Passion

About

Passion is a one-act musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Lapine. The story is adapted from Ettore Scola's 1981 film Passione d'Amore, and its source material, Iginio Ugo Tarchetti's 1869 novel Fosca. Central themes include love, sex, obsession, illness, passion, and the nature of beauty and power. Passion is notable as one of the few projects that Sondheim himself conceived, along with Sweeney Todd and Road Show. Set in Risorgimento-era Italy, the plot concerns a young soldier and the changes in him brought about by the obsessive love of Fosca, his Colonel's homely, ailing cousin.

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