Isa Condo-Olivera, Erin Capello, and Dylan Frederick Photo by Dan Norman

Set in mid-1800s Italy, Passion is the story of a handsome young military officer, Georgio, who is in the thrall of an affair with luscious Clara, with their assignations planned around her husband's absences. The show opens with Clara and Georgio singing rapturously about the "Happiness" they share. Their bliss is disrupted when Georgio receives orders to leave his post in Milan for a remote garrison in the mountains. Clara and Georgio pledge to live for their letters and the moments they can be reunited.

At his new post, sensitive and cultured Georgio feels out of place among the roughly mannered officers. When he hears the morbid cries of a woman, his commanding officer explains it is his sickly cousin, Fosca, who has been in his care since her parents' death. She is a morose woman who finds pleasure only in books, so much that she has read every book at the base. Georgio, a reader as well, offers to lend some of his books to her. Through this connection, Fosca and Georgio meet. Georgio immediately becomes Fosca's obsession and reason to not give up on life.

The camp doctor encourages Georgio to return Fosca's attentions, thinking it will help her gain strength, but her overwhelming feelings cause her to become overbearing, manipulative, and jealous of Clara. Fosca is not only sickly but ugly, so much that she does not expect any man to ever love her, including Georgio. Yet she relentlessly pursues him, arguing for the purity of her love, a love that cannot hope to be returned and yet persists. Giorgio bitterly rebukes her and requests a five-day leave to tend to "business" in Milan. As the tale unfolds, Fosca is not so easily dismissed, while Clara is trapped by law and society in her circumstances, having both a husband and a child. In time, each of them faces changing realities and the need to make a choice.

It was Sondheim's idea to create a musical based on the film Passione D'Amore directed by Ettore Scola, itself based on the novel "Fosca" by Iginio Ugo Tarchetti. "Fosca," Tarchetti's last work, was written in 1869 while he was dying of tuberculosis at the age of 29. The novel is reportedly a fictionalized account of an affair he had while in the service, with an epileptic woman. In Tarchetti's case, it was he, not his afflicted lover, experiencing the certain onset of a tragically young death. Perhaps this contributed a sense of fatalism to the narrative that inhabits Sondheim and Lapine's creation.

Passion is certainly Sondheim's most sobering show. Its score beautifully soars with romanticism, be it cloaked in uplift ("Happiness"), despair ("I Wish I Could Forget You"), bitterness ("Is This What You Call Love?"), resignation ("Loving You"), or gratitude ("No One Has Ever Loved Me"), along with a number of musical themes that repeat in various bridging compositions throughout the show. But there is not a single sprightly number to break the intensity of emotion, nor a lighthearted hook that makes it easy to befriend the songs. Even Sweeny Todd punctuates its horror with humorous interludes. Oh, there are a few breaks for the garrison's soldiers to engage in gossip–mostly about Giorgio and Fosca–that might prompt a half-smile, but not a laugh. The narrative is without any time outs for mirth; following the opening declaration of spectacular happiness by the two lovers, it proceeds with one step into emotional quicksand after another.

Fortunately, Sondheim's score and Lapine's book are both masterfully wrought and well worth experiencing, even if the tone is somber. Latté Da's production brings out the finest qualities of this work, with exquisite staging by Justin Lucero that presents the story as if a fever dream being resurrected by Georgio as he rises from a stupor and reflects on all that has been lost and gained. The blank-slate, all-white design of the opening (by Paul Whitaker, who also designed the evocative lighting and a bucolic Italian countryside background) re-enforces the notion that this not occurring in an actual location, but in Georgio's memory. His relationships with Clara and Fosca, so radically different, each are authentically portrayed.

Erin Capello is marvelous as Fosca, but for one flaw. The flaw is that Capello, while creating a bewitching character with an impassioned voice, is far too pretty to make the case that Giorgio, or any number of other men, would not be attracted to her. What overcomes that flaw, in the course of the show, is the conviction with which Capello states that no one could want her; in time we believe her in spite of the visual evidence to the contrary. That bit of cognitive dissonance aside, Capella nails the role and delivers a crystalline "Loving You," one of Passion's best and best-known songs.

