Rating: 
Summary: Amazing! Captured the intensity of the stage production
Review: I saw the show on Broadway in 1994 and it was breathtaking. I did not know if that beauty could be captured on film. Thank goodness it was. This show is magical.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow and boring...
Review: I saw this exact production on Broadway. I love Sondheim, and was so sad to see this boring and slow production. The show is moody and depressing and the music just is not as good as other sondheim songs. The audience I saw it with were obviously not pleased with what they were watching as many times the audience laughed out loud at the audacity of what they were viewing on stage...(nothing in this show is meant to be funny) Especially when Donna Murphy stalks this soldier and follows him onto a train...the audience roared and it was very uncomfortable from there on out. People walked out of the theater during the curtain call, and I was sad to have wasted my time watching this show. It truly upsets me to speak of a sondheim show this way, but there are so many better ones of his to see, Into The Woods, Sweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park with George to just name a few. Even the awful Putting it Together revue ( without a plot) is better than Passion. Skip It!
Rating:
Summary: A perfect transfer...
Review: I've commented, on my review of the magnificent Original Broadway Cast Recording, that Passion has a beautiful score. It's my favorite of Sondheim's works, which is really saying something. So, I was very quick to get the DVD transfer of the original production as soon as it was out.From end to end, Passion is of a single piece. The scene transitions and the dropping in and out of song are incredibly smooth, and Lapine's book is more refined and generally more enjoyable than his work on Sunday in the Park... or Into the Woods. The performances are marvellous, particularly Donna Murphy as Fosca, who comes off even more spectacularly here than in the cast recording. Jere Shea and Marin Mazzie more than hold their own, but Murphy is undoubtedly the star. Her character is so compelling that the story really makes sense. But the great thing about the filmed version of Passion is how appropriate it was. It is exquisitely filmed - moreso than Sunday or Woods - and the direction lets you get close to these amazing characters. The costumes are gorgeous from end to end, and the physical acting was often fairly subtle on the stage. That means that it all came off the better on film. And the way the musical was produced was absolutely appropriate for film. It feels like you're seeing a really interesting filmic version sometimes rather than a staged production. That's the real triumph of this DVD: it feels like the show was meant for it. If you even remotely like Sondheim or serious works of musical theatre, you owe it to yourself to buy this DVD as soon as possible.
Rating:
Summary: Stephen Sondheim on the depths and heights of "Passion"
Review: In making a filmed version of their Tony Award winning musical "Passion," Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine end up solving one of the main problems of enjoying the show. The camera provides the requisite sense of intimacy that makes this story a more powerful experience because we are spared the distance of watching it from the seats. "Passion" does not have scenes of spectacle that fill the stage. It opens with two lovers in bed, singing directly into each other's faces, and that scene establishes the template for the best moments in the rest of the show. The story comes from Ettore Scola's 1981 film, "Passione d'amore," which is based on the novel "Fosca" by Iginio Ugo Tarchetti, which Sondheim saw in 1983 and felt compelled to turn into a musical. Giorgio (Jere Shea), is a handsome young captain in the Italian army who is having an affair with the beautiful but married Clara (Marin Mazzie). He is then stationed far away from his love, but the two continue to communicate by letters (there are a lot of epistletory songs in "Passion"). There he meets Fosca (Donna Murphy,) the cousin of commanding officer. She is a homely, sickly woman, who has never been been taught how to love, but she falls completely for the young captain. Giorgio refuses her advances and tries to escape her attentions, bluntly telling Fosca that he will never return her feelings. But in the face of her undeniable passion, he finds that his heart and his mind are changing. I had owned the CD of "Passion" since the musical first opened on Broadway because if Stephen Sondheim wants to write a musical I want to listen to it. I consider his "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" to be his masterpiece, and just listening to "Passion" it is clear that this musical is not that musical. To repeat the recurring criticism of some of Sondheim's work, that there is nothing for the audience to hum on their way out of the theater, might be inelegant and decidedly unoriginal but it is on point. Listening to the CD made little impression on me, but the same cannot be said for watching this DVD. Again, the experience is much better than it would be watching the show live, because when the camera comes up on these characters in close ups and two shots, its makes the story and the music much more powerful. The performances by the two female leads are superb, and Shea's performance suffers a bit in comparison (not his singing, but his rather wooden acting), but that does not really matter. "Passion" is about "love," and not just any type of love, but "Love that thinks everything is pure, everything is beautiful, everything is possible..." Sometimes beauty is not just in the eye of the beholder, but in the ear as well.
