An undiluted ‘Passion’

Romance is dead.

Or, death is romantic.

Either way, the themes of Stephen Sondheim’s “Passion” are bleak and complex -- and not exactly crowd-pleasers. Which is why producing artistic director Tim Dang chose the show to open East West Players’ 38th season this month. “I thought we could use a good challenge,” he says.

In the nine years since its Broadway debut, the musical has tested the skills of its presenters and the intellectual and emotional stamina of its audiences. The score is intriguing but hard to sing and tricky to listen to. The action unfolds through letters, dreams and flashbacks; it’s unclear what really is happening or who is a figment of whose imagination.

At “Passion’s” volatile center is an unlikely plot: Handsome Giorgio, a 19th century Italian army captain, leaves lovely Clara, his married mistress, for ugly Fosca, the invalid who obsessively pursues him.

“We have a lot to work on,” Dang says during a break in rehearsals in late August, “and you haven’t even got to the history yet.”

When “Passion” opened in 1994, it won four Tonys, and Sondheim and librettist James Lapine were lauded for their artistry and vision. Some reviewers, though, deemed the piece to be unsatisfying or sour, and the public had trouble deciphering the show and accepting Giorgio’s change of heart. Even those who sympathized with Fosca found the musical to be a downer, which is no wonder, given its self-fulfilling fatalism.

Things got so dreary that at one performance, when Fosca’s death was announced, a playgoer reportedly yelled “Good!” and others applauded.

Recent revivals have been greeted more warmly, in part because the authors made revisions to address some of the early problems. Performers also are learning to illuminate “Passion’s” strengths, which helps keep the gloom from overpowering the story and music.

While many companies attempt to cover up the show’s stranger idiosyncrasies, Dang, directing the East West production, is embracing them. In fact, because this is the musical’s first full staging in Los Angeles, he is taking “a reverential approach” to the original, closely following the author’s intentions.” Sondheim wanted to create a chamber opera, so the excesses are being treated with an operatic sensibility. “Passion” does not flinch or sugarcoat; it asks a lot of tough questions and presumes the answers aren’t always clear.

Instead of trying to tie up loose ends, East West will let the audience find its own way. “Not knowing where you will end up can be very scary,” Dang says, “or very exciting.”

And then there is the nudity. Ever the contrarian, Sondheim opens his heavily layered show with Clara and Giorgio naked in bed.

Although in many revivals the lovers have remained clothed, Dang says disrobing is a given in his production because of the importance Sondheim placed on the scene. It emphasizes the rawness of lust and the sensual yet cerebral nature of love. It also gives notice that an unsparing and surprising time lies ahead.

Sondheim connection

East West’s relationship with Sondheim started in the mid-1970s, when founding artistic director Mako appeared in the Broadway debut of “Pacific Overtures,” a Kabuki-inspired look at Commodore Matthew Perry’s visit to Japan. The nation’s oldest Asian American theater offers one musical a season to meet popular demand and to give actors a chance to sing and dance in parts they normally cannot get. A natural fit, “Pacific Overtures” was produced by the company in 1979 and again 19 years later.

Dang, a thoughtful actor and director, took charge a decade ago. He decided to present Sondheim regularly -- something most smaller stages wouldn’t dare attempt because of time, talent and budget constraints. East West, however, has developed a reputation for its deft handling of works by a master of the sophisticated musical. Occasionally, a lyric has been changed to reflect the ethnicity of the cast. (“Flaxen hair” became “raven hair” in “Sweeney Todd.”) The Roman farce “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” was set on Easter Island. Otherwise, things have been played straight. “Having Asian Americans performing is enough of a statement,” Dang says.

“Passion” will be East West’s ninth Sondheim production. Dang became interested in the show in March, while attending a minority theater conference. When a speaker urged directors to attract attention by doing what they do best, “I knew what the answer was for us,” he says.

After he returned home, Dang assembled a team to create the dark, seductive production he envisioned: Victoria Petrovich is designing the sets; Jose Lopez the lighting and Naomi Yoshida Rodriguez the costumes.

