Product Details

• Actors: Donna Murphy, Jere Shea, Marin Mazzie, Gregg Edelman, Tom Aldredge
• Directors: James Lapine
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: June 10, 2003
• Run Time: 115 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000093NR3
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,264 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #22 in	Movies & TV > Musicals & Performing Arts > Broadway > Musicals
  #66 in	Movies & TV > Drama > Love & Romance > Infidelity & Betrayal

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video
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, 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

Product Description
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 Sondheim

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect transfer..., June 11, 2003

By	Wayne Rossi (Mount Holly, NJ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've commented, on my review of the magnificent Original Broadway Cast Recording, that Passion has a beautiful score. It's my favorite of Sondheim's works, which is really saying something. So, I was very quick to get the DVD transfer of the original production as soon as it was out.

From end to end, Passion is of a single piece. The scene transitions and the dropping in and out of song are incredibly smooth, and Lapine's book is more refined and generally more enjoyable than his work on Sunday in the Park... or Into the Woods. The performances are marvellous, particularly Donna Murphy as Fosca, who comes off even more spectacularly here than in the cast recording. Jere Shea and Marin Mazzie more than hold their own, but Murphy is undoubtedly the star. Her character is so compelling that the story really makes sense.

But the great thing about the filmed version of Passion is how appropriate it was. It is exquisitely filmed - moreso than Sunday or Woods - and the direction lets you get close to these amazing characters. The costumes are gorgeous from end to end, and the physical acting was often fairly subtle on the stage. That means that it all came off the better on film. And the way the musical was produced was absolutely appropriate for film. It feels like you're seeing a really interesting filmic version sometimes rather than a staged production. That's the real triumph of this DVD: it feels like the show was meant for it.

If you even remotely like Sondheim or serious works of musical theatre, you owe it to yourself to buy this DVD as soon as possible.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easier to follow than the cast album, November 6, 2000

By	PJ "arataman_79" (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stephen Sondheim's Passion (Original Broadway Cast) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I liked this musical very much! I remember watching the Tony Awards the year that the original production won the Award for Best Musical over "Beauty and the Beast"--the more likely contender for the top prize; and I thought it was a mistake until I had seen the original cast program. I had only heard the cast album of "Beauty" and once I saw "Passion" I saw "Beauty" as an overblown, juvenile production for the kiddies and I don't see how it could have been nominated. I think that Jere Shea is very good-looking gentleman with a good voice as Georgio, Marin Mazzie is a beauty of an actress as Clara and then there is Donna Murphy in her Tony Award-winning performance as Fosca, the unattractive yet passionate older woman reaching out desperately for Georgio's love. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves Sondheim--the Broadway genius who wrote the score.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular, November 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Stephen Sondheim's Passion (Original Broadway Cast) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Passion is truly the most gorgeous musical I have ever before seen. From the moment I received the cast recording I listened to it relentlessly, deeply engaged in the story of Giorgio, Fosca and Clara. The music is wonderful and this particular cast is superb (although I feel the London cast with Maria Friedman and Michael Ball is a bit better). I enjoyed Passion on video much more than Sunday in the Park with George or Into the Woods, although I did enjoy both of those videos very much as well. Buy Passion now because there's no denying that it's not the "hottest" musical around and will therefore probably not be available for very much longer. You won't regret the purchase. It's magnificent. Sondheim has done it yet again.