[2] James Lapine explained to LA Weekly that he killed the Baker's Wife in Act II because in real life, tragedies happen to human beings, and quoting "No One Is Alone," "Sometimes people leave you halfway through the woods".
[5] Rob Marshall recounted a story where he heard President Barack Obama quote the song during a speech at the 10th anniversary of 9/11, which inspired him to direct the film version of the stage musical.
The song serves a dual purpose to demonstrate that even when life throws its greatest challenges, you do not have to face them alone and there are still people who love you, and secondly that each of your actions are not made in a bubble and that you are not guaranteed to be the protagonist of your own story.
[9] In 2014, the publication's Stephen Holden suggested that the song was a " double-edged lullaby" due to "acknowledg[ing] that everyone is ultimately alone" while asserting that the "shared understanding of that isolation makes life bearable".
"[19] The book You Could Drive a Person Crazy: Chronicle of an American Theatre Company stated that the second meaning of the reassuring and positive song, which is a warning and caution for how one's actions affect others, "raises this show out of the ordinary".
[30] The song was performed by Mandy Patinkin as Satan in the Touched By An Angel episode "Netherlands" when he tempts Monica to climb to the top of a cliff and jump off.
Bernadette Peters, who originated the role of the Witch in the Broadway production, sang the song for Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration.