The rather awkward question to Jake Heggie was if he knows Sondheim's
"Passion" -- which I heard over and over again in "Dead Man Walking" at
the Saturday premiere -- not the notes, but the "sound" and the "feeling,"
especially of the soldier's chorus, "To feel a woman's touch." Obviously,
it's not so cool to ask a composer if he knows a work I associate with his
opera, but I had to ask because nobody else mentioned the possible
connection, and I just needed to know if there is anything to it.

I am completely satisfied with his answer because I never suspected that
he'd "copy" anything, but being influenced, yes, and he is acknowledging
that in a very positive way.  "DMW" to me is yet another example, an
important one, of the convergence of opera and musicals, which is such
a natural process, however upsetting it may be to guardians of
opera-as-museum.  (Not that there is anything wrong with that...:)

I am glad to have called Jake's attention to "Passion," which I "now and
always" believe to be Sondheim's greatest work musically, especially from
an opera nut's point of view.  To me, it is *the* American contemporary
opera of the last half a century.  If you still haven't heard it, please
give it a try; otherwise, listen again.  I do, and find new riches in it
every time -- which, to me, is the most important standard of lasting
music:  that you want to hear it again and get more out of it when you do.
Apply that measure to some new operas...  or musicals.  But I am repeating
myself.

Janos Gereben/SF, CA
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