Passion Concert Question- Page 2

[helloagain]

Posted: 5/14/07 at 11:53pm

Eric,
Jeremy Sams directed the production, and here are some pictures:

[helloagain]

Posted: 5/14/07 at 11:54pm

[helloagain]

Posted: 5/14/07 at 11:54pm

[helloagain]

Posted: 5/14/07 at 11:55pm

[helloagain]

Posted: 5/14/07 at 11:55pm

Posted: 5/15/07 at 12:50am

Thanks so much--that's great to see as I'm embarassed to say all my mental images of the production (even though I loved seeing it live) have become muddled and melted into my images for the Lapine original as I've now seen that far more

Ray no implied offence towards your taste in men (although I'd be embarassed to mention some of the guys I dated when Iw as 18 ) but I bet he wouldn't have liked any version of Passion if that's how he felt.

I don't think the show benefits from an intermission although those London theatre ice creams are good :P I know my porgram is SOMEWHERE but off the top of my head without looking at the CD I couldn't even tell you where the intermission was! That said I was only familiar with the OBCR cd (which is almost the show in a very concentrated form in a way--it's done so well IMHO that you get the gist of it) before--and that whole first trip is something of a blur theatre wise--I was in heaven (having only seen a handful of profesional productions before--tours of Phantom etc, and certainly nothing by my idol Sondheim).

Still I remember really really liking Friedman on stage--and I don't think it carries over on CD. Ball was very good too though I think I'd prefer Jere now (and I remember at the time being a bit upset in my shallow teenage self that Ball was already looking chubbier than the pics I knew :P ).

E

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/15/07 at 1:38am

helloagain, thanks for all the great pictures. As I said before, I think Friedman is a debacle on the OLCR, but they did give her the right look in the role.
Eric, you're right, there's a reason this guy is my ex after all He hated Sondheim shows and gave me PASSION as one of the reasons why. Anyways, perhaps Friedman's acting choices were great live and it's one of those cases where the recording doesn't reflect the live performance (a la Tyne Daly in GYPSY). I just thought Murphy was full of layers whereas Friedman plays her in a way I find one-dimensional. Oh well, she did win an Olivier award so I guess she must've done something right.
Did anyone see Kuhn in Washington? I believe Murphy herself said she liked that production in the audio commentary on the DVD.

Posted: 5/15/07 at 1:55am

I'ma bit worried--a guy I'm starting to see right now doesn't know much about theatre/musicals but likes what he has seen except he said in passing early on that he disliked Sondheim (I changed the subject quick so am not sure what he meant by that--and I like too much else about him to be too worried now but... we'll see)

From what i remember the London version reminded me more of the movie it's based on-which I haven't seen since around the same time (I never read the novel, Fosca though I'd be curious to but regardless SOndheim got into the project after seein gthe movie at a rep theatre in New York). The movie is MUCH more severe/extreme--Fosca much more arch and repulsive to be frank, Giorgio clearly gets her disease in a much more direct manner and has much more of a physical transformation. I think the London version reflects this more than the Broadway (though not by the same extreme) though I think if I saw both back to back I'd prefer the Broadway one which i find near flawless. You can even see that in the picture--Clara's hair, etc, everything is more formal than the rather naturalistic Broadway design (which is gorgeous--Adrianne Lobel did a great job but seems to have pbarely worked on BroadwaY). I believe it ran in London at least as long as on Broadway (of course which was only 280 or so performances) but could be wrong


But I was thrilled to have seen the London and I suspect you'd find, as a big fan of the piece, a lot to like in it at the least.

Kuhn has a gorgeous GORGEOUS voice (besides Chess and the Pocahontas songs her version of Sondheim's What Can You Lose is one of my absolutely favorite recordings *anywhere*) but I have to say I've never seen or even heard her act--so I can picture her voice in it (or hear, rather) but not sure otherwise. You're right, Murphy does make a passing mention of that production--I recently rewatched the Passion and Sunday DVD commentaries (man they're great commentary tracks--make me wanna be in the room with those people hearing and discussing the plays--seems like so much fun. It's too bad ITWoods came to DVD before they thought to make one... Maybe if Image ever does get the rights to Pacific Overtures we can get one with Sondheim and Hal...)

