Cabaret Song Pairings: The Cinderella set

No one is alone and Impossible

I've been experimenting with song pairings each time I perform in a cabaret. This time I'm going with a Cinderella theme. I think everyone can relate to Cinderella right now. Some people are the evil step mother taking advantage of their position to step over others to climb to the top. Some are the step daughters who get favored and become spoiled, entitled, and angry. They're fighting with themselves and anyone who seems different than them. Of course we have the royal family, so far removed from what everyone else is going through they couldn't even imagine what Cinderella was going through. Then there are the ones like Cinderella herself, a character that has been found in folklore and fairytales all over the world, who despite everything keeps hope. Right now we are at the point where the evil stepmother and stepsisters tore up the dress Cinderella made by hand. I don't know about you but the state of the world makes me want to cry.

I think of the pairing of these two songs as a part of the grieving process. "No One Is Alone" makes you feel the fear and grief of losing someone, whether you lost a family member or respect for someone you thought was a good person, or faith in the government to protect you, assuring that even when people are gone, their love remains. No one is alone.

"No one is alone" from Into the Woods Music and Lyrics by: Stephen Sondheim

No one here to guide you, now you're on your own. Only me beside you, still you're not alone. No one is alone, truly, no one is alone. Sometimes people leave you halfway through the woods. Others may deceive you, [but] no one is alone. Believe me. No one is alone.

People make mistakes. Fathers, mothers, people make mistakes holding [on] to their own. Thinking they're alone. Honor their mistakes, everybody makes one another's terrible mistakes. Witches can be right, giants can be good, you decide what's right you decide what's good. Just remember, someone is on your side [and] someone is not. While we're seeing our side, maybe we forgot we are not alone. No one is alone.

Hard to see the light now, just don't let it go. Things will turn out right now, we can make it so. Someone is on your side, no one is alone.

Life is rough for a lot of people right now. The bar for me to have a good day is so low, like I'll come home and my partner will ask "How was your day?” and I'll say "it was great I only stared into the void and dissociated for ten minutes a day instead of twenty.” It's hard to feel hope, hard to see the light when you feel so isolated, like everyone right now. I have one friend who is trying to figure out how to get herself out of a bad relationship, and another who is struggling to figure it out . One of my friends told me “My family made me feel like happiness was a fool's dream” and I had to stop myself from saying "But the world is full of zanies and fools”?

Impossible / For a plain yellow pumpkin / To become a golden carriage! / Impossible /For a plain country bumpkin / And a prince to join in marriage! / And four white mice will never be four white horses— / Such fol-de-rol and fiddle dee dee of course is / Impossible!

But the world is full of zanies and fools / Who don’t believe in sensible rules / And won’t believe what sensible people say / And because these daft and dewy- eyed dopes / Keep building up impossible hopes, / Impossible things are happening every day! / Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible!

Cinderella: It’s possible / For a plain yellow pumpkin / To become a golden carriage! / It’s possible / For a plain country bumpkin / And a prince to join in marriage!

Godmother: And four white mice are easily turned to horses!

Cinderella: Such fol-de-rol and fiddle dee dee of course is / Quite possible!

Both: It’s possible!

Cinderella: For the world is full of zanies and fools—

Both: Who don’t believe in sensible rules / And won’t believe what sensible people say.

And because these daft and dewy-eyed dopes / Keep building up impossible hopes,

Impossible things are happening every day! / It’s possible! It’s possible! /It’s possible! It’s possible! / It’s possible!

I'll post the link here as soon as it's available https://youtu.be/Nlu-TcrGsQY