PASSION at the Signature Theatre
I saw this show over a week ago, but I can't stop thinking about it. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the material itself- it is disturbing- but if you want to see what I feel sure is the performance of a lifetime for Natascia Diaz in one of the most complex and demanding female musical roles ever written, then please go see this show.
Fosca is a chronically ill recluse with a tragic past who is as manipulative as she is pitiful. She obsessively pursues her unrequited love with the relentlessness of a vengeful spirit. She's basically the female Phantom of the Opera.
There is a recurring theme in her story, though, that couldn't occur with a male protagonist: the idea that "As long as you're a man/You're what the world will make of you./Whereas if you're a woman/You're only what it sees." The musical at once portrays the idea that Fosca has been mistreated because of her appearance but that she also uses this as an excuse to deny blame for her unacceptable behavior, and that her gender, poor health, and homeliness cause other people to treat her like she's too harmless to manipulate a man instead of the other way around. It's fascinating stuff and more than a little unsettling- we as audiences feel compelled to categorize her as a heroine or villain of the show, to assign a moral message to the show or what it says about love.
Natascia Diaz plays Fosca more softly than I would have expected and plays up her physical pain rather than physical unattractiveness. Every single motion or gesture shows a person in perpetual deep agony, and in a space as intimate as Signature, you can't fake that. She's alternately sweet, creepy, seductive, and repulsive. And she knows when to keep her voice low and weak and when to BELT it out. She has a true Sondheim diva's voice, somewhere between Bernadette Peters and Donna Murphy, and with more than a little witchiness to her. I've seen her do great work in several other shows in DC, but this is far and away the best performance I've seen from her. The rest of the cast is great, too, but I can't imagine a better Fosca.
