Kent Nicholson, Guest Director
Dennis Castellano, Music Director/Conductor

Passion (Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, 1994). A concert version of this story adapted from Ettore Scola’s film Passione d’Amore focuses on the themes of love, sex, obsession, illness, passion, beauty, power and manipulation. Set in Milan in 1863, the plot concerns a young soldier and the changes in him brought about by the obsessive love of Fosca, his Colonel’s ailing cousin and his simultaneous affair with Clara, a married woman. Winner of the 1994 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score, Passion is operatic in scope and dramatic intent. Thematically it echoes Tales of Hoffman and Tosca it centers on the impending consequences of the consummation of love and the repercussions that often follow.