Stephen Sondheim's Passion (Original Broadway Cast)
by James Lapine
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DVD details
Actor: Donna Murphy, Gregg Edelman, Jere Shea, Marin Mazzie, Tom AldredgeDirector: James Lapine
Brand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-06-10
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Image Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Stephen Sondheim's Passion (Original Broadway Cast)
DVD Review: THIS is the #1 worse musical I have ever seen in my LIFE!
Summary: 1 Stars
...and THAT rating is not just from me but also my friend who I saw it with...it was so painful to sit through that the both of us looked at each other and we laughed the entire second act...and then it wins the Tony Award for Best Musical.....WOW...something's wrong with the universe
I just want to say that I've been going to musical theater since the 60s, so I know what I like and what works
DVD Review: Sondheim Does it Again !
Summary: 4 Stars
PASSION, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. His musicals were never Broadway Hits, the only popular tune he ever wrote was "Send in the Clowns" from Little Night Music but in spite of this he achieved to be the genius composer of Broadway Musical Theatre. Every one of his works is based on different theme, each of his themes is totally original, his lyrics are inteligent and very integral to the show they belong to.
PASSION is no exception. It deals with a story of a soldier, at first passionately in love with a married woman, later finding a deep affection for a disfigured, unattractive daughter of his superior officer, who eventually dies and leaves him a long love letter. The music is suitably dramatic and the score, the actress, the book and the whole Musical is the winner of TONY AWARDS. For all who love Stephen Sondheim this is a treat.
Joe Neustatl
DVD Review: Lapine Shines, Sondheim Falls Short
Summary: 4 Stars
I love Sondheim. He is a god to me. Every work of his I've ever seen is one I've loved - Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Company, Sunday in the Park With George. I ordinarily credit him with all the greatness of each musical, despite the profound efforts of his collaborators - Lapine, Furth, Wheeler, etc. - because I always feel that his score and his lyrics so perfectly capture the entire essence of the characters and the play itself that the writers deserve very little credit. However, that is not the case in Passion.
Don't get me wrong - the music is gorgeous (I hear a little Sweeney in there), and the lyrics are great. They just aren't his best. I didn't feel the characters quite as strongly through the music as I did through the scenes, which just isn't usual for a Sondheim show. Hence - Lapine shines, while Sondheim falls short of delivering the way we're used to, which I wouldn't credit any less than near perfection - no doubt, a lot to live up to. More than forgivable.
That being said, it's a good show. I can find fault in many places. There is an expectation of the audience to identify with Fosca by the end, which is not plausible considering the entirely creepy way Donna Murphy portrays her. Perhaps it is not so much her performance as it is the costumes and make-up. Granted - she is not supposed to be beautiful. But that does not mean she is supposed to be hideous or mortifyingly stalker-ish. It is hard to identify with someone who blatantly disregarded the will of the one she loved, following him anywhere he went.
That being said, Donna Murphy's acting was incredibly emotional and moving. Jere Shea and Marin Mazzie, less so, but still good. Tom Aldredge shines as well. The entire show itself is simply top-heavy with emotion...not surprising, considering the title, but a little humor or applause to break the tension would have been entirely fitting. It is just incredibly mentally taxing to sit through 2 hours of - literal - passion.
All that said, good show, and good performance. Just too much, for lack of a better term.
DVD Review: Sondheim's Masterpiece!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is undoubtably Sondheim's masterpiece. An almost 2 hour rhapsody beautifully sung, acted, staged and filmed.
This is a must for every Sondheim fan!!!
DVD Review: I love this work...
Summary: 5 Stars
I love all Sondheim but this is my favorite.
The one thing that would make my life perfect (well,almost) would be if the concert performance from Jazz at Lincoln Center were also released on DVD so I could have both, with their different emphasis, to enjoy.
Till then this is the more "human", the other walks into catholic mysticism, of the two great performances and it's devastating.
Description of Stephen Sondheim's Passion (Original Broadway Cast)
An unforgettable chronicle of the redemptive power of love, this is a mesmerizing musical rhapsody from the Broadway team of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. In 19th century Italy, handsome soldier Giorgio, is embroiled in a steamy affair with lovely, and married, Clara. Giorgio is transferred from Milan to a remote military outpost where he comes into contact with the ailing, homely Fosca, his commanding officer's cousin. Fosca falls instantly and deeply in love with Giorgio, who resists her affections. Gradually she reveals, and Giorgio learns to appreciate, what is truly beautiful about herself. This highly acclaimed Broadway musical features extraordinary performances from Donna Murphy (The King & I), Marin Mazzie (Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate) and Jere Shea (Damn Yankees). A haunting study of obsessive love, this striking production offers a visual and musical feast that will linger in your heart and soul forever! Winner of 4 Tony Awards: Best Musical, Best Actress (Musical) - Donna Murphy, Best Book (Musical) - James Lapine, Best Original Musical Score - Stephen SondheimBased on the Italian movie Passione d'amore, Stephen Sondheim's Passion is a story of obsessive love. Giorgio (Jere Shea), a soldier, and Clara (Marin Mazzie), a woman with a husband and child, are deeply in love, but their idyllic happiness is disrupted when Giorgio is transferred to another post. Here he meets Signora Fosca (Donna Murphy), a homely and ill woman who is the cousin of the regiment's commanding officer. Fosca soon falls in love with Giorgio and pursues him relentlessly, saying "Loving you is not a choice?/?It's who I am." He is repulsed and resists her advances, but eventually he succumbs to the power of her love.
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
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