More info on the new Sondheim and David Ives musical (UPDATE, 2018)- Page 4

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 3:16pm

My issue with Passion has always been that it doesn't feel sharp enough. I'd like to see it live some day but the filmed production leaves me wanting more - I get the concept (love is not the definite thing we want to think it is, and neither is happiness, or life), but it's lacking the aggression that it needs to make it come together for me. I wish it made me feel more fear about my own feelings, it seems like it's trying to push the audience to reconsider what love is but it gets lost in the florid melodrama.

[aj88]

Posted: 4/24/15 at 6:23am

In response to the new show, I'm very excited to see where it is going.

Also, I wanted to comment of the PASSION discussion:

It is easily one of the more slow-moving and rather tiring shows. It has some nice music but often forgettable at the same time. I think Lapine's book is very strong but as a complete whole, I admire the show but don't love it or even find it to be a great musical.

I will say that having a great Giorgio and Fosca is completely essential. Without that, the show is dead on arrival. Jere Shea nd particularly Donna Murphy were stunning in the original despite the issues of the show and I will also say even though it may seem strange that Giorgio suddenly falls for Fosca, the "No One Has Ever Loved Me" scene is stunning and one of my favorites from a musical and easily one of the best to come from a Sondheim show....it's just a shame the whole show couldn't hit that level for me.

As it stands, PASSION is one of the most bizarre musicals for me.

[vitor.rc]

Posted: 10/1/15 at 3:58pm

news?

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/22/16 at 10:40pm

Scott Rudin is partnering with The Public to produce this, and they are hoping it'll be ready sometime in 2017!  It sounds exciting. 

RUDIN: Yeah. It's based on two Bunuel movies - "The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie" and "The Exterminating Angel." And he's writing it with David Ives. And we're doing it - I'm partnered in it with The Public Theater with Oskar Eustis. And we're going to hopefully do it sometime in - I hope '17. And it's - I love what I've heard of it, really love it. And I think Steve's - it's really funny. It's very sophisticated. It's bracing. It's kind of shocking? It's very political. It's really smart. And I think it has a chance to be as good as anything he's done. I would like it to be done. I would like it to be finished.

http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=480922639

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 12:37am

Very, very exciting news. This will be THE show to see for us Sondheim devotees when it premiers.

And re-reading this thread put me in the mood to watch one of the most perfect match of actor and character. Donna isn't playing Fosca. She IS Fosca.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAGONVc4HAw

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 12:48am

Yes yes yes yes!

[tazber]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 5:49am

Best. News. Ever.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 7:02am

This is so amazing!!! I love both films, but Discreet Charm is especially brilliant. It was the first Bunuel film I watched (also the first Criterion DVD I bought) and really acted as a gateway drug for me to explore other foreign films of its ilk. Since the film is more a series of vignettes I assume the structure of this musical will be more like Company and Follies than the more straightforward ALNM.  

 

The only depressing thought is how difficult it will be to get a ticket to the damn thing! 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 12:30pm

Not necessarily-- remember how easy it was to get a ticket to ROAD SHOW?

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 12:36pm

That is true- but we all kind of knew Road Show going into it, seeing how long Wise Guys/Gold/Bounce had been, pardon the pun, bouncing around. It wasn't like we were getting to hear a score we hadn't heard before. 

This, on the other hand, feels like it's been talked about and anticipated for a long time, while shrouded in a bit of mystery which builds the excitement. 

 

 

[billyelliotfan123]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 12:36pm

I'd assume as long as you think fast and subscribe to the public theater before tickets go on sale you shouldn't have a problem

[buhbuhbilly]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 12:37pm

If this comes in 17 it will certainly be an amazing broadway season for musicals

[billyelliotfan123]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 12:43pm

Buhbuhbilly it's not opening on broadway. It's an off broadway production at The Public. Not every production of theirs transfers in fact most do not.

[Kad]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 12:47pm

Even if it did debut at the Public in 2017, it wouldn't be until at least the second half of the year. Their 16-17 season is already booked.

Personally, I think this will be something we'll see at 2018 at the earliest.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 6:51pm

I know the majority who hate PASSION won't be persuaded otherwise (because believe me, I've tried), but I do want to clear up a few misnomers from the previous page.

GIORGIO does NOT take up with FOSCA on the rebound from Clara! He dumps Clara because he realizes her compromised affection isn't true love (which the show sees as all-consuming passion). This isn't a matter of interpreting subtext; he says so in the text. (It also isn't fair, since such a passion would require Clara to give up her child, but the show says quite clearly that such love is not about fairness.)

