Plenty of reasons to rejoice: “Passion” thru Blank Theatre Company

Evan Bradford, Brittney Brown, and Rachel Guth. Photo by Steve Townshend/Distant Era.

As much as Stephen Sondheim is pilloried (unfairly) for being ambivalent and cerebral, it’s worth noting that, out of all the Broadway musicals he wrote, the ones he initiated are about all-consuming damn-it-all obsession. “Sweeney Todd” at first disconcerted audiences with its cannibalistic bloodlust; it’s now a bona fide classic. For “Passion”, what would turn out to be his last Main Stem musical, he did something even more daring: he wrote a love story so brutal in its vulnerability that it discomfited audiences that thought they had at last caught up to his game. Though it was awarded the Tony for Best Musical, it was also rewarded with the shortest run of any winner of that prize.

“Passion”, however, has proven tenacious, not unlike a lot of his oeuvre, not unlike the unlikely heroine at its center. And Blank Theatre’s production is a little gem, proof-positive of the piece earning its keep in the Sondheim canon.

Based on Ettore Scola’s film “Passione d’Amore”—itself based on a novel by Iginio Ugo Tarchetti—it begins in contentment, or at least in the post-coital bliss of Giorgio (Evan Bradford), a captain in mid-nineteenth century Italy, and Clara (Rachel Guth), the beautiful young woman he met on a walk in the park. Though has career is assuredly on the ascent, he still finds himself transferred to a remote garrison where there is nothing to do but drill his men and abide the bland cooking as well as the blander chatter of other officers. And wait for letters from Clara. And try to ward off the affections of his superior’s cousin Fosca (Brittney Brown). Though described as homely in appearance, Fosca’s true unattractiveness lies in her Otherness—she stands outside death’s door due to chronic illness; and having been left for years with no distraction from her mortality besides reading, she is thus keenly and unusually intelligent and insightful, but also cursed with a fearlessly tart tongue.

In some ways, though, her scouring honesty is a tonic, a blessing, a liberation for those trapped and stifled by convention. While Brown’s is the showcase performance that leaves everything on the stage—she embraces Fosca’s extremes, all her venom and honey—to see Bradford’s polite but tight smiles give way to eyes that are agitated but nonetheless alive is to see the piece unlock itself.

Director Danny Kapinos’s work continues to impress. From everything of his that I have seen him do, he doesn’t implicitly apologize to audiences for the lack of resources typically afforded storefront theater, nor does he scramble to overcompensate. With blocking and gestures as economic as they are expressionistic, he trusts his audience’s willingness and ability to follow along. “Passion” by its nature is already expressionistic, so even if his contribution was limited to teeing everything up and then getting out of the way, that is achievement in and of itself.

This praise also applies to the costumes by Cindy Moon. While I had figured full-blown “mid-nineteenth century Italy” would be beyond the show’s budget, I will admit that the more modern costuming seen in some publicity photos gave me pause, suggesting Kapinos and company were going to try to update the musical’s setting and mores. (At least insofar as one can modernize a musical that hinges on the lost art of letter-writing.) Happily, this is not the case—not unlike in a modern-dress Shakespeare production, fatigues do the job here just as well as gold braid and epaulets would.

And, even in reduction, Sondheim’s rhapsodic score shines. Evelyn Ryan’s chamber orchestration of Jonathan Tunick’s original charts prove the clarion call of a clarinet (Kaitlin Pucci’s, to be exact) can summon as much power as a bugle reveille.

“Passion” means to get under the skin, but it can gently coax anyone willing to meet it on its arioso terms. If catching Blank’s production represents a Sondheim acolyte’s need to check it off the to-see list, they may yet leave obsessed.

Passion runs through Aug. 10 at 2257 N Lincoln Ave. For tickets or more information, please visit blanktheatrecompany.org.

For more reviews on this or other shows, please visit theatreinchicago.com.