E
Updated On: 5/15/07 at 01:55 AM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/15/07 at 2:15am

Eric...you should be worried, lol
I'm listening to the London recording now. Friedman is overacting the Garden Sequence as we speak...The intermission was introduced right after "I Wish I Could Forget You," with Fosca giving that deafening scream (and I think that's the general rule even when the show is licenced). I think the intermission is quite inappopriate.
I haven't seen Judy Kuhn act either, but in the cast recordings I've heard with her she sounds very committed to the material. I also wonder how Rebecca Luker fared as Clara in that production. I'm not a fan of hers but this is probably the only role I'd like to see her play.
Oh and those audio commentaries are great indeed.

Posted: 5/15/07 at 2:27am

I know why intermissions are inserted into shows but in this case it feels even more (much more IMHO) Inappropriate than putting one into Follies and at least as much as Chorus Line--especially since Passion is such a SHORT piece (though maybe that's why they add an intermission--to make grumpy audiences who complain if a show is too short about the money, feel they saw a longer show)

[jo]

Posted: 5/15/07 at 7:45am

I only saw the London production, although I did have the filmed Broadway production ( for TV) version to compare it with.

But to clarify something -- there was never an original London cast recording technically. Rather, they held a concert many months after the show closed at the West End and the album that was released came from two such concerts with Michael Ball, Maria Friedman and Helen Hobson.

I do love the added " I Love Fosca" in the London production - Michael's powerful voice was very compelling!

But I do have to agree that Maria tends to overact...although I like the quality of her voice.
Updated On: 5/15/07 at 07:45 AM

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 5/15/07 at 12:32pm

Someone told me that Judy Kuhn was the best Fosca she'd ever seen. She just played her as a very sick and desperate girl.

I've also seen pictures, and even under all of that makeup, she was still beautiful.

Posted: 5/15/07 at 7:27pm

I thought I was pretty clear that the recording was the concert--but you're right of course. Still it's basically a cast album in my books.

As for Kuhn being too pretty--I think it owul dbe pretty hard to find a Broadway leading lady level actress who was truly horrific looking for the part

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 5/15/07 at 7:49pm

I never said that it was a bad thing. It is a testament to how pretty she is that even when they're trying to make her ugly, they can't really succeed.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 5/15/07 at 10:36pm

Apparently they had the same problem with Donna Murphy. They couldn't make her as ugly as they wanted to because she came off looking like a cartoon and it made the audiences laugh.

I agree that the original production is the best. Shea's Giorgio is underrated and quite moving and beautifully sung.

Posted: 5/16/07 at 2:46am

Yeah I remember on the Passion DVD they commented on makign her much uglier in previews--her warts would fall off though, etc... lol

E

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 3:25am

I'm not sure what's true. I recall reading in Sondheim's Biography that he mentioned they could never make Donna Murphy ugly because she was so beautiful that they only were able to make her simple.
The preview period of PASSION was disastrous, with audiences constantly laughing at Fosca and poor Murphy crying in-between scenes and thinking she was going to get fired. I really wish I had been able to see the show at different moments during the long preview stage.

Posted: 5/16/07 at 4:21am

Yeah I have an early Sondheim Review issue that painstakingly went thru all the changes day by day for Passion in previews. It is amazing what major differences a small change can make to the show. I also have heard a live audio and indeed people are giggling away in scenes like when she offers him her braids when she dies, or the original fall in the rain when audiences cheared (well quietly) when Giorgio walked away. Just small changes improved the mood drastically.

Cuz I'm a geek I recently have been playing the major SOndheim scores chronologically focusing on one a day when I get home from work--and today finally got to Passion. Just struck again how gorgeous it is--surely in my top 3 of his scores.

What is fascinating for me is Passion is the only major SOndheim show (We won't count Frogs or Bounce) that I was around and a fan when it first opened and have seen the shifts in reaction to. Most of the original reviews I've saved weren't too positive (I have the New Yorker one complainign that all the "passion" is relgated to dull love letters) and I remember many online and in papers complained about the score--saying Happiness was the only real tune, a surprisingly large amount of SOndheim fans found the lyrics "simple" etc etc.

As is the case with nearly every SOndheim score though (I have fears this won't happen with Bounce...) ten+ years later more people than not find it a masterpiece. Which is how it should be--just fascinating to see how slow audiences can be to come around

Posted: 5/16/07 at 8:59pm

*double*