Continuing with our monthly theme of courage, the 2 songs performed today—“No One Is Alone” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone”—offer a reminder that when times are tough and we’re troubled or afraid, others are there to support us.

“No One Is Alone” was written for the musical Into the Woods, a story about a baker and his wife who enter an enchanted wood on a quest to conceive a child. There they encounter various familiar fairy tale characters who are looking for fulfillments of their own. The song addresses the complexities of individuality and community, the realities of being disappointed in others while also finding support, and the fact that parents and others we look to are themselves fallible and sometimes in need. Yet the message the song offers is in the end hopeful and reassuring.

“You’ll Never Walk Alone” is from the musical Carousel and is a simple message of reassurance and hope, offered at a time of great personal tragedy. The main characters of the story, a young married couple expecting a child, suffer from the loss of their jobs at the carnival, resulting in the husband’s desperate choice to support his family through an attempted robbery, ultimately leading to his suicide. His grief-stricken wife finds the courage to carry on through the love and care of friends and relatives.

—Shaylor