He also called music director Scott Nagatani, who usually agrees right away to join a project. This time, Nagatani played the CD four or five times before he said yes. “Frankly, I didn’t like the music,” he says. “But then the very thing that I didn’t like appealed to my artistic sensibility. I realized this was going to be very difficult, and I wanted to do it. Now, I love the show.”

Musical theater songs have clear endings and catchy refrains, he explains. “Passion,” though, is one long song, interrupted by dialogue and laced with melodies that often run counter to the accompaniment. The score carries a lot of the story’s emotional weight while coloring scenes with undercurrents. “You can sit and listen to ‘A Little Night Music’ and enjoy it,” Nagatani says, “but with this, you have to tie the music to the acting or nothing makes sense.”

Casting a 12-person ensemble that had the requisite vocal and dramatic range seemed daunting. Dang was especially concerned about finding leads who could create strong individual characters yet work together in what he calls “the threesome.” They must have the right look and chemistry, he says. “I also want to create a balance, so no one runs away with the show.”

The search for the threesome, the difficulty of the material and the complication of finding actors who were comfortable with their clothes off made the auditions among the most intense in East West history. “In terms of the time it took, the serious mood and decision-making, it was the toughest process I’ve ever gone through,” Dang says, a sentiment shared by many of the performers.

Michael Dalager, a musical theater actor who has appeared in Europe and America, was selected to play virile, sensitive Giorgio, who embodies the joys and dangers of loving and being loved too intensely. “Michael has the type of charisma that makes you see why both women fall for him,” Dang says.

Linda Igarashi, an East West regular who’s appeared on Broadway, is Clara, the beauty who ends up being trapped by appearances. “My knowing her all of these years made me able to see a bit more depth in her Clara than in others,” Dang notes.

Even though Dang seeks balance, it may be hard to keep Jacqueline Kim, a veteran of film and Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theatre, from breaking out as Fosca. Says Dang: “Even when she is just sitting down and staring you know there is a lot going on in her mind. Her eyes are like windows.”

Kim has immersed herself in “Passion.” She has researched the period in which the musical is set and studied the movie (“Passione d’amore” from Italy in 1981) and the novel (“Fosca” by Iginio Ugo Tarchetti) that inspired it. At the first run-through of the show in August, the usual whispers and note-taking stopped as soon as people heard her quavering, melancholy voice sing Fosca’s first words. Even unrehearsed, the wraithlike Kim managed to make her character both fascinating and repulsive.

Dalager and Igarashi also seemed to be better prepared than might be expected after a week. “In this show you have to be,” Igarashi said later. “With all the singing -- you actually have to count with this music -- the acting and the memorization, I haven’t even had time to worry about being naked.”

By early September, after nearly a month together, “Passion” seemed to have insinuated itself into the lives of the cast and creative team as deeply as Fosca insinuates herself into Giorgio’s. Each day while working on a scene someone breaks into tears after making a discovery about a character. Several people have lost sleep because they can’t get songs out of their heads or can’t stop pondering crucial questions: Is Giorgio redeemed or destroyed by Fosca? Why does he end up with her anyway? Did he and Clara truly love each other? Can we pull off this notorious, ambitious show?

Dalager is confident about East West’s chances: “There’s enough ammunition in the script, and we have the chops to deliver.”

Kim is more circumspect. “I’m not going to say we’re going to conquer all the problems,” she said. “But if we fail, we’re going to fail beautifully because this obsessive, unresolved, twisted little piece is beautiful.”

Dang believes that, in the end, what happens onstage is not as important as how the audience feels about it. “Our hope,” Dang said, “is that by opening ourselves up to all the possibilities we can get people to open themselves up. If they let out their emotions and let the show inside, it can be very intoxicating.”

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‘Passion’

Who: East West Players

Where: David Henry Hwang Theatre, 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles

When: Opens Wednesday at 8 p.m. Regular schedule: Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m., Saturdays-Sundays at 2 p.m. (no matinee performance Sept. 13)

Ends: Oct. 5

Price: $33 to $38

Contact: (213) 625-7000