Passion (musical)
Encyclopedia
Passion is a musical
adapted from Ettore Scola's film Passione d'Amore (which was, in its turn, based on Iginio Ugo Tarchetti
's novel Fosca). The book is by James Lapine
, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
. Central subjects include obsession, beauty, power, manipulation, passion, illness, and love. It is also a partially epistolary play, parts of the story being told through letters.
Set in 19th century Italy, Sondheim's musical revolves around a handsome soldier, Giorgio, who is shattered and ultimately changed by the unconditional and obsessive love of Fosca, his Colonel's chronically ill, bedridden cousin. Throughout the play, Giorgio corresponds with his beautiful (but married) mistress Clara through letters. Passion is also notable for being one of only three shows,
(Sweeney Todd
and Road Show being the other two), that Stephen Sondheim
himself conceived.
at the Plymouth Theatre on May 9, 1994 and closed on January 7, 1995. Directed by James Lapine
, the cast starred Jere Shea as Giorgio, Donna Murphy
as Fosca and Marin Mazzie
as Clara. Scenic Design was by Adrianne Lobel
, Costume Design by Jane Greenwood
, Lighting Design by Beverly Emmons, and orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick
. This production was filmed shortly after closing and televised on the Public Broadcasting Service
"American Playhouse" on September 8, 1996. (It was released on DVD in 2003 by Image Entertainment.) The musical ran a total of 280 performances, making it the shortest-running musical ever to win the Tony Award for Best Musical
. This Jane Greenwood designed wardrobe was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Costume Design and is on display at the Costume World Broadway Collection in Pompano Beach, Florida.
in 1996. Directed by Jeremy Sams
, the cast starred Michael Ball
as Giorgio, Helen Hobson as Clara, and Maria Friedman
as Fosca (Friedman had previously appeared in several Sondheim musicals in the UK). It opened on March 26, 1996 at the Queen's Theatre
and closed on September 28, 1996 after 232 performances. The London cast was not officially recorded during the production run, but a recording was later made of the show performed in concert, with nearly all of the original London cast recreating their roles and preserving the musical changes from the earlier production.
in London, as part of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday celebrations, opened on September 10, 2010 in previews, with the official opening September 21, running through November 27. The director is Donmar associate director Jamie Lloyd
, and the cast included Argentine actress Elena Roger
, as well as Scarlett Strallen
and David Thaxton
. This production won the Evening Standard Awards
, Best Musical Award. David Thaxton won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
, Rebecca Luker
, and Judy Kuhn
.
The work was performed by the Minnesota Opera
in February 2004, staged by Tim Albery
and starring Patricia Racette
as Fosca, William Burden as Giorgio, and Evelyn Pollock as Clara.
In 2004 the show was performed in the Netherlands, and a Dutch language recording was released—one of the few translations of a Sondheim score. This production had Pia Douwes
starring as Clara, Stanley Burleson as Giorgio and Vera Mann as Fosca.
A semi-staged production, starring Michael Cerveris as Giorgio, Patti LuPone
as Fosca, and Audra McDonald
as Clara, was performed at Lincoln Center in New York for three performances, March 30 - April 1, 2005. This production was broadcast on the PBS
television show "Live From Lincoln Center" on March 31, 2005. The score in this production preserved the musical revisions from the London version. This same cast had performed at the Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, Illinois
, on August 22–23, 2003.
The show was mounted at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
from October 2, 2007 to November 11, 2007, starring Ana Gasteyer
as Fosca, Adam Brazier as Giorgio and Kathy Voytko as Clara.
A new production will be staged by PH Productions at the Mill Studio at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford in January 2012.
At this army post so far from the city, the sensitive Giorgio feels increasingly out of place ("Third Letter"). He starts to form a friendship with the Doctor, who describes Fosca as having a somatoform disorder
; she frequently dissolves into seizures, exposing her suffering and need for connection. Giorgio asks the Doctor whether Fosca is pretty; he doesn't respond. Later on, Giorgio receives another letter from Clara ("Fourth Letter"). As he does so, a shadowy figure behind him descends a long spectral staircase. Clothed in a stiff dress and approaching with an uncertain gait, Fosca introduces herself to Giorgio and thanks him for the books. When he suggests she keep a novel longer to meditate over it, she explains that she does not read to think or search for truth, but to live vicariously through the characters. She then goes off into a dark musing of her life ("I Read"). When Giorgio observes that a hearse is pulling up to pick up flowers for a funeral, Fosca is seized by a hysterical convulsion. Giorgio is stunned and appalled ("Transition").
The next day, Giorgio accompanies Fosca, the Colonel and the Doctor to the neglected garden of a nearby ruined castle, where the Colonel asks Giorgio to lend Fosca his arm. While Giorgio and Fosca stroll, he narrates in a letter to Clara that the presence of a woman caused him to think of her. Giorgio sings about the powers of love that is "the only happiness we can be certain of in life", echoed by Clara. Fosca, however, is hurt, and accuses him of insensitivity. She recognizes that Giorgio, like herself, is different from everyone else, and asks him to be her friend ("Garden Sequence").
