The End of COMPANY: 'Being Alive' or 'Happily Ever After'?

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 1/12/08 at 10:27pm

Which do you prefer?

'Happily Ever After', the original ending, which was said to scare the audience?

Or 'Being Alive', a song Sondheim loves, but says is "a copout" after what has happened in the show?

PS: 'Happily Ever After' ended COMPANY on a very different note than 'Being Alive'; in the song, Bobby's words against marriage are more venomous, despite being mostly the same:

Someone to hold you too close,
Someone to hurt you too deep,
Someone to love you too hard,
Happily ever after.
Someone to need you too much,
Someone to read you too well,
Someone to bleed you of all
The things you don’t want to tell –
That’s happily ever after,
Ever, ever, ever after -
in hell.

What makes the song unique is the fact that, according to Sondheim and Prince, Bobby knows that everything he's saying is a lie.

Updated On: 1/12/08 at 10:27 PM

[LadyRosecoe]

Posted: 1/12/08 at 10:30pm

You know, going by the revival I hardly find it to be a copout. Especially since the latest mounting had a very jarring and intense "Being Alive" that progressed the character, rather than reverting to the stasis witnessed during most of the show.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 1/12/08 at 10:35pm

You know, going by the revival I hardly find it to be a copout. Especially since the latest mounting had a very jarring and intense "Being Alive" that progressed the character, rather than reverting to the stasis witnessed during most of the show.

Admittedly, when Sondheim said that, it was during the run of the original production, where the song really did seem to come out of nowhere. I agree that there are ways to make it work - but not many.

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 1/12/08 at 10:39pm

What is Happily Ever After?

[EugLoven]

Posted: 1/12/08 at 11:31pm

Short Answer: I prefer and love "Being Alive"

Long Answer: Only Sondheim can have the final opinion (if he loved the original song, let him). And anyone who actually heard/saw "Happily Ever After" can make a judgment call... because reading the lyrics (above) give me zero-ounces of insight into the song. I'd need to hear it sung to get its meaning.

At this point, I think the beauty of "Company" (after this revival especially), the magic of the closing number comes from who is singing it and how the entire production has been staged and directed. To me, "Being Alive" is an unflinchingly perfect ending. And perfect is a word reserved for those whom deserve it.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:31am

Though I prefer "Being Alive," "Happily Ever After" is absolutely my favorite cut song from one of Sondheim's shows. I think it's just brilliant. These lyrics, especially:

But why should you sweat?
What do you get?
One day of grateful for six of regret.

You've got one little trip, seventy years
Spread it around. Take your pick,
Buy a little here, spend a little there.
Smoke a little pot for a little kick.
Waste a little time, make a little love
Show a little feeling. But why
Should you try? Why not, sure, feel a little lonely,
But fly, why not fly?
With no one to hold you too close...

I don't think this would have been as satisfying a resolution as Being Alive is, but it's a fascinating look at Bobby's frame of mind if they hadn't opted to give him that last-minute epiphany on commitment.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:42am

Is "Happily Ever After" available on any CD of Sondheim songs? I would have to hear it sung before I could give an honest answer. As it stands, "Being Alive" is one of my favorite songs so it would be hard to top it.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:43am

A couple of years ago some friends of mine were in a production of the show at the Strasberg Institute and they included all the cut songs, including Happily Ever After in place of Being Alive. It was very weird. The audience was kind of flabbergasted, to say the least. It's a very bitter song and not the resolution everyone expected.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:47am

It's on the cast recording of Marry Me a Little, Cape Twirl.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:53am

Thanks! I'll definitely check that out.

[humbugfoto]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 1:12am

Yes, I can see where that would scare the audience. Especially if they don't get the part about Bobby singing it knowing it's a lie. That's not the....easiest thing to convey.

But from a practical standpoint, it just doesn't sound like a show closing number. It doesn't have that...climactic, eleven o'clock song feel that Being Alive does. Musically, it sounds like it should come at the end of the first act, not the end of the show. But I'm not sure that would have worked, because its so similar to Being Alive, lyrically.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 1:13am

Happily Ever After all the way.

