Passion and Piazza

[Avigdor]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 1:26pm

I am not looking to start an argument..just a discussion...but i have seen piazza..and love love love it..but it kept ringing in my ear at places that it was influenced by sondheim..of course how can any songwriter not be right?
well my brain finally found what i think is one very similar piece and it is Passion, more specifically The Song about count ludivic (pardon my spelling.)
anyone want to share thoughts...and please dont anyone freak out ..just looking to share here.

[Love4Cheno]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 1:33pm

I started a thread about this a while back also. Lots of Rodgers/Sondheim influences in Piazza.

The overture has so many Carousel moments. Fable totally influenced by Into the Woods. There are others but I can't recall at the moment...

[BreakingTheCircle07]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:15pm

I totally agree. The time period and location is similar so that lends a distinct feel and sound to the shows. It also helps that Adam is a good family friend to Stephen, so you find similar techniques there too. Love 'em both, I gotta say.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:17pm

I had the same Passion/Piazza thoughts when I saw the show -The Joy You Feel could have been lifted straight out of Passion :0)

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:19pm

Wait-The time periods are similar? What? No they aren't.

Passion is set in 1863 and Piazza in 1953. Passion takes place in in Milan and Piazza in in Rome and Florence.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:22pm

HA, correct, they don't take place in the same time -I'm sure he means just the generally similar old European thng happening, and the fact that they both so closely deal with different kinds of love.

But yeah, definetely not the same time :0)

[zoran912]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:22pm

Regardless, there are similarities. Imitation is, of course, the greatest form of flattery.

[BroadwayBound06]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:22pm

Both are in Italy, and are about love, it's close enough. I love that someone started this thread because I'm obsessed with both of these shows right now. And I agree, they remind me of each other a great deal.

[BreakingTheCircle07]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:37pm

HOLY CRAP!!! Total brainfart!!! Lord, I'm the saltiest today! Apparently, if something's set in Italy, that automatically equals same time period. Where've ya been guys? Don't....you.....know.....that......CRAP! I'm a fool! Love y'all. Thanks for catchin' my faux pas.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:41pm

Passion has a much darker take on love than Piazza.

[BluCat500]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:43pm

I believe Sondheim was a sort of a mentor for Guettel when he was younger...Wait let me find the thread, Margo Channing definetly wrote some fascinating thoughts on this already

Updated On: 7/5/05 at 02:43 PM

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:44pm

Well, yes, I suppose so...but Piazza is not all sunshine and flowers; Margaret's experience of love is far different than Clara's.

[BluCat500]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:44pm

Here it is!
Sondheim and Guettel

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:45pm

Margo always has brilliant posts :0)

"I thought I knew what love was..."

[zoran912]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:53pm

Pinguin, I just looked at your icon and I could have sworn it was Clara and Giorgio singing "Happiness!"

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 3:07pm

HAHAHAHA...I should get an icon of that scene -LOVE IT.

[Avigdor]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 5:03pm

i would tend to disagree i think there is a very dark side to the guilt that clark's character is handling and working through..just my silly opinion

[jo]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 5:19pm

There are many layers to the characters in PASSION --

*Is Fosca simply a mad, obssessed woman or does true love really manifest itself in such a painful and unusual fashion?

*Is Giorgio actually self-centred ( asking a lover to abandon her child) and eventually redeems himself with Fosca?

*Is Clara simply afraid to take the risk and unwilling to go the path of true love?

Sondheim's music and lyrics reflect the many facets of the characters so well. From whose point of view do you identify with as to any of the characters?

[Chip1012]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 7:21pm

"Fable is totally influenced by Into the Woods."

and you're saying this just because of the block chord similarities in the opening of Fable? I wouldn't call that totally influenced.

[grizzabella]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 7:45pm

This is interesting, and thanks, BlueCat for finding Margo's old post. I just watched the DVD of Passion recently and while I haven't seen Piazza yet, I felt a frisson of deja vu when I listened to the score. Not that I think they are alike - I don't believe that they are THAT similiar; just that they both deal with the complications of finding and losing and coping with love in its many forms. And there is a similiar urgency in the music, a slight desperation, even at its most lush. Both are beautifully written with a finely drawn understanding of the human heart.

[Plum]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 8:30pm

I wish I could find the Guettel profile Margo was talking about, but I can't, even with Lexis. Maybe it was written by a freelancer who didn't give the rights to it.

And while Piazza would seem to draw more immediate comparisons to Romeo and Juliet, I think Passion is closer to that play in spirit, and especially in its attitude towards love. The idea of romantic love as disease is a big theme.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 8:43pm

Funny, when I saw the title of this thread I thought it was comparing the Mel Gibson movie with the NY Mets' star catcher!

[Plum]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 8:44pm

Piazza hasn't been a star in a couple of years, but that's another story.

No, I'm not gloating. Okay, maybe a little. Shut up.

[zoran912]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 8:46pm

Isn't it interesting: Piazza plays for the Mets. Victoria Clark, of Piazza, just sang the anthem for the Mets.