As the days pass, Giorgio and Clara exchange letters about Fosca. Clara warns him to keep his distance. However, Fosca has already developed a dangerous obsession. At dinner that night, she gives Giorgio a letter declaring her feelings, but he chooses not to read it. Giorgio immediately asks the Colonel if he can have a five-day leave to go to Milan. With some hesitation, the Colonel agrees ("Transition"). The following morning, as Giorgio prepares to go, Fosca ambushes him, clinging to him and avowing her love. He calms her, but not before agreeing to write her as soon as he arrives in the city. The next day, Giorgio's letter arrives. Fosca reads tearfully from the letter Giorgio has sent her politely rejecting her love while he and Clara, back in their little room, sing of their love for one another ("Trio").
Upon Giorgio's return to the camp, Fosca coldly reproaches him. She questions him about his affair with Clara and learns that her "rival" is married. In a sharp exchange, they both agree to sever all ties. Three weeks pass with no contact between them ("Transition"), but just as Giorgio is beginning to think that he is finally free of Fosca, the Doctor approaches him and informs him that Fosca is dying. His rejection of her love has increased the gravity of her disease. Giorgio, whose job as a soldier is to save people's lives, must go see her and offer a few words of hope. Giorgio reluctantly agrees.
He enters Fosca's bed chamber, and she implores him to lie beside her on the bed while she sleeps. At daybreak, Fosca asks him for a favor before he leaves: "Write a letter for me." He agrees, but the letter she dictates is a fantasy one from Giorgio to herself (“I Wish I Could Forget You”). She then foists herself upon him. He hastens from the room.
The other soldiers gossip about Giorgio and Fosca while playing pool ("Soldiers' Gossip"). Colonel Ricci thanks Giorgio for the kindness he has shown his cousin, and proceeds to explain her history. In a flashback scene, it is seen that Fosca once had illusions about her looks and expectations about her prospects. One day, the Colonel brought the Austrian Count Ludovic home for dinner and introduced him. Fosca was delighted by him, though she had her suspicions. They were soon married, and the libertine Count swindled her parent's fortune. Fosca was one day confronted by her husband's mistress, and is told that he is not only a gigolo, but a fraud and a bigamist as well. When confronted, Ludovic smoothly admits to his deception and disappears, leaving her penniless. It was then that Fosca became ill. After her parents died, the Colonel, feeling responsible for her situation, took her in. ("Flashback").
Clara, meanwhile, has written Giorgio another letter ("Sunrise Letter") addressing her approaching age, in which she confesses that she is afraid that Giorgio will not love her anymore when she is old and no longer beautiful. He makes his way to a desolate mountain heath, sits down to write her back, and Fosca appears. After Giorgio lashes out at her in anger ("Is This What You Call Love?"), she collapses, and he carries her back in the rain. The other soldiers gossip about Giorgio and Fosca coming back to camp soaked to the skin ("Soldiers' Gossip").
The rain, the ordeal of getting Fosca back to camp and perhaps the exposure to Fosca's contagious emotions have conspired to give Giorgio a fever ("Nightmare"). The Doctor attends to him and informs him that he is being sent home to Milan on a 40-day sick leave ("Transition"). As he boards the train, he finds himself followed once again by Fosca. She apologizes for being the source of his illness, and tells him that nothing could have been further from what she wished for him. Giorgio informs her that he will never love her and pleads with her to give up. She explains that this cannot happen; her love is not a choice, it is who she is. She proclaims that she loves him so much, she would die for him ("Loving You"). "Die for me? What kind of love is that?" Giorgio asks. She says that it is the truest love there is, and that in the end, he will see what is beautiful about her. Giorgio is finally moved by the force of her emotions. He wraps her in a blanket and takes her back ("Transition").
Startled to see Giorgio back so soon, the Doctor warns him that he must stop seeing Fosca, that she poses a threat to his mental and physical health. Giorgio asks that his sick leave be shortened; he feels it his duty to stay and help Fosca as much as he can. The Doctor stiffly informs him that no one can help Fosca, and he will have him permanently transferred if he doesn't take his leave. Giorgio goes to Milan and tells Clara he will not take his full leave – a decision that provokes Clara to question him jealously about Fosca. Giorgio responds by asking Clara to leave her husband and run away with him, but as she has a child, she cannot.
Giorgio returns to the post and attends a Christmas party with Fosca and the soldiers. The festive mood is broken by the Colonel's reporting Giorgio to military headquarters. To everyone's embarrassment, the news sends Fosca flying into Giorgio's arms, begging him not to leave. She rushes from the room in tears. Later on, Giorgio reads Clara's latest letter, in which she asks him to wait until her child is of age before asking her to make a more serious commitment to him ("Farewell Letter"). Giorgio then realizes that what he had with Clara was little more than infatuation. He no longer desires the carefully planned, convenient relationship that they shared ("Just Another Love Story"). He puts her letter away.
Having discovered the letter Fosca dictated to Giorgio, the Colonel accuses Giorgio of leading on his cousin and challenges him to a duel. The Doctor attempts to mediate the two, but Giorgio demands that he to arrange for him to see Fosca one last time. At last, Giorgio has seen the depth of Fosca's love. He realizes that he loves Fosca, for no one has ever truly loved him but her.
That evening, Giorgio returns to Fosca's bedroom and, knowing the physical act of love might very well kill her, surrenders to what she has awakened in his heart (“No One Has Ever Loved Me”). They embrace, their passion consummated at last.
The duel takes place the following morning. Giorgio wounds Colonel Ricci and responds with a shrill howl eerily reminiscent of Fosca's earlier outbursts.