Dylan Frederick is compelling as Giorgio, bringing us along on his journey from callow lover in thrall of Clara's physical beauty and the euphoric physical love they share, to an understanding of the love Fosca thrusts upon him, and to find his place between the two. It is a difficult role, and Frederick executes it beautifully. As his journey nears its end, his delivery of "No One Has Ever Loved Me" is emotionally exquisite.

Isa Condo-Olvera is an ideal Clara, radiantly beautiful with a talent for expressing her romantic longings, but also, when the lights turn up, practical–instructing Giorgio on how to deal with Fosca, and the reasons she can't leave her husband. She pairs beautifully with Frederick in the opening "Happiness," and conveys a heartfelt blend of regret and affection delivering her "Farewell Letter." She also looks fetching in the elegant dresses and nightgowns by costume designer Amber Brown.

Bradley Greenwald effectively portrays the meddlesome doctor, and Eric Morris makes a strong showing as Colonel Ricci, a bit portentous in his role of commander, but paternally protective of his emotionally wounded cousin. The remainder of the cast, all playing various officers at the post, are a strong ensemble, with such notable singers as Phinehas Bynum, Rodolfo Nieto, Adán Varela, and Riley McNutt on hand. McNutt handles a bit of additional business as the garrison's cook with aplomb. Sondheim's lush music deserves to be beautifully played, and beautifully played it is. It is, as conductor and music director Jason Hansens delivers his consistently excellent work, drawing a lush and vibrant sound from just five musicians.

One aspect of Passion has persistently troubled me. Fosca is burdened by anger, anger at past abuses (the show fills us in on that history), but it seems even more so, the fate of being undesirable because of her physical appearance and therefore condemned to be alone. She asks Giorgio if she were beautiful like Clara, could he love her, as if to trap him into admitting to a shallow nature. Yet she claims to have loved him from the moment he arrived and she saw him walk across the square. What does she know of him then, except that he is strikingly handsome? Is her leap into obsessive love based merely on his face and frame nobler than his preference for Clara over Fosca?

In the course of the play, Giorgio reveals other qualities that put him more in alignment with Fosca, such as being a reader and having an appreciation for flower gardens. Does he share those qualities with Clara? We don't know; we only know that there is an immensely powerful physical love between them. If there is more, it is never indicated, and perhaps we are to assume that there is nothing more than what we see. If so, Passion draws a clear distinction between love based on physicality–beauty and sex–and love based on the inner life of the mind and the heart. It leaves us short of suggesting that the two can co-exist.

Passion runs through July 13, 2025, at the Ritz Theater, 345 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis MN. For tickets call 612-339-3303 or go to theaterlatteda.com.

Music and Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim; Book: James Lapine, based on the film Passione D'Amore directed by Ettore Scola; Director: Justin Lucero; Music Director and Conductor: Jason Hansen; Movement Direction: Emily Michaels King; Scenic and Lighting Design: Paul Whitaker; Costume Design: Amber Brown; Sound Design: Peter Morrow; Wigs, Hair and Makeup Design: Emma Gustafson; Props Design: Madelaine Foster; Fight Director: Aaron Preusse; Associate Lighting Designer: Andrew Vance; Assistant Director: Zach Christensen; Technical Director: Bethany Reinfeld; Stage Manager: Shelby Reddig; Assistant Stage Manager: Joelle Coutu; Director of Production: Allen Weeks.

Cast: Phinehas Bynum (Lieutenant Torasso), Erin Capello (Fosca), Isa Condo-Olvera (Clara), Dylan Frederick (Giorgio), Bradley Greenwald (Doctor), Theo Janke-Furman (Private Augenti), Riley McNutt (Sergeant Lombardi), Eric Morris (Colonel Ricci), Rodolfo Nieto (Major Rizzoli), Adán Varela (Lieutenant Barri).