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Patti LuPone: 2022

 Patti LuPone appeared on TV with Andy Cohen -- the appearance was recent -- and Cohen asked, "Is Being Alive the greatest Sondheim song?"


LuPone has brains, and she answered in an admirable way. "It's not really about individual songs, if it's Sondheim. Sondheim wrote for characters; because he was so invested in his characters, it's hard to take a Sondheim song out of the story it's embedded in. I think of Sondheim in terms of a full musical score. My favorites, among his scores: A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd."

Hard to argue with that.

But if you wanted to make a case for "Being Alive," I think you'd want to look at the bridge. Bobby has been complaining about the idea of being coupled. Marriage is giving up your chair, your sleep, your privacy. At the same time, Bobby has conflicting voices in his head: "Don't be afraid it won't be perfect. The only thing to be afraid of is that it WON'T BE." "You've got a million reasons why it won't work -- but you haven't got one good reason for being alone."

Bobby quits whining and actually *asks* for messiness. In the bridge of the song, Bobby takes a step and *defines* messiness, in a memorable way:

Make me alive.....
Make me alive.....
Make me confused....
Mock me with praise....
Let me be used.....
Vary my days.....

People fret that Sondheim is too wordy, but that bridge packs novel-sized meaning into a few short sentences. Form matches content: It really is terrifying to embrace life, and you can see the terror -- sense it in the oddness of Bobby's words. "Let me be used...." "Mock me with praise..."

All this tension builds until we reach the explosive ending: "Somebody, crowd me with love....Somebody, force me to care....Somebody, make me come through...I'll always be there....as frightened as you....to help us survive....being alive...."

It's a "Steve cliche" to refer to a song as a one-act play -- but here's the play. Someone rejects life, and rejects it, and rejects it -- then plunges in. Just within the space of a few verses. The bridge -- that tiny jump from "alive" to "confused" -- helps us to move from A to B. Two nearly-identical sentences, with a shift in adjectives. 

It's nothing to sneeze at!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eZ8Lvg3skw
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  1. KathyJanuary 31, 2022 at 12:06 PM

    I've sung that piece, and saw it performed beautifully in December on Broadway - it's been visiting my dreams ever since - thanks for your thoughts on the remarkable-ness of this song! (And now, as I write this, it's back in my head again!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ReaderFebruary 1, 2022 at 5:20 AM

      Thank you for saying that -- made my day! After I wrote, I found Sondheim describing the song as "a thing that starts as a complaint, then turns into a prayer." That stuck with me.

      Delete
    2. UnknownFebruary 3, 2022 at 12:34 PM

      I think of it as a plea, but maybe that's the same thing... thanks for getting it back into my head again!

      Delete

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