Several months pass, and Giorgio is in a hospital, recovering from his nervous condition. A nurse enters with a letter and several other items from the Doctor. Fosca died three days after their night together; Colonel Ricci recovered from the wound. She has left Giorgio a letter and a box containing some of her possessions, which the Doctor has enclosed. Dreamlike, the other characters in the story appear, as Giorgio begins reading from Fosca's final letter. He hears her voice, and together they sing of their revelations ("Finale").
The company slowly walks off, followed by Fosca, leaving Giorgio alone at his table.
+ Not included on recording
wrote that Passion has "a lush, romantic score that mirrors the heightened, operatic nature of the story... Jonathan Tunick's orchestration plays an especially important role in lending the music a richness of texture and bringing out its sweeping melodic lines. The sets...and lighting...are warm and glowy and fervent, reminiscent of the colors of Italian frescoes and evocative of the story's intense, highly dramatic mood. Less a series of individual songs than a hypnotic net of music, the show's score traces the shifting, kaleidoscopic emotions of the characters, even as it draws the audience into the dreamlike world of their fevered passions."
The New York Times review of the 1994 Broadway production called the musical an "unalloyed love story" but also Sondheim's "most somber" since Sweeney Todd. The review praised Donna Murphy, saying "her face wan, her eyes feverish, is spellbinding as the wretched Fosca. Indeed, her performance is so painfully honest in its depiction of a desperate and lonely woman that there are moments when you simply have to look away. She is also more than a little scary in the role..." "The score contains some insinuating melodies (no titles are listed in the program) that appear to have been forged out of cries and whispers. You can hear madness in the ecstatic lilt. The sharp drum rolls that mark the soldiers' days also could be summoning distressed souls to order." But, the reviewer sums up, the "...boldness of the enterprise never quite pays off. The musical leads an audience right up to the moment of transcendence but is unable in the end to provide the lift that would elevate the material above the disturbing."
In reviewing the 2005 concert, The New York Times wrote: "This pared-down production of one of Mr. Sondheim's most challenging works, a gothic romance about a young military officer drawn into an intense relationship with a sick, ugly woman, illuminates the shapely beauty and emotional vibrancy of Mr. Sondheim's score with unsettling, ultimately shattering force. More than a decade after its Broadway premiere, "Passion" may have found its purest, most persuasive and most powerful form."
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
adapted from Ettore Scola's film Passione d'Amore (which was, in its turn, based on Iginio Ugo Tarchetti
Iginio Ugo Tarchetti
Ugo Iginio Tarchetti was an Italian author, poet, and journalist.Born in San Salvatore Monferrato, his military career was cut short by ill health, and in 1865 he settled in Milan. Here he entered literary study, becoming part of the Scapigliatura, a literary movement animated by a spirit of...
's novel Fosca). The book is by James Lapine
James Lapine
James Lapine is an American stage director and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.-Biography:Lapine was born in Mansfield, Ohio and graduated...
, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
. Central subjects include obsession, beauty, power, manipulation, passion, illness, and love. It is also a partially epistolary play, parts of the story being told through letters.
Set in 19th century Italy, Sondheim's musical revolves around a handsome soldier, Giorgio, who is shattered and ultimately changed by the unconditional and obsessive love of Fosca, his Colonel's chronically ill, bedridden cousin. Throughout the play, Giorgio corresponds with his beautiful (but married) mistress Clara through letters. Passion is also notable for being one of only three shows,
(Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd (musical)
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical thriller with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and libretto by Hugh Wheeler. The musical is based on the 1973 play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond....
and Road Show being the other two), that Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
himself conceived.
Original Broadway Production
After 52 previews Passion opened on BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the Plymouth Theatre on May 9, 1994 and closed on January 7, 1995. Directed by James Lapine
James Lapine
James Lapine is an American stage director and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.-Biography:Lapine was born in Mansfield, Ohio and graduated...
, the cast starred Jere Shea as Giorgio, Donna Murphy
Donna Murphy
Donna Murphy is an American stage, film, television actress and singer.Murphy has won two Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Musical for her roles in Passion as Fosca and in The King and I as Anna Leonowens...
as Fosca and Marin Mazzie
Marin Mazzie
Marin Joy Mazzie is an American actress and singer known for her work in musical theater. She was nominated for the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Olivier Award for her role as Lilli/Katharine in Kiss Me, Kate, and won the Outer Critics Circle Award...
as Clara. Scenic Design was by Adrianne Lobel
Adrianne Lobel
Adrianne Lobel is an American scenic designer and producer for theatre, opera, and dance known for her "very daring and creative sets."Lobel was raised in Brooklyn and took classes at the art school at the Brooklyn Museum, then worked as a draftsman at film studios...
, Costume Design by Jane Greenwood
Jane Greenwood
Jane Greenwood is a costume designer for the stage, television, film, opera, and dance. Born in Liverpool, England, she works both in England and the United States. She has been nominated for the Tony Award for costume design seventeen times.-Biography:Greenwood attended Liverpool Art School and...
, Lighting Design by Beverly Emmons, and orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick
Jonathan Tunick
Jonathan Tunick is an American orchestrator, musical director, and composer, one of twelve people to have won all four major American show business awards: the Tony, Oscar, Emmy and Grammy. He has also worked with all of the other eleven people. His principal instrument is the clarinet...
