Passion (1996)

Top comments

1. 

   Siskoid

   Sondheim and Lapine's challenge in adapting what was originally an epistolary novel is well met in Passion, a musical, but certainly not musical comedy. This is a sad one, in fact a fierce portrait of the ugly side of depression. Fosca is an unattractive woman in a century where a woman's opportunities are largely tied to her beauty, but also one that's always sick, mentally more than physically. She falls into obsessive love with Giorgio, a soldier garrisoned on her cousin's estate, but his heart belongs to another, a married woman in Milan. It's not going to go well. Not quite an opera - there's spoken dialog - Passion doesn't really have very many songs as such, more a kind of sing-song quality, so singability isn't really where its strengths are. Rather, the original cast's recording is all about Donna Murphy as Fosca. A powerhouse performance that must have left her drained every night. Dehydrated, certainly. It's called Passion, but it could have been called Selfishness, the selfishness that came come with depression, but also with love, as Giorgio and Clara are no less guilty of it. And then empathy as a kind of love. The resolution requires it from the characters and from the audience, because it psychologically quite complex and a less open-minded audience member could come out of it refusing to accept the outcomes. I've read that Sondheim only felt the piece came together some years later with a more boyish, innocent Giorgio, and I'd have liked to see that. I too am uncertain as to whether or not Jere Shea is too old to portray the character arc. But surely, a Passion without Donna Murphy must be a lesser Passion... 3 years 1 month ago

See all comments

Friends

Login to see which of your friends have seen this movie!