Is love enough to heal the sick?
“Passion” offers an answer with palpable emotion. The Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine work, which opened Saturday, is only the second show that Justin Lucero has staged since becoming artistic director of Theater Latte Da.
But like the spunky “Cinderella” that he mounted last fall, the one-act gives us glimpses of what may be essential elements of his directorial ambition and style.
“Passion” is really a chamber opera that, like all Sondheim shows, lives in the world of musical theater. Lucero leans heavily on an operatic playbook, coloring the music brightly and, yes, with roiling intensity.
Guided by music director Jason Hansen, the production is expertly conducted and well-sung. Isa Condo-Olvera, Dylan Frederick and Erin Capello deliver magnificently as the principal characters in an unusual, fateful love triangle.
They lead a cast, including a robust Greek chorus of military men that Emily Michaels King has choreographed with rhythmic precision, which expertly captures the churning feelings in this story of keening obsession.
The challenge for Lucero is one of balance. The vocal richness is not always matched by a similarly robust and expansive theatricality. In fact, the action sometimes feels like the actors have been planted onstage mostly to deliver their musical numbers.
And while their voices do carry powerfully and palpably, that choice also unwittingly leads to a sense of inertia from time to time so that even parts of the story that are brisk and brusque come off as slow.