. This production was filmed shortly after closing and televised on the Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
"American Playhouse" on September 8, 1996. (It was released on DVD in 2003 by Image Entertainment.) The musical ran a total of 280 performances, making it the shortest-running musical ever to win the Tony Award for Best Musical
Tony Award for Best Musical
This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack...
. This Jane Greenwood designed wardrobe was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Costume Design and is on display at the Costume World Broadway Collection in Pompano Beach, Florida.
Original London Production
The show was mounted, with minor revisions, in the West EndWest End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
in 1996. Directed by Jeremy Sams
Jeremy Sams
Jeremy Sams is a British film director, writer, translator, orchestrator, musical director, film composer, and lyricist....
, the cast starred Michael Ball
Michael Ball (singer)
Michael Ashley Ball, born 27 June 1962) is a British actor, singer, and radio and TV presenter who is best known for the song "Love Changes Everything" and musical theatre roles such as Marius in Les Misérables, Alex in Aspects of Love, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Edna Turnblad...
as Giorgio, Helen Hobson as Clara, and Maria Friedman
Maria Friedman
Maria Friedman is an English actress working in television, musical theatre, and concerts. She has won three Olivier Awards for her stage work.-Early years:...
as Fosca (Friedman had previously appeared in several Sondheim musicals in the UK). It opened on March 26, 1996 at the Queen's Theatre
Queen's Theatre
The Queen's Theatre is a West End theatre located in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It opened on 8 October 1907 as a twin to the neighbouring Gielgud Theatre which opened ten months earlier. Both theatres were designed by W.G.R...
and closed on September 28, 1996 after 232 performances. The London cast was not officially recorded during the production run, but a recording was later made of the show performed in concert, with nearly all of the original London cast recreating their roles and preserving the musical changes from the earlier production.
2010 London revival
A production at the Donmar WarehouseDonmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
in London, as part of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday celebrations, opened on September 10, 2010 in previews, with the official opening September 21, running through November 27. The director is Donmar associate director Jamie Lloyd
Jamie Lloyd (director)
Jamie Lloyd is a British theatre director, and currently an Associate Director of the Donmar Warehouse, where he recently directed The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Passion, which won the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical and Piaf starring Elena Roger...
, and the cast included Argentine actress Elena Roger
Elena Roger
Elena Silvia Roger is an Argentine actress who won the 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Édith Piaf in Piaf. She has also appeared in the West End in Evita, Boeing-Boeing, and Passion...
, as well as Scarlett Strallen
Scarlett Strallen
Scarlett Strallen is a British stage actress who made her Broadway debut on 9 October 2008 at the New Amsterdam Theatre playing the title role of Mary Poppins...
and David Thaxton
David Thaxton
David Thaxton is a British musical theatre and opera performer. He recently starred in the Donmar Warehouse's Passion, for which he won the 2011 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He previously appeared as Enjolras in the West End production of Les Misérables...
. This production won the Evening Standard Awards
Evening Standard Awards
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
, Best Musical Award. David Thaxton won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
Other productions
The musical was part of the Sondheim Celebration at the Kennedy Center, running from July 19, 2002 through August 23, 2002, with direction by Eric Schaeffer and the cast starring Michael CerverisMichael Cerveris
Michael Cerveris is an American singer, guitarist and actor. He has performed in many stage musicals and plays, including in several Stephen Sondheim musicals: Assassins, Sweeney Todd, Road Show, and Passion...
, Rebecca Luker
Rebecca Luker
Rebecca Luker is an American musical theatre actress and soprano who has appeared in several prominent Broadway productions.-Life and career:...
, and Judy Kuhn
Judy Kuhn
-Life and career:Kuhn was born in New York City and grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. She attended Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C.She entered Oberlin College in 1976. Although she was very interested in singing and theater, she began Oberlin in the College, not the Conservatory. After taking...
.
The work was performed by the Minnesota Opera
Minnesota Opera
The Minnesota Opera is a performance organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was founded in 1963 by the Walker Art Center, and is known for premiering such diverse works as Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and Frankenstein by Libby Larsen...
in February 2004, staged by Tim Albery
Tim Albery
Tim Bronson Reginald Albery is an English stage director, best known for his productions of opera.-Life and career:Albery was born in Harpenden, the son of the impresario Donald Albery and grandson of the producer Sir Bronson Albery...
and starring Patricia Racette
Patricia Racette
Patricia Lynn Racette is an American operatic soprano. A winner of the Richard Tucker Award in 1998, she has been a regular presence at major opera houses internationally. Racette has enjoyed long-term partnerships with the San Francisco Opera, where she has been a regular performer since 1989,...
as Fosca, William Burden as Giorgio, and Evelyn Pollock as Clara.
In 2004 the show was performed in the Netherlands, and a Dutch language recording was released—one of the few translations of a Sondheim score. This production had Pia Douwes
Pia Douwes
Pia Douwes is a Dutch musical theatre actress who is extremly successful in Europe.- Biography :Douwes was born in Amsterdam, North Holland as Petronella Irene Allegonda Douwes, to an arts dealer and a social worker and the grandniece of Doris Day...
starring as Clara, Stanley Burleson as Giorgio and Vera Mann as Fosca.
