THE STORY of a love affair, musical numbers, choreographed marching, and a 16-piece orchestra come together in the Philippine Opera Company’s (POC) staging of Passion, Stephen Sondheim’s one-act musical with book written by James Lapine. The latest Manila run of the 1994 Tony Award winner for Best Musical opens in September.
In line with its 20th anniversary as a company, the Philippine Opera Company’s artistic director Karla Patricia Gutierrez noted that they had chosen Passion since they decided to do something “relatable” and “accessible” as part of their efforts to cultivate and educate audiences.
“When I first heard it (the songs) back in the 1990s, I didn’t like it,” said director Robbie Guevara during a press launch on Aug. 12 at the Opera Haus in Makati City.
“It wasn’t like [Sondheim’s other musicals] Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd where you get everything right away just by listening to the songs… But until I read the script, that’s when I realized it was one of his most beautiful operettas,” he said.
As self-confessed Sondheim geek, Mr. Guevara learned more about the musical from reading the composer’s books Finishing the Hat (2010) and Look I Made the Hat (2011).
“When he (Sondheim) saw the movie Passione d’Amore (directed by Ettore Escola, 1981) and he wanted to convert it into a musical, James Lapine told him that that’s a storyline that [you] cannot do as a musical. It has to be an opera. But Sondheim hates opera, so he had to marry both,” Mr. Guevara explained.
Passion is one of three Sondheim musicals being staged in Metro Manila this year, the other two being Upstart Productions’s Company (Sept. 13-22), and Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group’s production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with Lea Salonga and Jett Pangan (Oct. 11-27).
Passion was first presented in the Philippines in 1996 by Repertory Philippines, and starred Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo and Michael Williams.
FROM FILM TO MUSICAL
Passion is set in war-torn Italy in 1863. It follows a young handsome soldier Giorgio Bachetti, who, despite his ongoing affair with his beautiful but married mistress Clara, re-evaluates his beliefs and feelings about love when he meets the old and sickly spinster Fosca, his Colonel’s cousin.
“It’s [called] Passion because he (Giorgio) thinks he is in love because of the lust that he’s enjoying with Clara. He discovers true love with somebody that you least expect,” Mr. Guevara said.
Vien King tackles his first lead role as Giorgio Bachetti, a well-respected captain in the Italian military; Jasmine Fitzgerald plays Clara, Giorgio’s beautiful mistress; and Shiela Valderrama-Martinez plays Fosca, Colonel Ricci’s sickly and unattractive cousin who falls in love with Giorgio.
In her 25 years as an actress, Ms. Valderrama-Martinez said that she has usually been typecast as an ingenue or princess.
“I kind of thought that I always audition for certain things that would make me do that kind of role because that’s how people see me. So when I auditioned for this one, people thought I was going to play Clara because I had the vocal type for it and I had the look for it,” Ms. Valderrama-Martinez said.
“There is always an ugly side of a person and beautiful side of a person. And it’s up to the actor to show that and I hope I could show that,” she added.
“Somehow the role of Giorgio is kind of opposite to myself,” Mr. King said about his first lead role for theater. “But since it’s a love story, somehow, I can still relate to his character. We both learn and grow as a better person because of love.”
Joining them onstage are Lorenz Martinez as Doctor Tambourri, Raul Montesa as Colonel Ricci, and Noel Rayos as Lieutenant Toraso.
According to Stephen Sondheim, “Passion is about how the force of somebody’s feelings for you can crack you open, and how it is the life force in a deadened world.”
Passion runs from Sept. 15 to 29 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati City. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/PhilippineOperaCompany/. For tickets and schedules, visit www.ticketworld.com.ph, or call 891-9999. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman
