If LuPone had played Fosca originally...

She was a known quantity well before these 2 shows (and had received awards for 2 off-B shows in the preceding few years). Personally I think it is silly to think she would not have been cast as Anna had there been no Fosca, but people who don't understand the dynamic or the arc are gonna say things.

I've often thought of this. It's one of those many industry Sliding Doors moments.

It definitely would've changed their careers, but Donna would still have become a huge and celebrated star. Probably even Anna, still.

LuPone would've avoided the head-on collision with Webber, the depression that followed, the claw back, but then she wouldn't have had the Sondheim Act Two she had in the 2000s. Who knows!

 

I agree that the biographies of both LuPone and Murphy would be rather different. Murphy had been doing very well for herself, and has a unique and powerful voice, but obviously winning a Tony Award for originating a Sondheim role set her on a completely new career trajectory. I bet LuPone would have still gone on to a great “act III” like she has, but the Sunset Boulevard affair unfortunately plays a pretty big chapter in both her personal and professional history. A “sliding doors” moment for both indeed.

I don't think it's guaranteed that PASSION would be received as well with LuPone in the role. Her take on Fosca was much harsher, whereas audiences could more easily warm to Murphy. Not that PASSION was some great success –– as we know, it lost a ton of money –– but maybe they would have given the Tony to the star of a beloved musical revival that season: Judy Kuhn in She Loves Me.

"Everything [is] possible and nothing [makes] sense" in the mind.

Why would we assume that Donna Murphy would have taken LuPone’s place in the early 2000s Sondheim concerts/revivals etc? Weren’t these about providing a platform for Patti herself not just anyone. If anything, a successful run in Passion could have further reinforced this? 

I agree that it could have affected her casting for the King and I. And I’m not sure someone would have mounted a production of Wonderful Town around her if she didn’t win two Tonys. 
 

In any case, Donna Murphy’s “I read” for me is absolutely top top tier musical theatre acting. And I put it in the same category of performances of perfect combination of role/actor (e.g. Bernadette in Sunday, Alice Ripley in n2n, Ebersole in Grey Gardens, Kelli in Bridges etc). I think they made the right call in the end. I prefer Patti’s work in Sweeney and Gypsy than Passion. 
 

As an aside, if I recall Bernadette was asked to do Passion in London but I believe she turned it down I THINK due to timing. Would have been quite cool for her to knock off the 3 Sondheim/Lapine roles. I’m trying to think of any Broadway-calibre performer has played Dot, Fosca and one of Baker’s Wife or Witch. No one comes to mind. 

As Patti tells it, they called to offer her Passion the weekend she was leaving for London. She didn't turn it down. I do think things worked out the way they needed to. That drama gave Patti just as much media attention as doing the Broadway run would've.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "I don't think it's guaranteed that PASSION would be received as well with LuPone in the role. Her take on Fosca was much harsher, whereas audiences could more easily warm to Murphy. Not that PASSION was some great success –– as we know, it lost a ton of money –– but maybe they would have given the Tony to the star of a beloved musical revival that season: Judy Kuhn inShe Loves Me."

Didn't the original audiences hate Fosca? The only Fosca I warmed to was Kuhn, partially because casting Ryan Silverman actually gave the leads some chemistry.