A semi-staged production, starring Michael Cerveris as Giorgio, Patti LuPone
Patti LuPone
Patti Ann LuPone is an American singer and actress, known for her Tony Award-winning performances as Eva Perón in the 1979 stage musical Evita and as Madame Rose in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy, and for her Olivier Award-winning performance as Fantine in the original London cast of Les...
as Fosca, and Audra McDonald
Audra McDonald
Audra Ann McDonald is an American actress and singer. She currently stars in the ABC television drama Private Practice as Dr. Naomi Bennett. She has appeared on the stage in both musicals and dramas, such as Ragtime and A Raisin in the Sun...
as Clara, was performed at Lincoln Center in New York for three performances, March 30 - April 1, 2005. This production was broadcast on the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
television show "Live From Lincoln Center" on March 31, 2005. The score in this production preserved the musical revisions from the London version. This same cast had performed at the Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, on August 22–23, 2003.
The show was mounted at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Chicago Shakespeare Theater is a non-profit, professional theater company located at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Its more than six hundred annual performances performed 48 weeks of the year include its critically acclaimed Shakespeare series, its World's Stage touring productions, and youth...
from October 2, 2007 to November 11, 2007, starring Ana Gasteyer
Ana Gasteyer
Ana Kristina Gasteyer is an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best known for her comedic roles when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2002.-Early life:...
as Fosca, Adam Brazier as Giorgio and Kathy Voytko as Clara.
A new production will be staged by PH Productions at the Mill Studio at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford in January 2012.
Synopsis
In Milan in 1863, two young lovers are in bed together ("Happiness"). The captain Giorgio breaks their reverie by telling his beautiful mistress Clara that he is being transferred to a provincial army outpost. In the mess hall at the outpost, Giorgio meets Colonel Ricci, the regiment's commanding officer, and Dr. Tambourri, its attending physician. He thinks longingly of Clara (“First Letter”), and Clara thinks longingly of him ("Second Letter"). Giorgio's thoughts are interrupted by a frightening scream. The Colonel tells him not to worry; it's his sickly cousin, Fosca. He tells Giorgio that Fosca loves to read. Giorgio offers to lend her some of his books.At this army post so far from the city, the sensitive Giorgio feels increasingly out of place ("Third Letter"). He starts to form a friendship with the Doctor, who describes Fosca as having a somatoform disorder
Somatoform disorder
In psychology, a somatoform disorder is a mental disorder characterized by physical symptoms that suggest physical illness or injury - symptoms that cannot be explained fully by a general medical condition, direct effect of a substance, or attributable to another mental disorder . The symptoms that...
; she frequently dissolves into seizures, exposing her suffering and need for connection. Giorgio asks the Doctor whether Fosca is pretty; he doesn't respond. Later on, Giorgio receives another letter from Clara ("Fourth Letter"). As he does so, a shadowy figure behind him descends a long spectral staircase. Clothed in a stiff dress and approaching with an uncertain gait, Fosca introduces herself to Giorgio and thanks him for the books. When he suggests she keep a novel longer to meditate over it, she explains that she does not read to think or search for truth, but to live vicariously through the characters. She then goes off into a dark musing of her life ("I Read"). When Giorgio observes that a hearse is pulling up to pick up flowers for a funeral, Fosca is seized by a hysterical convulsion. Giorgio is stunned and appalled ("Transition").
The next day, Giorgio accompanies Fosca, the Colonel and the Doctor to the neglected garden of a nearby ruined castle, where the Colonel asks Giorgio to lend Fosca his arm. While Giorgio and Fosca stroll, he narrates in a letter to Clara that the presence of a woman caused him to think of her. Giorgio sings about the powers of love that is "the only happiness we can be certain of in life", echoed by Clara. Fosca, however, is hurt, and accuses him of insensitivity. She recognizes that Giorgio, like herself, is different from everyone else, and asks him to be her friend ("Garden Sequence").
As the days pass, Giorgio and Clara exchange letters about Fosca. Clara warns him to keep his distance. However, Fosca has already developed a dangerous obsession. At dinner that night, she gives Giorgio a letter declaring her feelings, but he chooses not to read it. Giorgio immediately asks the Colonel if he can have a five-day leave to go to Milan. With some hesitation, the Colonel agrees ("Transition"). The following morning, as Giorgio prepares to go, Fosca ambushes him, clinging to him and avowing her love. He calms her, but not before agreeing to write her as soon as he arrives in the city. The next day, Giorgio's letter arrives. Fosca reads tearfully from the letter Giorgio has sent her politely rejecting her love while he and Clara, back in their little room, sing of their love for one another ("Trio").
Upon Giorgio's return to the camp, Fosca coldly reproaches him. She questions him about his affair with Clara and learns that her "rival" is married. In a sharp exchange, they both agree to sever all ties. Three weeks pass with no contact between them ("Transition"), but just as Giorgio is beginning to think that he is finally free of Fosca, the Doctor approaches him and informs him that Fosca is dying. His rejection of her love has increased the gravity of her disease. Giorgio, whose job as a soldier is to save people's lives, must go see her and offer a few words of hope. Giorgio reluctantly agrees.
He enters Fosca's bed chamber, and she implores him to lie beside her on the bed while she sleeps. At daybreak, Fosca asks him for a favor before he leaves: "Write a letter for me." He agrees, but the letter she dictates is a fantasy one from Giorgio to herself (“I Wish I Could Forget You”). She then foists herself upon him. He hastens from the room.
