History YMMV / Passion

* HollywoodHomely: Sondheim has said one of the reasons they weren't sure of Donna Murphy for the role of Fosca before her stellar audition was because she was (is) exotically beautiful; he is of the opinion that they never really fixed that problem, even with the hair and makeup treatment they gave her to make her look sickly.

GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: While the musical was very unpopular on Broadway, it did much better in the UK, playing for over 200 performances on its original West End run, producing a live cast album and winning multiple awards for its later London revival.

!!From [[Theare/{{Passion}} the play]]:

!!From [[Film/{{Passion}} the movie]]:

* AudienceAlienatingPremise / CriticalDissonance: This show is famous for being polarizing, partially because of its StalkerWithACrush premise. When it opened in 1994, critical reviews were very positive, and it won the Tony Award for Best Musical. However, audiences were said to be "repulsed" by Fosca, with one member of the audience actually shouting "Die, Fosca! Die!" from the balcony at one performance. Audiences were known to applaud whenever Fosca broke down. Stephen Sondheim maintains that this is due to the show's honesty, and that the audience identified with Giorgio and Fosca "too readily and uncomfortably"; it ultimately had the shortest run of a Best Musical winner to date, closing in less than a year. Such unfortunate audience reactions stopped after alterations to the book: Dialogue was added to make Fosca and Giorgio seem more alike (the scenes in which they talk of enjoying the same Rousseau novel and one in which Giorgio tells Fosca how he dreamed of being able to visit the stars as a child), and Fosca's "ugliness" was referred to as "wretchedness" instead. The popular "Loving You" was also added.

!From [[Film/{{Passion}} the movie]]:

!From [[Theare/{{Passion}} the play]]:

* AudienceAlienatingPremise / CriticalDissonance: This show is famous for being polarizing, partially because of its StalkingIsLove premise. When it opened in 1994, critical reviews were very positive, and it won the Tony Award for Best Musical. However, audiences were said to be "repulsed" by Fosca, with one member of the audience actually shouting "Die, Fosca! Die!" from the balcony at one performance. Audiences were known to applaud whenever Fosca broke down. Stephen Sondheim maintains that this is due to the show's honesty, and that the audience identified with Giorgio and Fosca "too readily and uncomfortably"; it ultimately had the shortest run of a Best Musical winner to date, closing in less than a year. Such unfortunate audience reactions stopped after alterations to the book: Dialogue was added to make Fosca and Giorgio seem more alike (the scenes in which they talk of enjoying the same Rousseau novel and one in which Giorgio tells Fosca how he dreamed of being able to visit the stars as a child), and Fosca's "ugliness" was referred to as "wretchedness" instead. The popular "Loving You" was also added.

* The entire musical is famous for being polarizing. When it opened in 1994, critical reviews were very positive. However, audiences were said to be "repulsed" by Fosca, with one member of the audience actually shouting "die, Fosca! Die!" from the balcony at one performance. The audience also were known to applaud whenever Fosca broke down.
** Stephen Sondheim maintains that this is due to the show's honesty, and that the audience identified with Giorgio and Fosca "too readily and uncomfortably".
** Such reactions of the audience stopped after alterations to the book. Lines of dialogue were added to make Fosca and Giorgio seem more alike (the scenes in which they talk of enjoying the same Rousseau novel and one in which Giorgio tells Fosca how he dreamed of being able to visit the stars as a child), and also with Fosca's "ugliness" being newly referred to as her "wretchedness". The popular "Loving You" was also added.
* HollywoodHomely: Sondheim has said one of the reasons they weren't sure of Donna Murphy for the role of Fosca before her stellar audition was because she was (is) exotically beautiful; he is of the opinion that they never really fixed that problem, even with the hair and makeup treatment they gave her to make her look sickly.

* HollywoodHomely: Fosca has been played by Donna Murphy, Patti Lupone and Judy Kuhn, who are hardly ugly or plain women. Stephen Sondhiem actually mentioned at one point that they were initially reluctant to hire Donna Murphy because she was too pretty.

* The entire musical is famous for this. When it opened in 1994, critical reviews were very positive. However, audiences were said to be "repulsed" by Fosca, with one member of the audience actually shouting "die, Fosca! Die!" from the balcony at one performance. The audience also were known to applaud whenever Fosca broke down.

* HollywoodHomely: Fosca has been played by Donna Murphy, Patti Lupone and Judy Kuhn, who are hardly ugly or plain women.

** Stephen Sondheim maintains that this is due to the show's honesty, and that the audience identified with Giorgio and Fosca "too readily and uncomfortably".

* The entire musical is famous for this. When it opened in 1994, critical reviews were very positive. However, audience were said to be "repulsed" by Fosca, with one member of the audience actually shouting "die, Fosca! Die!" from the balcony and the audiencing applauding whenever Fosca broke down.