Seriously, check out the Mary Me A Little CD. It is a Sondheim revue with Craig Lucas (who sings Happily...) and a woman named Suzanne Henry (whatever happened to her?) who sings the best recorded version of "Marry Me a Little."

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 2:24am

I can't stand Suzanne Henry's voice but absolutely LOVE Craig Luca's performance on this cast recording. His version of "Happily Ever After" is brilliant and makes me wish it had stayed in the show if only to hear Dean Jones' take on it (must have been chilling and painful--in a good way).
Craig Luca's also shines in a cut song from FOLLIES, "It Wasn't Meant to Happen."

[devonian.t]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 6:45am

Marry Me a Little closed Act 1 in the London revival at Donmar Warehouse. I often wished Happily Ever After was in its place. Being Alive is the natural progression from that point though, so it should end the show if there is to be any optimism that a person can grow.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 8:20am

I don't think this would have been as satisfying a resolution as Being Alive is, but it's a fascinating look at Bobby's frame of mind if they hadn't opted to give him that last-minute epiphany on commitment.

Agreed, I love the song, but it's not the end to Company. Being Alive is.

I heard the song on a soundboard of a concert/lecture bit Sondheim gave called An Evening with Stephen Sondheim, I forget exactly what he said about it.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 8:20am

I don't think this would have been as satisfying a resolution as Being Alive is, but it's a fascinating look at Bobby's frame of mind if they hadn't opted to give him that last-minute epiphany on commitment.

Agreed, I love the song, but it's not the end to Company. Being Alive is.

I heard the song on a soundboard of a concert/lecture bit Sondheim gave called An Evening with Stephen Sondheim, I forget exactly what he said about it.

[misschung]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 10:07am

Wow, I can't believe I've never heard Happy Ever After. I thought you were talking about Once Upon a Mattress.

Does anyone have available links to information on when this was cut, why, etc?

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:28pm

I saw this interesting quote from Sondheim regarding this "cut" song...

I have to say I'm glad they chose to end the show on hope and optimism with BEING ALIVE instead!

“‘Happily Ever After’ was my third attempt at a concluding song for Company. It was in the show at the Boston tryout. After a few performances, Hal (Prince) persuaded me that it was too sour a note with which to end the show and that the same thoughts could be expressed optimistically. Hence, and finally, ‘Being Alive.’”

[Smaxie]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 12:49pm

>A couple of years ago some friends of mine were in a production of the show at the Strasberg Institute and they included all the cut songs, including Happily Ever After in place of Being Alive.<

That's a violation of the licensing contract if the show was publicly performed.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 1:07pm

How come I've never heard of this? Weird.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 1:13pm

Ray- You don't even like her take on "Mary Me A Little?" I think that's her best.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:12pm

Jewishboy, I disliked her voice and her take on some songs so much from the start that I was sort of set to dislike all of her numbers. Perhaps if I listened to her version of "Marry Me A Little" again with a more objective eye I would see what you see. I borrowed the CD once and got all the songs from it but eventually deleted the ones I wouldn't listen to, which left me with "It Wasn't Meant to Happen" and "Happily Ever After." I know I do hate Henry's part in "It Wasn't Meant to Happen," Craig Luca's does it so well by himself.
Larry Kert performed a tiny version of "Happily Ever After" in one of the Sondheim tribute shows that was recorded (A SONDHEIM EVENING maybe? Can't remember), I wish he had sung the whole thing.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:20pm

For a while, I wasn't a fan of "Being Alive." I felt it didn't fit into the context of the show, was jarring, and I just didn't care for it.

Now, however, it has become one of my favorite Sondheim songs. I adore it. And I think it provides the perfect ending to a brilliant show. I would like to see a production where "Happily Ever After" closes Act 1 instead of "Marry Me A Little," though. I think the contrast between "Happily..." and "Being Alive" would be powerful.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:26pm

And, of course, "Marry Me A Little" was also the closing song at some point. That would NOT have worked but it is interesting to see how the ending evolved. Or was intelligently designed, anyway.

[DMsquared2]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:36pm

I liked the recent revival a lot and thought "Marry Me A Little" concluding Act I and "Being Alive" Act II worked great in the context they were used.