The other soldiers gossip about Giorgio and Fosca while playing pool ("Soldiers' Gossip"). Colonel Ricci thanks Giorgio for the kindness he has shown his cousin, and proceeds to explain her history. In a flashback scene, it is seen that Fosca once had illusions about her looks and expectations about her prospects. One day, the Colonel brought the Austrian Count Ludovic home for dinner and introduced him. Fosca was delighted by him, though she had her suspicions. They were soon married, and the libertine Count swindled her parent's fortune. Fosca was one day confronted by her husband's mistress, and is told that he is not only a gigolo, but a fraud and a bigamist as well. When confronted, Ludovic smoothly admits to his deception and disappears, leaving her penniless. It was then that Fosca became ill. After her parents died, the Colonel, feeling responsible for her situation, took her in. ("Flashback").
Clara, meanwhile, has written Giorgio another letter ("Sunrise Letter") addressing her approaching age, in which she confesses that she is afraid that Giorgio will not love her anymore when she is old and no longer beautiful. He makes his way to a desolate mountain heath, sits down to write her back, and Fosca appears. After Giorgio lashes out at her in anger ("Is This What You Call Love?"), she collapses, and he carries her back in the rain. The other soldiers gossip about Giorgio and Fosca coming back to camp soaked to the skin ("Soldiers' Gossip").
The rain, the ordeal of getting Fosca back to camp and perhaps the exposure to Fosca's contagious emotions have conspired to give Giorgio a fever ("Nightmare"). The Doctor attends to him and informs him that he is being sent home to Milan on a 40-day sick leave ("Transition"). As he boards the train, he finds himself followed once again by Fosca. She apologizes for being the source of his illness, and tells him that nothing could have been further from what she wished for him. Giorgio informs her that he will never love her and pleads with her to give up. She explains that this cannot happen; her love is not a choice, it is who she is. She proclaims that she loves him so much, she would die for him ("Loving You"). "Die for me? What kind of love is that?" Giorgio asks. She says that it is the truest love there is, and that in the end, he will see what is beautiful about her. Giorgio is finally moved by the force of her emotions. He wraps her in a blanket and takes her back ("Transition").
Startled to see Giorgio back so soon, the Doctor warns him that he must stop seeing Fosca, that she poses a threat to his mental and physical health. Giorgio asks that his sick leave be shortened; he feels it his duty to stay and help Fosca as much as he can. The Doctor stiffly informs him that no one can help Fosca, and he will have him permanently transferred if he doesn't take his leave. Giorgio goes to Milan and tells Clara he will not take his full leave – a decision that provokes Clara to question him jealously about Fosca. Giorgio responds by asking Clara to leave her husband and run away with him, but as she has a child, she cannot.
Giorgio returns to the post and attends a Christmas party with Fosca and the soldiers. The festive mood is broken by the Colonel's reporting Giorgio to military headquarters. To everyone's embarrassment, the news sends Fosca flying into Giorgio's arms, begging him not to leave. She rushes from the room in tears. Later on, Giorgio reads Clara's latest letter, in which she asks him to wait until her child is of age before asking her to make a more serious commitment to him ("Farewell Letter"). Giorgio then realizes that what he had with Clara was little more than infatuation. He no longer desires the carefully planned, convenient relationship that they shared ("Just Another Love Story"). He puts her letter away.
Having discovered the letter Fosca dictated to Giorgio, the Colonel accuses Giorgio of leading on his cousin and challenges him to a duel. The Doctor attempts to mediate the two, but Giorgio demands that he to arrange for him to see Fosca one last time. At last, Giorgio has seen the depth of Fosca's love. He realizes that he loves Fosca, for no one has ever truly loved him but her.
That evening, Giorgio returns to Fosca's bedroom and, knowing the physical act of love might very well kill her, surrenders to what she has awakened in his heart (“No One Has Ever Loved Me”). They embrace, their passion consummated at last.
The duel takes place the following morning. Giorgio wounds Colonel Ricci and responds with a shrill howl eerily reminiscent of Fosca's earlier outbursts.
Several months pass, and Giorgio is in a hospital, recovering from his nervous condition. A nurse enters with a letter and several other items from the Doctor. Fosca died three days after their night together; Colonel Ricci recovered from the wound. She has left Giorgio a letter and a box containing some of her possessions, which the Doctor has enclosed. Dreamlike, the other characters in the story appear, as Giorgio begins reading from Fosca's final letter. He hears her voice, and together they sing of their revelations ("Finale").
The company slowly walks off, followed by Fosca, leaving Giorgio alone at his table.