GIORGIO is NOT mentally unbalanced, even if you disagree with his choice. For one thing, he's a dramatic character (and a Romantic one at that); he's not a patient on your couch.

Fosca and Giorgio are very much like opera characters, so musical theater lovers are entitled to dislike them, of course. But is Fosca any more "obsessed" than Gio-Gio San or Lucia?

I find this quote from henrikegermann really interesting:

          "If Giorgio were a woman who, having been ultimately rejected by her married male lover, came to love the unattractive, manipulative dying man who was consumed with her and stalked her, because no one had ever loved her like that incorrigible man had, how would we describe her?"

Actually, henrik, I think you'll find that basic plot in any number of plays, films and TV shows. (ESPECIALLY films and TV shows, where the standards for female beauty are so high.) In our culture, we have little to no problem accepting that a beautiful woman will love a physically unattractive man; but we struggle mightily when the genders are reversed. In how many 1980s teen films does the heroine finally realize the hunk is a jerk, but the average guy who loves her obsessively is a gem? But I repeat: Giorgio is NOT rejected by Clara; she simply wants to maintain their affair as it has always been.

The theme in PASSION is not unlike Sondheim's recurring theme of nice v. good. Let's call it "love v. fondness". Fosca loves "purely" because nothing--not dignity, reputation, practical concerns nor even hope of being loved in return--dissuades her. Clara is fond of Giorgio, as he is of her, because she enjoys his company as long as it doesn't upset her well-ordered life.

We may all agree that Fosca and Giorgio are not good role models for modern life and marriage. But that really isn't their job. And myself, I'd hate to settle for a marriage that doesn't contain at least a little of their spark.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 8:53pm

The exciting part is not knowing what to expect from a new Sondheim score. I literally have no idea what it could sound like. His last new songs were "Brotherly Love" from Road Show and "God" from Sondheim on Sondheim. Both pleasant but neither groundbreaking. It's going to be fascinating to hear a completely brand new score, as Road Show had been gestating since the 90s. 

[BrockMButler]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 8:56pm

I NEED Carmen Cusack originating a new Sondheim role

[¿Macavity?]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 8:58pm

I'm so excited!!! I hope that this is good!!!

[Fantod]

Posted: 6/23/16 at 9:28pm

Since this thread was posted, I've watched both films and I must say that they are both pretty extraordinary (particularly The Discreet Charm, which is one of the best French films I've ever seen). I've also had a bit of a personal turn around for Sondheim (at least some of his work), plus David Ives is amazing, so I am officially extremely excited for this!

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 6/24/16 at 4:20am

tazber said: "Best. News. Ever.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

"

Not to rain on everyone's parade--because I was thrilled when I heard the update last week and still think the subject matter could be ideal--but if you listen to Scott's interview instead of reading it I, at any rate, h and his tone as "God I hope he can finish it by 2017".  By no means did he sound confident that would happen. I am just glad it's progressing but I would expect 2018 is much more likely. (His story about spending much of the previous day with Stephen implied to me he was trying to rev him up to write faster but I am probably projecting lol)

kust a month back Sondheim was emphasizing how slowly it was going (but he does that--the truth is prob somewhere between his and Scott's takes) 

edit to say I see Kad said basically the same thing. 

Updated On: 6/24/16 at 04:20 AM

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/2/16 at 12:18pm

Very exciting news! From the mouth of the master himself, he says his new musical will premiere at the Public next year (although the Public was coy when asked for comment, they didn't specify a time for the premiere only that they were involved). I would assume late next year. I'm still very curious about what the title of the show will be.

[Kad]

Posted: 8/2/16 at 12:24pm

Though it's exciting to hear it from Sondheim... I'm not holding my breath until the Public formally announces an engagement.

[trpguyy]

Posted: 8/2/16 at 12:33pm

I was at the event with Sondheim and Bernstein. He had said that it was supposed to open at the Public in the spring of 2017, and that an opera of The Exterminating Angel would also be premiering in NYC the same year. He's excited to see the opera once his musical is open, adding that he "hopes he can finish it by then."

Updated On: 8/2/16 at 12:33 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/2/16 at 12:42pm

So what's going to be the best way to get tickets for this? Since this is going to sell out, I'm guessing almost instantly, what's he smartest way to guarantee I get tix?

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 8/2/16 at 12:45pm

I hope they get a line up of some seasoned Sondheim performers in the cast.  Getting tickets for this is going to be the death of me.