Show guide
Passion
Passion is Stephen Sondheim's 1994 sung through musical about an obsessive, transformative love between a sickly, plain woman and a handsome army officer in nineteenth century Italy.
- Broadway premiere
- 1994
- Music by
- Stephen Sondheim
- Genre
- Sung-through
- Setting
- 1860s
Passion: quick answers
What is Passion about?
- Passion follows Giorgio, a handsome army officer in love with his married mistress Clara, who is posted to a remote military outpost where Fosca, his commanding officer's sickly, plain cousin, falls obsessively in love with him, and her devotion slowly transforms him.
When did Passion open on Broadway?
- Passion opened on Broadway on May 9, 1994, at the Plymouth Theatre and ran 280 performances, closing on January 7, 1995. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical.
Is Passion sung-through?
- Largely, yes. Stephen Sondheim's score runs almost continuously from scene to scene, with very little spoken dialogue, and the show is usually performed in one act.
Where and when is Passion set?
- Passion is set in Italy in 1863, during the country's unification, moving between Milan and a remote military outpost.
Has Passion played in London's West End?
- Passion opened in London at the Queen's Theatre in 1996, with Michael Ball as Giorgio and Maria Friedman as Fosca, who won the 1997 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
Is there a Passion movie?
- Passion is adapted from Ettore Scola's 1981 Italian film Passione d'Amore, itself based on Iginio Ugo Tarchetti's 1869 novel Fosca; the original Broadway production was filmed and broadcast on PBS in 1996.
The story of Passion
Passion is set in 1863 Italy, where the officer Giorgio Bachetti is transferred from Milan to a remote military garrison. He arrives already in love with Clara, a beautiful married woman he has left behind, but at the garrison he meets Fosca, his commanding officer's cousin, a chronically ill and plain woman starved of affection.
Fosca falls overwhelmingly in love with Giorgio and refuses to hide or moderate her feelings, pursuing him with an intensity that at first repels him. Based on the Italian film Passione d'Amore, the story ultimately asks whether Fosca's uncompromising, difficult love might be more real than the comfortable, conventional love Giorgio has always known.
The music and the makers
Stephen Sondheim wrote the score and James Lapine the book, and Passion is almost entirely sung through, with very little spoken dialogue and music that flows continuously from scene to scene. Recurring musical motifs shift meaning as they attach themselves to different characters' understanding of love.
Key musical sequences include I Read, Fosca's direct declaration of feeling, and Loving You, along with the connective material that carries Giorgio and Fosca's relationship forward almost without pause. The result is one of Sondheim's most intense and operatic scores, built for sustained emotional escalation rather than standalone song hits.
Passion on Broadway
Passion opened on Broadway in May 1994 at the Plymouth Theatre, starring Donna Murphy as Fosca and Jere Shea as Giorgio. The production ran for 280 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Musical, becoming, at the time, one of the shortest running shows ever to win that award.
Murphy won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance. Passion has since been revived in smaller scale stagings, including a notable Classic Stage Company production, and remains one of Sondheim's most divisive and closely studied works for its uncompromising, almost claustrophobic take on romantic obsession.
Passion: frequently asked questions
When did Passion open on Broadway?
Passion opened on Broadway in 1994 at the Plymouth Theatre.
Who wrote Passion?
Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics, with a book by James Lapine.
What is Passion about?
It follows a chronically ill woman named Fosca whose obsessive love for an army officer, Giorgio, ultimately transforms his understanding of what love can be.
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