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" Being Alive" is a song from the musical Company with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The song appears at the end of act two and is sung by Robert, a 35-year-old bachelor at the center of the show, who "...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."
Sondheim was initially reluctant to write a closing song with a positive tone, and made efforts to write a composition that would combine cynical and hopeful sentiments. He wrote in his 2009 memoir Finishing the Hat that he worried a plainly optimistic approach would be "unearned and pandering, not to mention monotonous, since there would be only one thing to say: namely, marriage is wonderful". His concerns were resolved when "Michael Bennett came up with the idea of using the same technique of interlaced spoken voices from Robert's friends that we used in 'Side by Side by Side,' helping him break through his moment of crisis. That suggested to me a song which could progress from complaint to prayer. Thus, 'Being Alive.'"
The song was performed by Alex (Judd Hirsch) on the US sitcom Taxi, during the 1980 episode "Alex Jumps Out of a Plane".
"Being Alive" has become popular outside its original musical setting, and while written for a male part, the song is frequently performed by women: Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Barbra Streisand, Dusty Springfield, Margaret Whiting, Lea Salonga, Ute Lemper, and Lauren Samuels, among others.
Raul Esparza was a nominee at the 2007 Tony Awards for his role in Company and performed the song on the awards telecast. On the fourth season of the television series Glee, the character Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) performed the song in the episode "Swan Song", as his audition for the fictional school NYADA. Neil Patrick Harris also performed it as Bobby in the 2011 revival of Company.
The American composer Gabriel Kahane wrote the piano scherzo "Being Alive" for the 2015 album .
In the British soap opera EastEnders, the song is wedding song when Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) marries Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) on New Year's Day 2016, performed by West End star Alice Fearn. The song also appears on her album "Where I've Been... Where I'm Going".
In the 2019 film Marriage Story, written and directed by Noah Baumbach, lead character Charlie Barber (portrayed by Adam Driver) performs much of the song in a New York piano bar.
The of featured Tommy singing the song at the wedding of TK and Carlos.
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