Stephen Sondheim's Passion (Original Broadway Cast)

Stephen Sondheim's Passion (Original Broadway Cast)
by James Lapine

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Movie Reviews of Stephen Sondheim's Passion (Original Broadway Cast)

Movie Review: Stephen Sondheim on the depths and heights of "Passion"
Summary: 5 Stars

The story comes from Ettore Scola's 1981 film, "Passione d'amore," which is based on the novel "Fosca" by Iginio Ugo Tarchetti, which Sondheim saw in 1983 and felt compelled to turn into a musical. Giorgio (Jere Shea), is a handsome young captain in the Italian army who is having an affair with the beautiful but married Clara (Marin Mazzie). He is then stationed far away from his love, but the two continue to communicate by letters (there are a lot of epistletory songs in "Passion"). There he meets Fosca (Donna Murphy,) the cousin of commanding officer. She is a homely, sickly woman, who has never been been taught how to love, but she falls completely for the young captain. Giorgio refuses her advances and tries to escape her attentions, bluntly telling Fosca that he will never return her feelings. But in the face of her undeniable passion, he finds that his heart and his mind are changing.

I had owned the CD of "Passion" since the musical first opened on Broadway because if Stephen Sondheim wants to write a musical I want to listen to it. I consider his "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" to be his masterpiece, and just listening to "Passion" it is clear that this musical is not that musical. To repeat the recurring criticism of some of Sondheim's work, that there is nothing for the audience to hum on their way out of the theater, might be inelegant and decidedly unoriginal but it is on point. Listening to the CD made little impression on me, but the same cannot be said for watching this DVD. Again, the experience is much better than it would be watching the show live, because when the camera comes up on these characters in close ups and two shots, its makes the story and the music much more powerful.

The performances by the two female leads are superb, and Shea's performance suffers a bit in comparison (not his singing, but his rather wooden acting), but that does not really matter. "Passion" is about "love," and not just any type of love, but "Love that thinks everything is pure, everything is beautiful, everything is possible..." Sometimes beauty is not just in the eye of the beholder, but in the ear as well.

Summary of Stephen Sondheim's Passion (Original Broadway Cast)

Rather than a succession of individual songs strung together by dialogue, Stephen Sondheim's score is a constant flow of gorgeous music. (The original theater program listed no individual songs.) The plot is conveyed by song, some dialogue, letters between the characters, and a group of soldiers that serves as a Greek chorus. The result is more of a chamber opera than a conventional musical. Passion won Tonys for Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book of 1994.

This video is a stage production filmed for American Playhouse with all of the original Broadway principals, though not before a live audience. To suit television audiences, the producers weakened the opening love scene by removing the nudity of the stage version; instead Mazzie awkwardly tries to keep herself wrapped in sheets as she sings to Giorgio of her bliss. Murphy gives a powerful, Tony-winning performance as Fosca, Mazzie is in glorious voice as Clara, and Shea brings a pretty voice, a pretty face, and a wooden personality to Giorgio. --David Horiuchi