" Instead, Georgio finally praises Fosca for teaching him about "love without reason.

WSJ: Review: Intense revival of Sondheim's 'Passion'

Judy Kuhn as sickly Fosca sings impeccably, imbuing her unsympathetic character with an almost-feral, obsessive, clinging ferocity that overshadows everything else.

WSJ: Review: Intense revival of Sondheim's 'Passion'

Silverman has the difficult task of maintaining credibility as handsome Giorgio's passion at last improbably turns from the lovely Clara toward the plain, self-pitying Fosca.

WSJ: Review: Intense revival of Sondheim's 'Passion'

In fact, Fosca is so much of a harpy and so conniving that it's hard to believe her hellish persistence could ever turn Giorgio into her admiring lover.

WSJ: Review: Intense revival of Sondheim's 'Passion'

The two military men of note are the regimental doctor (Tom Nelis, compassionate and a bit pompous), and Fosca's kindly cousin, the colonel who leads the regiment (Stephen Bogardus, briskly authoritative).

WSJ: Review: Intense revival of Sondheim's 'Passion'

The attractive pair blithely sings, "How quickly pity leads to love, " about their own fortuitous first meeting, which contrasts greatly with the lengthy fight Fosca undertakes to convert Giorgio's pity and dislike into love.

WSJ: Review: Intense revival of Sondheim's 'Passion'

First seen on Broadway in 1994, "Passion" is a Proust-flavored, operatically intense musical whose central character, an unattractive and terminally ill woman named Fosca (Ms. Kuhn), develops an uncontrollable obsession with Giorgio (Ryan Silverman), a handsome young soldier who is in turn involved with Clara (Melissa Errico), a young married woman.

WSJ: Theater Review: The Subtle Joys of Small-Scale Sondheim