"I wish I could forget you
Erase you from my mind
But ever since I met you,
I find,I cannot leave the thought
Of you behind
That doesn't mean I love you...

I wish that I could love you...

I know that I've upset you,
I know I've been unkind
I wanted you to vanish
From sight
But now I see you
In a different light,
And though I cannot love you.
I wish that I could love you.

For now I'm seeing love
Like none I've ever known,
A love as pure as breath,
As permanent as death,
Implacable as stone.
A love that like a knife,
Has cut into a life
I wanted left alone...."

"This woman is appalling looking, I mean science fiction horrifying, but she fixes her eye on this guy and in an instant I knew he was going to end up falling for her. And in that instant I knew I wanted to musicalize it...We're all Fosca. I think we're all also Giorgio."

-Stephen Sondheim

Passion is based on the film Passion D'amore by Ettore Scola, set in 1863, it tells the tale of Giorgio (an officer in the Italian army), and Fosca ( the ugly and ill sister of Giorgio's superior officer Colonel Ricci), and his lover, the beautiful and married Clara. Fosca falls in love with Giorgio at first sight when he is transferred to the army outpost that her caretaker cousin Colonel Ricci oversees. Her desire for Giorgio becomes so obsessive and powerful that she gradually wins him over, but at what cost? In what is almost a beauty and the beast tale reversed, we find, love is more powerful than our physical limitations.

Passion opened at the Plymouth Theatre on May 9, 1994 and closed on January 8th 1995. It ran for 280 performances. Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; Book and Direction by James Lapine; Produced by The Shubert Organization, Capitol Cities/ABC, Roger Berlind, and Scott Rudin by angement with Lincoln Center Theater. Set Design by Adrianne Lobel, Costume Design by Jane Greenwood, Lighting Design by Beverly Emmons, Sound Design by Otts Munderloh, Hair Design by Phyllis Della, Musical Direction by Paul Gemignani and Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick. Passion captured four Tony awards: Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book and Best Actress in a Musical (Donna Murphy).

Synopsis
Song-Cast list
Shows