Rating:
Summary: Stephen Sondheim on the depths and heights of "Passion"
Review: In making a filmed version of their Tony Award winning musical "Passion," Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine end up solving one of the main problems of enjoying the show. The camera provides the requisite sense of intimacy that makes this story a more powerful experience because we are spared the distance of watching it from the seats. "Passion" does not have scenes of spectacle that fill the stage. It opens with two lovers in bed, singing directly into each other's faces, and that scene establishes the template for the best moments in the rest of the show. The story comes from Ettore Scola's 1981 film, "Passione d'amore," which is based on the novel "Fosca" by Iginio Ugo Tarchetti, which Sondheim saw in 1983 and felt compelled to turn into a musical. Giorgio (Jere Shea), is a handsome young captain in the Italian army who is having an affair with the beautiful but married Clara (Marin Mazzie). He is then stationed far away from his love, but the two continue to communicate by letters (there are a lot of epistletory songs in "Passion"). There he meets Fosca (Donna Murphy,) the cousin of commanding officer. She is a homely, sickly woman, who has never been been taught how to love, but she falls completely for the young captain. Giorgio refuses her advances and tries to escape her attentions, bluntly telling Fosca that he will never return her feelings. But in the face of her undeniable passion, he finds that his heart and his mind are changing. I had owned the CD of "Passion" since the musical first opened on Broadway because if Stephen Sondheim wants to write a musical I want to listen to it. I consider his "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" to be his masterpiece, and just listening to "Passion" it is clear that this musical is not that musical. To repeat the recurring criticism of some of Sondheim's work, that there is nothing for the audience to hum on their way out of the theater, might be inelegant and decidedly unoriginal but it is on point. Listening to the CD made little impression on me, but the same cannot be said for watching this DVD. Again, the experience is much better than it would be watching the show live, because when the camera comes up on these characters in close ups and two shots, its makes the story and the music much more powerful. The performances by the two female leads are superb, and Shea's performance suffers a bit in comparison (not his singing, but his rather wooden acting), but that does not really matter. "Passion" is about "love," and not just any type of love, but "Love that thinks everything is pure, everything is beautiful, everything is possible..." Sometimes beauty is not just in the eye of the beholder, but in the ear as well.
Rating:
Summary: One hankie is not enough.
Review: Not to be missed! The cast is superb
Rating:
Summary: A great love story!
Review: Passion is a fantastic musical by Stephen Sondheim. If you are expecting something fun like Into the Woods or something generic like Phantom of the Opera then this isn't the musical for you. However if you enjoy dramatic musical theatre at it's finest then this is the one to buy. The performances by the entire cast are incredible and Donna Murphy gives the performance of a lifetime. No wonder she won a tony award for it. Not to mention the tony award Passion won for Best Musical that year.
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular
Review: Passion is truly the most gorgeous musical I have ever before seen. From the moment I received the cast recording I listened to it relentlessly, deeply engaged in the story of Giorgio, Fosca and Clara. The music is wonderful and this particular cast is superb (although I feel the London cast with Maria Friedman and Michael Ball is a bit better). I enjoyed Passion on video much more than Sunday in the Park with George or Into the Woods, although I did enjoy both of those videos very much as well. Buy Passion now because there's no denying that it's not the "hottest" musical around and will therefore probably not be available for very much longer. You won't regret the purchase. It's magnificent. Sondheim has done it yet again.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply breathtaking
Review: Passion, the latest musical from Lapine and Sondheim,is beautiful. Finally having it on video is fantastic, but i was a bit bothered by the fact that it was filmed so close to the actors it seemed very hard to distinguish the sets and the lighting. The costumes also suffered through this. Even though the video quality is much better than Into The Woods, or Sunday, I miss seeing the placements of the actors in the stage. For example during Passion, when Fosca describes her brief marriage, it is really hard to see the whole extent of the set. Most of the choreography is also lost due to this. But I got over it and enjoyed the performances of Marin Mazzie and Donna Murphy, it was like heaven.
Rating:
Summary: I wish I could forget you¿BUT I CANT¿T!
Review: PASSION, the Tony-award winning musical by Stephen Sondheim (the master) and James Lapine (and it beat BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, thank you very much), is finally available on video, following in the foot-steps of SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, and INTO THE WOODS (other Sondheim musicals available on video). This is highly recommended to the hopeless Sondheim fanatic. It censored the risqué opening that was used on stage, which showed Giorgio (JERE SHEA) and Clara (the divine MARRIN MAZZIE) in the nude, making love. The score is soaring, searing, and among Sondheim's best. The whole show is a REAL tear-jerker. BUY THIS VIDEO. Oh, and SONDHEIM ROCKS!
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