declaration that he understands there are negative aspects to being in a committed serious relationship, but that another person can make you feel alive, remind you who you are, complement your life. "Someone" becomes "Somebody" and "someone to sit in your chair, and ruin your sleep" turns into "somebody sit in my chair, and ruin my sleep." It's Robert's expression of the needs he realized he had, and his conclusion after all the different moments he experienced throughout the show.

Updated On: 9/9/06 at 02:05 AM

Thank you so much! That was well-explained!

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I thought Sondheim was always adament that Bobby was never intended to be interpreted as gay.

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You're right Orangeskittles, Sondheim and Furth have threatened legal action against any production that make Bobby gay.

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I think whoover said, Bobby was never intended to be gay, is right I stand corrected (blush) but it's still in the script if you read it throughly. as for the lega action i don't know that much is true?.. but it never says he's gay, just maybe a passing thought or confusion and it was just an interprutation/opinion i guess (-: as for being alive just sing it truthfully

A modified version of that scene is in the new production (in which Bobby essentially takes it as a joke and brushes it off). It's made clearer that Bobby's probably not into that sort of thing. I'm not exactly sure of the reasoning behind adding that scene in for the London production, but in Doyle's version the dialogue is less ambiguous than in London.

Updated On: 9/10/06 at 02:37 AM

Taking Bobby's metamorphosis a bit slower, the final turning point is the statement/realization "But alone is alone not alive..."

This leads into a faster tempo (Don't strings come in and the phrases become legato?) so Bobby can make his final commitment to finding a relationship. "Somebody crowd me with love, somebody force me to care."

There is still an admission that he is flying blind "I'll always be there, as frightened as you". But even feeling vulnerable, he's ready.

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Yes, it was called "Happily Ever After." It used a lot of the same lyrics, actually. "Someone to hurt you too deep/Someone to know you too well/Someone to rob you of all things you don't want to tell/That's happily ever after/Ever ever ever after/In hell."

I think that counts as cynical, right? :)

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Happily Ever After was the original ending, followed by "Marry Me a Little" (which is now in the revised London/Broadway version). There's another song in the evolution of that show as well called "Multitudes of Amys" but I can't offhand remember exactly how it fit.
I have no idea if "Marry..." is in the Doyle version but it's incredibly ruinous, I think, to put it in there since the sentiment is VERY similar to "Being Alive" and, where it's placed, it really gives Bobby a bit too much awareness of what he wants.

Actually "Marry Me A Little" is similar to "Being Alive" on the surface, but if you listen closely to the lyrics you realize that at that point Bobby has no idea about what he wants or about what committment is about, that is why the song could never work as a finale, and why it fits ok (not exactly perfectly but just ok) as the Act I finale. I believe "Multitudes of Amy" was at one point suppose to end Act I as well. "Happily Ever After" is actually an amazing song, but if it had been the show's finale then Robert wouldn't have learned anything, there would've been no catharsis, and the previous two hours would've been worthless if the main character learned absolutely nothing from them, in my opinion it should replace "Marry Me A Little" as the Act I finale because it creates a connection with "Being Alive" (the lyrics are highly similar)

I don't think it's gay versus straight so much as it's a possibility of past experimentation, to add another layer of complexity. The other thing, to me, is that Bobby is dealing with all of these outside influences, and when his friend tries to find out if he's into that sort of thing, it's another monkey wrench in his personal mess. It's one more thing for him to think about, and depending on the interpretation, perhaps be tempted by. Yes, he sings about women and probably is fundamentally straight. And no, I don't think "the gay scene" is meant to explicity state that he is or is not gay, nor do I think it tips the scales, because it's not that weighty of a scene. I think it's rather simply an almost-extranneous scnenario to add another layer to Bobby's emotional strain, confusion and isolation.

Jason, I understand what you're saying about empahtizing with Bobby's desire to sort of... create the perfect significant other, until you say that that desire feels like a "straight" sentiment. Could a gay man not have a sentiment like that about other men? I understand concluding that Bobby is straight because he sings that song about women, but I don't understand concluding that that's an exclusively straight idea.

Placing Marry Me a Little at the end of act one feels like a good halfway point, to me. He's talking about this half-assed sort of marriage, and when I heard the lyrics, my reaction was to think that there's nothing healthy about the kind of relationship he's beginning to concede to -- he wants to keep things "safe," even if that means hiding things from one another. But, from someone who prefers to remain unattached, it's progress. Being Alive, then, is like the next step. He's not acting yet, but he's opening his eyes to new realizations, and he's growing up enough to have a functional relationship.

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Updated On: 9/11/06 at 09:19 PM