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‘Beauty is power, longing a disease’: Asexuality and disability readings of Passion
- Source: Studies in Musical Theatre, Volume 17, Issue Sondheim from the Side, Dec 2023, p. 245 - 253
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- 31 Aug 2022
- 26 Jul 2023
- 19 Feb 2024
Abstract
Stephen Sondheim’s 1994 musical Passion is rarely discussed or deconstructed, more often relegated to a footnote within his collected works. However, it poses many important questions about disability and sexuality, which remain largely unexplored as themes within the musical theatre canon. In this article, I consider my own readings and reactions to this text from two moments in time: 2014 and 2023. My approach to this text is framed by my intersectional understanding of the labels I use to identify myself: asexual, disabled and female-presenting. I explore my own response to the musical in relation to these labels, and discuss how my growing understanding of myself was aided by my first viewing and complicated by the second viewing.