Passion
September 3, 2021 8:04 PM Subscribe
Stephen Sondheim had not been on Broadway for nearly five years. Assassins had been an off-Broadway production, and so when Passion opened in 1994, after a very labored preview process (and still not widely lauded in reviews), it received a lot of attention. Nominated for 10 Tony awards, one of the four trophies it won was Best Musical, which after only running for 280 performances makes it the shortest-running show to win the top award. Here is the Original Broadway Cast's remarkable performance [1h55m] of this one-act, melodically intertwined musical involving lessons about love.
There's not a lot of additional material for Passion, except for a Live From Lincoln Center with Patti LuPone, Michael Cerveris, and Audra McDonald 1h54m]. This follows musical and script revisions made for the 1996 London Premiere of the show, so it's a bit different.
There's not a lot of additional material for Passion, except for a Live From Lincoln Center with Patti LuPone, Michael Cerveris, and Audra McDonald 1h54m]. This follows musical and script revisions made for the 1996 London Premiere of the show, so it's a bit different.
The longer this series continues, the more of a fan I become.
posted by hippybear at 8:24 PM on September 3, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 8:24 PM on September 3, 2021 [6 favorites]
hippybear, these are so great! Thank you for putting them together! Bookmarking the #StephenSondheim tag so I can come back and see them all in one place.
posted by rogerroger at 9:27 PM on September 3, 2021
posted by rogerroger at 9:27 PM on September 3, 2021
Wonderful post, Hippybear. Keep the Sondheim coming.
posted by glaucon at 10:37 PM on September 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by glaucon at 10:37 PM on September 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
Really amazing performance by Donna Murphy. Not easy to watch, but wow.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 7:04 AM on September 4, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 7:04 AM on September 4, 2021 [1 favorite]
I somehow saw this (PBS?), and was mesmerized. Sondheim's musicals are difficult to summarize, but it's usually possible to describe them with two connecting phrases giving their inspiration and their gimmick ("'Smiles of a Summer Night' with waltzes"; "Murderers of politicians with historically-accurate pop-song facsimiles") that at least suggest their appeal. Here. "1869 Italian novel with epistolary songs" does not really beg you to see it. I hope it, like "Sweeney Todd" makes a transition to being performed by opera companies.
posted by acrasis at 8:38 AM on September 4, 2021
posted by acrasis at 8:38 AM on September 4, 2021
This whole story is such a delicate balancing act, which I think the Broadway cast just manages to pull off. How do you get Giorgio's love to move from Clara to Fosca in a way that is believable?
I think it's the song Loving You, which is the first important brick in this pathway. If this song doesn't work, it all falls apart. Murphy does it brilliantly, and takes the song into an emotional space of honesty that isn't there simply in the lyrics. Really amazing moment.
The second brick is Giorgio and Clara's confrontation about Clara's marriage. This builds on that first brick, and regardless of what else has transpired in between, it's during that which Giorgio realizes that it is Fosca's devotion, her passion, which is what he wants in a relationship.
This is such a tightrope walk for a show like this. Fosca is really not a very likable character (although she becomes more sympathetic upon reflection, at least for me), and having her goals in the piot win can feel really like a betrayal.
UNLESS you get those two bricks of the pathway laid clearly, in a way that makes the audience walk in that direction with ease. The Broadway cast really pulls this off, IMO. Astounding performances all around.
Sondheim was so often basically disastrous at the box office, it is truly his sheer artistry that has kept his forward momentum across the decades.
posted by hippybear at 12:52 PM on September 4, 2021
I think it's the song Loving You, which is the first important brick in this pathway. If this song doesn't work, it all falls apart. Murphy does it brilliantly, and takes the song into an emotional space of honesty that isn't there simply in the lyrics. Really amazing moment.
The second brick is Giorgio and Clara's confrontation about Clara's marriage. This builds on that first brick, and regardless of what else has transpired in between, it's during that which Giorgio realizes that it is Fosca's devotion, her passion, which is what he wants in a relationship.
This is such a tightrope walk for a show like this. Fosca is really not a very likable character (although she becomes more sympathetic upon reflection, at least for me), and having her goals in the piot win can feel really like a betrayal.
UNLESS you get those two bricks of the pathway laid clearly, in a way that makes the audience walk in that direction with ease. The Broadway cast really pulls this off, IMO. Astounding performances all around.
Sondheim was so often basically disastrous at the box office, it is truly his sheer artistry that has kept his forward momentum across the decades.
posted by hippybear at 12:52 PM on September 4, 2021
See, this is nuts. I wasn't even searching for this, but it appears just now: Passion Original Broadway Cast Full Show with commentary from Ira Wetzman, James Lapine, Stephen Sondheim, Donna Murphy, Jere Shea, and Marin Mazzie [1h55m].
posted by hippybear at 1:03 PM on September 4, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 1:03 PM on September 4, 2021 [3 favorites]
I just want to point out how utterly charming that commentary is. Totally worth watching, I was delighted all the way through.
posted by hippybear at 2:23 PM on September 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 2:23 PM on September 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
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