This is by far one of my favorite Sondheim songs. Its beauty is stunning, and it is marvelously written. This is actually one of the few tunes that I actually like from the 2002 revival-musically speaking that is. As much as I love Lauren Benanti, she and the other actors didn’t quite get it, as with most of the other songs in the show. Here’s what I think.

Into the Woods is about filial flaws- it suggests that the way we as people turn out is a direct reflection on our parents and how they raised us. The interesting thing about Into the Woods is nearly every character grows in the same way. No character, even the Baker’s father, is shown without flaws.  “No One is Alone” seems, on the surface, to be about Cinderella and the Baker teaching a lesson to and assuring Jack and Little Red that although they may feel alone and down, that they will always have someone there for them. In fact though, in my opinion, the song is more about the Baker and Cinderella reassuring themselves through reassuring Jack and Little Red.  There is evidence present in the music that suggests this. For one, the structure of the melody in the beginning is sparse,  4 eighth notes, one quarter note, and then a quarter note tied to a half note- 2 beats rest, and then the same figure repeated. This isn’t a long structured melody, it almost seems that Cinderella is trying to come up with things to say, and is unsure of what she is saying. She needs time to think in between pieces of advice, so Sondheim writes the melody like this. If you go back and listen to the Original cast recording, you will see that “alone” in “no one is alone” is always on a 4^th over the tonic- a suspension which is never resolved. This is gives an unfinished quality to the line, mirroring the Baker’s and Cinderella’s uncertainty with what their saying, and in fact are learning this lesson on their own. The structure continues, and once we reach “people make mistakes,” the line changes, and the melody goes up, emphasizing “mistakes”, mistakes being a theme of the show, this makes a lot of sense.  From this point on, the Baker and Cinderella trade measures, making the melody less sparse, and showing that they are certainly in the process of learning what they’re saying as well. The song ends (in the original version) on a 9^th in the melody, unfinished, and interrupted by the giant. This again shows that there is no finality or certainty to what the characters have learned, a common Sondheimian theme that is present in nearly every show. He of course, can’t have cliché happy endings. When watching the revival cast, you’ll notice that Cinderella and the Baker are way too reassuring when singing the song. They’re too confident in what they are saying, which doesn’t relate to the music at all. They also end the song on the tonic, split in harmony, which is a beautiful beyond belief, but gives the song too much finality. It’s too comforting  for Sondheim.