Songs
Note: No song titles were listed in the program- Happiness - Clara and Giorgio
- First Letter - Clara and Giorgio
- Second Letter - Clara and Giorgio
- Third Letter - Clara, Giorgio, Soldiers
- Fourth Letter - Clara
- I Read - Fosca
- Transition (#1) - Giorgio, Men
- Garden Sequence - Giorgio, Clara, Fosca
- Transition (#2) - Soldiers
- Trio - Fosca, Giorgio, Clara
- Transition (#3) - Attendants
- "This is hell..." - Soldiers & Attendants +
- "God, you are so beautiful..." - Fosca +
- I Wish I Could Forget You - Fosca
- "How can I describe her..." - Soldiers +
- Soldier's Gossip (#1) - Soldiers
- Flashback - Colonel Ricci, Fosca, Mother, Father, Ludovic, Mistress
- Sunrise Letter - Clara and Giorgio
- Is This What You Call Love? - Giorgio
- Soldiers' Gossip (#2) - Soldiers
- Nightmare - Group #1 and #2 +
- Transition (#4) - Rizzolli
- Forty Days - Clara
- Loving You - Fosca
- Transition (#5) - Woman, Man
- Soldiers' Gossip (#3) - Soldiers
- "Giorgio, I didn't tell you in my letter..." - Clara +
- Christmas Carol - Torasso +
- Farewell Letter - Clara
- Just Another Love Story - Giorgio and Clara
- No One Has Ever Loved Me - Giorgio
- "All this happiness..." - Fosca
- The Duel +
- Finale - Company
+ Not included on recording
Response and Analysis
In analyzing the musical in 1994, The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote that Passion has "a lush, romantic score that mirrors the heightened, operatic nature of the story... Jonathan Tunick's orchestration plays an especially important role in lending the music a richness of texture and bringing out its sweeping melodic lines. The sets...and lighting...are warm and glowy and fervent, reminiscent of the colors of Italian frescoes and evocative of the story's intense, highly dramatic mood. Less a series of individual songs than a hypnotic net of music, the show's score traces the shifting, kaleidoscopic emotions of the characters, even as it draws the audience into the dreamlike world of their fevered passions."
The New York Times review of the 1994 Broadway production called the musical an "unalloyed love story" but also Sondheim's "most somber" since Sweeney Todd. The review praised Donna Murphy, saying "her face wan, her eyes feverish, is spellbinding as the wretched Fosca. Indeed, her performance is so painfully honest in its depiction of a desperate and lonely woman that there are moments when you simply have to look away. She is also more than a little scary in the role..." "The score contains some insinuating melodies (no titles are listed in the program) that appear to have been forged out of cries and whispers. You can hear madness in the ecstatic lilt. The sharp drum rolls that mark the soldiers' days also could be summoning distressed souls to order." But, the reviewer sums up, the "...boldness of the enterprise never quite pays off. The musical leads an audience right up to the moment of transcendence but is unable in the end to provide the lift that would elevate the material above the disturbing."
In reviewing the 2005 concert, The New York Times wrote: "This pared-down production of one of Mr. Sondheim's most challenging works, a gothic romance about a young military officer drawn into an intense relationship with a sick, ugly woman, illuminates the shapely beauty and emotional vibrancy of Mr. Sondheim's score with unsettling, ultimately shattering force. More than a decade after its Broadway premiere, "Passion" may have found its purest, most persuasive and most powerful form."
Original Broadway production
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Drama Desk Award Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category... |
Outstanding Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since. Before the 21st Drama Desk Awards, acting awards were given without making distinctions between roles in straight dramas as opposed to musicals, nor were there... |
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| Outstanding Book of a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee which comprises New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
James Lapine James Lapine James Lapine is an American stage director and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.-Biography:Lapine was born in Mansfield, Ohio and graduated... |
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| Outstanding Actor in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since... |
Jere Shea | |||
| Outstanding Actress in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since... |
Donna Murphy Donna Murphy Donna Murphy is an American stage, film, television actress and singer.Murphy has won two Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Musical for her roles in Passion as Fosca and in The King and I as Anna Leonowens... |
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| Outstanding Director of a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical was first awarded at the 1974–1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since... |
James Lapine James Lapine James Lapine is an American stage director and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.-Biography:Lapine was born in Mansfield, Ohio and graduated... |
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| Outstanding Orchestrations Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
Jonathan Tunick Jonathan Tunick Jonathan Tunick is an American orchestrator, musical director, and composer, one of twelve people to have won all four major American show business awards: the Tony, Oscar, Emmy and Grammy. He has also worked with all of the other eleven people. His principal instrument is the clarinet... |
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| Outstanding Lyrics Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics is an annual award presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
Stephen Sondheim Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award... |
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| Outstanding Music Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music is an annual award presented by the Drama Desk, a committee comprising New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
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| Outstanding Set Design Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee composed of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
Adrianne Lobel Adrianne Lobel Adrianne Lobel is an American scenic designer and producer for theatre, opera, and dance known for her "very daring and creative sets."Lobel was raised in Brooklyn and took classes at the art school at the Brooklyn Museum, then worked as a draftsman at film studios... |
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| Outstanding Costume Design Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
Jane Greenwood Jane Greenwood Jane Greenwood is a costume designer for the stage, television, film, opera, and dance. Born in Liverpool, England, she works both in England and the United States. She has been nominated for the Tony Award for costume design seventeen times.-Biography:Greenwood attended Liverpool Art School and... |
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| Outstanding Lighting Design Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
Beverly Emmons Beverly Emmons Beverly Emmons is a lighting designer for the stage, dance and opera.-Career:Emmons graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1965 and then worked as an assistant to Jules Fisher. Her first credit as a lighting designer was with the Off-Broadway play Sensations in 1970. Emmons first Broadway work... |
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| Theatre World Award Theatre World Award The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:... |
Jere Shea | |||
