Review: Latte Da’s ‘Passion’ an expertly executed version of a troubling musical
Every revolution starts with a rebellion And you could say that the sound and style of musical theater in the st century was indelibly shaped by composer Stephen Sondheim s rejection of the old order Although mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II the lyricist half of the duo that last revolutionized the art form Rodgers and Hammerstein Sondheim took things in totally unexpected directions during the last scarce decades of the s He eschewed a devotion to earworm melodies and absorbing stories in favor of delving deeper into the psychological makeup of his characters often going to darker places than Broadway ever had When he created Passion in Sondheim returned to terrain he d seldom visited since he wrote the lyrics for West Side Story in focusing upon a single central love story But not like the almost mystical magnetic bond between that show s Tony and Maria No Passion is about the kind of obsessive love that can development in restraining orders It looks at love as if it s a kind of mental illness So Passion is troubling but when done well it can be an intense and ultimately rewarding work And the production of it being presented by Theater Latte Da is indeed very well done The company s new artistic director Justin Lucero closes his first season in the post by directing a show that s never less than captivating throughout its intermission-less minutes one built upon exceptionally strong performances and a dream-like design scheme that makes the action seem as if wavering between reality and delusion memory and bracing present Inspired by an Italian film and rooted in a th-century novel Passion tells the story of an army captain engaged in a torrid affair who s transferred to a remote outpost where he encounters his commanding officer s cousin a tortured woman who falls hard for him and casts propriety aside in passionately pursuing a relationship with him Torn between the two women we observe the captain growing increasingly vexed as he wrestles with his necessities and what he wants from love The chief catalyst in the success of Latte Da s production is the gripping performance of Erin Capello as Fosca the obsessed woman Capello demonstrated during the company s production of Next to Normal that she can take a character with mental illness and make her extraordinarily sympathetic but Fosca has no pretensions of passing as stable She s astoundingly vulnerable while also infuriatingly manipulative and Capello makes it so you can t take your eyes off her Or your ears for she has a magnificently expressive voice Far more guarded is Dylan Frederick s portrayal of the captain who could let us see more of the psychological processing that Sondheim so valued in his characters Frederick s at his the majority engaging in his exchanges with Isa Condo-Olvera as a mistress rooted in reality And Bradley Greenwald does fine things with another conflicted character the healthcare provider who seems to drive the captain into Fosca s arms Jason Hansen leads a five-piece onstage band that brings out all the tension in Sondheim s songs And Paul Whitaker s simple yet fascinating set and mood-shaping lighting scheme add to the impression that Latte Da has triumphed again in its imaginative approach to the modern musical Related Articles Theater review The Hmong women are tough and funny in Jungle Theater s powerful Sixpack Review Great script meets expert acting in Park Square s Between Riverside and Crazy Theater review History Theatre s Whoa Nellie tunefully tackles issues of gender and fame Review The jukebox musical reaches its zenith with Juliet Theology gets a snarky irreverent shake-up in Six Points An Act of God Theater Latte Da s Passion When Through July Where Ritz Theater th Ave N E Mpls Tickets - available at theaterlatteda org Capsule A dark and discomfiting musical gets a passionate production
