Every revolution starts with a rebellion. And you could say that the sound and style of musical theater in the 21st 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 few decades of the 1900s. 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 1994, Sondheim returned to terrain he’d seldom visited since he wrote the lyrics for “West Side Story” in 1957: 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 result 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 100 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 19th-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 needs 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 2023 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 most 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 doctor 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.
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Theater Latte Da’s ‘Passion’
When: Through July 13
Where: Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. N.E., Mpls.
Tickets: $75.75-$11.75, available at theaterlatteda.org
Capsule: A dark and discomfiting musical gets a passionate production.