| Tony Award Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway... |
Best Musical Tony Award for Best Musical This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack... |
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| Best Book of a Musical Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligible... |
James Lapine James Lapine James Lapine is an American stage director and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.-Biography:Lapine was born in Mansfield, Ohio and graduated... |
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| Best Original Score Tony Award for Best Original Score The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical in that year. The score consists of music and lyrics... |
Stephen Sondheim Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award... |
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| Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical is awarded to the actor who was voted as the best actor in a musical play, whether a new production or a revival... |
Jere Shea | |||
| Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical | Donna Murphy Donna Murphy Donna Murphy is an American stage, film, television actress and singer.Murphy has won two Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Musical for her roles in Passion as Fosca and in The King and I as Anna Leonowens... |
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| Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical This is a list of the winners and nominations of Tony Award for the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. The award has been presented since 1947... |
Tom Aldredge Tom Aldredge Thomas Ernest "Tom" Aldredge was an American television, film and stage actor.-Life and career:Aldredge was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Lucienne Juliet and W. J. Aldredge, a colonel in the United States Army Air Corps... |
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| Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical This is a list of the winners and nominations of the Tony Award for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical. The award, introduced in 1950, was previously named as Best Performance by a Featured or Supporting Actress in a Musical until 1976.... |
Marin Mazzie Marin Mazzie Marin Joy Mazzie is an American actress and singer known for her work in musical theater. She was nominated for the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Olivier Award for her role as Lilli/Katharine in Kiss Me, Kate, and won the Outer Critics Circle Award... |
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| Best Direction of a Musical Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Prior to 1960, category for direction included plays and musicals.-1950s:Note: this category was for both dramatic and musical productions... |
James Lapine James Lapine James Lapine is an American stage director and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.-Biography:Lapine was born in Mansfield, Ohio and graduated... |
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| Best Costume Design Tony Award for Best Costume Design These are the winners and nominees for the Tony Award for Best Costume Design. The award was first presented in 1947 and included both plays and musicals... |
Jane Greenwood Jane Greenwood Jane Greenwood is a costume designer for the stage, television, film, opera, and dance. Born in Liverpool, England, she works both in England and the United States. She has been nominated for the Tony Award for costume design seventeen times.-Biography:Greenwood attended Liverpool Art School and... |
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| Best Lighting Design Tony Award for Best Lighting Design This is a list of the winners of the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design in a play or musical, first presented in 1970. In 2005 the category was divided with each genre represented separately.-1970s:* 1970: Jo Mielziner – Child's Play... |
Beverly Emmons Beverly Emmons Beverly Emmons is a lighting designer for the stage, dance and opera.-Career:Emmons graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1965 and then worked as an assistant to Jules Fisher. Her first credit as a lighting designer was with the Off-Broadway play Sensations in 1970. Emmons first Broadway work... |
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Original London production
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Evening Standard Award | Best New Musical | ||
| 1997 | Laurence Olivier Award | Best New Musical | ||
| Best Actress in a Musical | Maria Friedman Maria Friedman Maria Friedman is an English actress working in television, musical theatre, and concerts. She has won three Olivier Awards for her stage work.-Early years:... |
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| Best Performance in a Supporting Role | Hugh Ross Hugh Ross Hugh Ross may refer to:* Hugh Ross , American choral director and conductor* Hugh McGregor Ross , computing pioneer and specialist in the Gospel of Thomas... |
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| Best Set Design | Paul Farnsworth | |||
| Readers Choice Award Readers Choice Award Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine honors authors each year as voted upon by readers, hence the name, Readers Choice Award. Recipients include many of the most popular authors of thrillers and mysteries.-Presentation:... |
Best New Musical | |||
| Best Actor | Michael Ball Michael Ball (singer) Michael Ashley Ball, born 27 June 1962) is a British actor, singer, and radio and TV presenter who is best known for the song "Love Changes Everything" and musical theatre roles such as Marius in Les Misérables, Alex in Aspects of Love, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Edna Turnblad... |
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| Best Actress | Maria Friedman Maria Friedman Maria Friedman is an English actress working in television, musical theatre, and concerts. She has won three Olivier Awards for her stage work.-Early years:... |
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| Best Director | Jeremy Sams Jeremy Sams Jeremy Sams is a British film director, writer, translator, orchestrator, musical director, film composer, and lyricist.... |
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2010 London revival
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Evening Standard Award | Best Musical | ||
| Laurence Olivier Award | Best Musical Revival | |||
| Best Actor in a Musical | David Thaxton David Thaxton David Thaxton is a British musical theatre and opera performer. He recently starred in the Donmar Warehouse's Passion, for which he won the 2011 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He previously appeared as Enjolras in the West End production of Les Misérables... |
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| Best Actress in a Musical | Elena Roger Elena Roger Elena Silvia Roger is an Argentine actress who won the 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Édith Piaf in Piaf. She has also appeared in the West End in Evita, Boeing-Boeing, and Passion... |
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External links
- Passion on the Stephen Sondheim Reference Guide
- Passion synopsis and production information at MTI Shows
- Passion - A musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine
- How Passion changed during its difficult previews, a 1994 article from The Sondheim ReviewThe Sondheim ReviewThe Sondheim Review is a quarterly magazine published in the United States since 1994 and, per its tagline, is "Dedicated to the work of the Musical Theatre's foremost composer and lyricist," Stephen Sondheim. It is edited by Cincinnati theatre critic Rick Pender, and its editorial board includes...
.