Shooting an apple off one's child's head of the story is in the legend of William Tell, supposedly happening to start off the Swiss revolution, written first in the 15th-century "White Book of Sarnen", then in Aegidius Tschudi's 16th-century "Chronicon Helveticum", and later the basis for Friedrich Schiller's 1804 play. Tell is arrested for failing to bow in respect to the hat that the newly appointed Austrian "Vogt", Albrecht Gessler, has placed on a pole, and Gessler commands him to shoot an apple off his son's head with a single bolt from his crossbow. After splitting the apple with the single shot (supposedly on November 18, 1307),
Journey to the Past called Altomare's performance "spellbinding". On April 26, 2017, Altomare performed the song live on "The Today Show" accompanied by a full orchestra, as part of the program's "Best of Broadway" week. One of the most significant ways in which the musical deviates from its source material, Ahrens and Flaherty decided that "Journey to the Past" would not be Anya's first song in the show, arguing that her journey had not yet truly begun that early in the narrative. The songwriters decided to alter "Journey to the Past"'s position in the story, relocating it to the middle of the production in