Passion
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine
Directed by James Lapine
Passion is a one-act musical adapted from Ettore Scola's 1981 film Passione d'Amore, and its source material, Iginio Ugo Tarchetti's 1869 novel Fosca. At a remote military outpost in 1863 Italy, a handsome army captain, separated from his beautiful – but married – mistress, is forced to re-evaluate his beliefs about love when he becomes the object of the obsessive, unrelenting passions of Fosca, his Colonel's plain, sickly cousin.
Passion
Plymouth Theatre
March 24, 1994 - January 7, 1995
Photos by Martha Swope
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Opening Night Production Credits:
Music by Stephen Sondheim
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine
Directed by James Lapine
Theatre Owned / Operated by The Shubert Organization (Gerald Schoenfeld: Chairman; Bernard B. Jacobs: President)
Produced by The Shubert Organization (Gerald Schoenfeld: Chairman; Bernard B. Jacobs: President), Capital Cities / ABC Inc., Roger Berlind and Scott Rudin; Produced by arrangement with Lincoln Center Theater (André Bishop: Artistic Director; Bernard Gersten: Executive Producer)
Based on the film "Passione d'Amore" directed by Ettore Scola
Music orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick
Musical Director: Paul Gemignani
Associate Director: Jane Comfort
Scenic Design by Adrianne Lobel
Costume Design by Jane Greenwood
Lighting Design by Beverly Emmons
Sound Design by Otts Munderloh
Hair Design by Phyllis Della
General Manager: Marvin A. Krauss Associates, Inc.
Company Manager: Nina Skriloff
Associate Co. Mgr: Elizabeth M. Blitzer
Production Stage Manager: Beverley Randolph
Technical Supervisor: Fred J. Gallo, Jr.
Conducted by Paul Gemignani
Associate Conductor: Nick Archer
Casting: Wendy Ettinger
LCT Artistic Associate: Ira Weitzman
Press Representative: Philip Rinaldi Publicity
Advertising: Serino Coyne, Inc.
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Donna Murphy: Fosca
Jere Shea: Giorgio
Tom Aldredge: Doctor Tambourri
Linda Balgord: Fosca’s Mother
George Dvorsky: Private Augenti
Gregg Edelman: Colonel Ricci
Cris Groenendaal: Major Rizzoli
Juliet Lambert: Mistress
Marin Mazzie: Clara
Marcus Olson: Sergeant Lombardi
William Parry: Lieutenant Barri
Matthew Porretta: Ludovic
Francis Ruivivar: Lieutenant Torasso
John Leslie Wolfe: Fosca’s FatherUnderstudies: Linda Balgord (Fosca), Gibby Brand (Doctor Tambourri, Fosca's Father, Private Augenti), George Dvorsky (Giorgio, Ludovic), Colleen Fitzpatrick (Clara, Fosca, Fosca's Mother, Mistress), Juliet Lambert (Clara), Frank Lombardi (Private Augenti), William Parry (Colonel Ricci), Matthew Porretta (Giorgio), John Leslie Wolfe (Lieutenant Barri, Lieutenant Torasso, Major Rizzolli, Sergeant Lombardi).
Awards, Reviews & Features
1994 Tony Awards
Winner of Four Tony Awards! Winner of Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score and Best Actress in a Musical (Donna Murphy)
Nominated for six other Tony Awards, including Best Direction of a Musical and Best Actor in a Musical (Jere Shea)
1994 Drama Desk Awards
Winner of Six Drama Desk Awards! Winner of Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Book of a Musical and Outstanding Music & Lyrics.
Nominated for five other Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Director of a Musical and Outstanding Set Design
“Mr. Sondheim has dropped his defenses. With the playwright and director James Lapine, he has written an unalloyed love story, one that wants to penetrate the heart's deepest mysteries… This is his fourth collaboration with Mr. Lapine… and the pair have achieved an uncommonly graceful intertwining of dialogue and music.”
“Passion is a great, great show… It’s great because, with 15 musicals behind him, our theater’s most provocative composer and lyricist is still reinventing the form while honoring it…still prodding us to think about love even as his protagonist concludes that beauty is skin deep but love, as one character sings, ‘is as permanent as death.’... As he proved with ‘Sunday in the Park With George’ and ‘Into the Woods,’ Lapine brings clarity and concision to Sondheim’s scores…”