"My Dearest Giorgio..."

[olotie]

(cross-posting my FB notes here, for easier access)



"Passion" by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim
 (Concert, "Live from Lincoln Center", 2005)

(or as I've come to call it, "That Awkward Moment when you realize how much like Fosca you are, and it's a little creepy actually...")

Patti LuPone as Fosca
Audra McDonald as Clara
Michael Cerveris as Giorgio

(Since it is concert form, the work is severely abridged and rearranged)
(The host's chatter borders on silly... feel free to skip.)

Part 1 - Host interviews Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine; "Happiness"
(To skip interview, start at 5:45)

Part 2  - "Happiness" (cont.), Scene Two, "First Letter", "Second Letter", "Third Letter", "Fourth Letter"

Part 3 - "Fourth Letter" (cont.), "I Read", "Garden Sequence"

Part 4 - "Garden Sequence" (cont.), Scene Four, "Transition", Scene Five, "Trio"

Part 5 - "Trio" (cont.), "Transition 2", Scene Six, (transition excerpt from "third letter")

Part 6 - "I Wish I Could Forget You", (version of Soldiers' Gossip"/Scene Three?)

Part 7 - "Soldiers' Gossip", "Flashback"

Part 8 - "Flashback" (cont.), "Sunrise Letter", "Is This What You Call Love?", "Transition 3"? (excerpt from "Garden Sequence") (Nightmare sequence ommitted), "Forty Days"

Part 9 - "Forty Days" (cont.), "Loving You", "Transition 4"

Part 10 - Christmas Carol, "Farewell Letter"

Part 11 - End of "Farewell Letter" sequence, Just Another Love story, "No One Has Ever Loved Me", The Duel

Part 12 - "Finale", curtain calls

Part 13 - Host interviews Michael Cerveris, Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald.

Highlights:

"Fourth Letter"/"I Read" -  Fosca's entrance, which is just plain eerie...
"Garden Sequence" - Fosca's confession--painful...
"I Wish I Could Forget You" - The letter--even more painful... (here's where I start bawling)
"Is This What You Call Love?" - Scary Giorgio--MC's Tour-de-force
"Loving You" - Fosca doubles down, and Giorgio falls in love despite himself
"Farewell Letter" - In which I'm (once again) in awe of Audra and Michael for keeping the timing spot on, while unable to look at each other for cues.
"No One Has Ever Loved Me" - halfway through the tissue box by now...
The reprise of "I Wish I Could Forget You" in the Finale...

Original Broadway cast, just for comparison.