Passion: Various (Orig Broadway Cast Re: Amazon.ca: Music

1. Happiness
2. First Letter
3. Second Letter
4. Third Letter
5. Fourth Letter
6. I Read
7. Transition
8. Garden Sequence
9. Transition
10. Trio
11. Transition
12. I Wish I Could Forget You
13. Soldiers' Gossip
14. Flashback
15. Sunrise Letter
16. Is This What You Call Love?
17. Soldiers' Gossip
18. Transition
19. Forty Days
20. Loving You
See all 25 tracks on this disc

Product Description

From Amazon.com

Based 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, 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, and Murphy also won a Tony for her powerful performance as Fosca. Mazzie is in glorious voice as Clara, and Shea brings a pretty voice and a wooden personality to Giorgio. --David Horiuchi

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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

4.0 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars a masterpiece, Jun 18 2004

By

christie hamilton - See all my reviews

This review is from: Passion (Audio CD)

>And the lyrics. It's just not fair to rhyme words with themselves. Example: "Here I am wrapped in your arms. I just love being wrapped in your arms" or however it goes in the show. (I'm obviously not going to buy the album so I can't quote it.)

Guess what? This is called I-D-E-N-T-I-T-Y, and it's just as venerable a lyrical device as rhyme. It was used conspicuously well by Stephen Sondheim's mentor, Oscar Hammerstein (maybe you've heard of him, eh?), and it is used spectacularly well by Stephen Sondheim himself, here and elsewhere.

By the way, since you're "obviously not going to buy the album", you shouldn't be REVIEWING it EITHER.

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5.0 out of 5 stars One of Sondheim's greatest scores, Jun 9 2004

By

Bruce Hodges (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Passion (Audio CD)

Using a glittering language that owes a debt to Ravel, Stephen Sondheim has created one of his most ravishing scores, that in actual performance seems more like a tone poem rather than a conventional musical. In a single arc, the music flows seemingly straight through from beginning to end, with small motifs appearing, combining in intricate patterns and then receding. The sensuous result is some of the composer's best work.

The story here is an odd one, that some listeners may find a bit puzzling: a sickly woman (Fosca) falls in love with a much-healthier soldier, who eventually leaves his (also much-healthier) girlfriend to be with the sicklier one. Not the most believable scenario -- on paper, that is -- until the great Sondheim illuminates the touching emotions lurking just below the surface.

As Fosca, Donna Murphy (who won a Tony Award for her portrayal) makes a strange character come to vivid life, and sings the aching songs with a luster that drills them into the memory. A highlight is the searing "I Wish I Could Forget You," in which she dictates an imaginary letter to Giorgio, played by the wonderful Jere Shea. The incandescent Marin Mazzie plays Shea's girlfriend Clara, and is also in beautiful voice in her many "letter scenes," as well as those in which she combines her liquid voice with others. The score is chock full of Sondheim's soaring melodic lines and his usual heart-rending lyrics.

The recording quality is excellent -- quite natural, with realistic balances between the orchestra and the singers evoking an actual stage production. If I recall, the original Broadway orchestra was augmented with extra musicians for the recording, resulting in an even more sumptuous sound -- an excellent decision. Highly recommended.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Passionate!, May 31 2004

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M. B Speed "pep90685" (Meridian, MS United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Passion (Audio CD)

Sondheim has done it again. How anyone cannot love this show is beyond me. First of all, there is the irony in the name. Though Fosca has a passion for Georgio, everyone else merely has lust. Clara lusts for Georgio, Georgio lusts for Clara. Secondly, the brilliant cast of this show is stunning. No one can ever top Donna Murphy's "Loving You"! It is one of the great highlights of the show, as is the opening number sung by Marin Mazzie and Jeremy Shea. Finally, the Greek Chorus of soldiers is genius. Sondheim could not have made this show any better. Also, pick up the VHS or DVD of the show as James Lapine's staging is not to be missed.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars LISTEN!
PASSION, like so many Sondheim shows, is not a disc to put on in the background while you do the dishes.

Like any good musical or opera you need to sit down and listen.. Read more

Published on Jan 26 2004 by Mark Andrew Lawrence

1.0 out of 5 stars The WORST play EVER!!!!
This was the WORST play I have EVER seen in my life!!! It was depressing and all the songs sounded exactly the same. Read more