Passion at Signature Theatre

Uggggghhh!!! God, that looks and SOUNDS so incredible. Signature Theatre is really world-class. I still consider myself so lucky to have gone down to see their production of West Side Story a few years ago—remains one of my all-time favorite theatre memories.

Wish I could see this one.

Updated On: 7/29/18 at 11:11 PM

That sounds stunning. And does anyone else think Natascia Diaz looks like Donna Murphy here?

Claybourne Elder is so cute.

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JBC3 said: "I was deeply disappointed in Elder as George in the Signature SITPWG production, but will remain open-minded about what he might do in Passion."

I loved him as the Soldier/Alex in the Broadway revival.

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Julie Yard said: "That was lovely... thank you for posting Get Up. Reading the posts it seems earlier Signature productions haven't moved to NY. Anyone know why? I'm debating taking the 5 hour bus ride down and back to DC for this (I've never seen Passion), but would really prefer if it landed in my Broadway backyard. Any thoughts on that possibility? It's would be a lot of bus riding for 110 minutes -granted, that bit sounds like heaven."

Pretty safe to say that PASSION isn't returning to Broadway unless someone like Meryl Streep wanted to play Fosca or Hugh Jackman wanted to play Giorgio. John Doyle's Off-Broadway production at Classic Stage was sublime 5 years ago, so I doubt we'd see a production of it again in NY in the next few years. It's a beautiful show that rarely gets done.

Signature Theatre has a decent track record for musical revivals, and their theatre space is unique. Their TITANIC from a few years ago is supposedly on its way to Broadway after playing in South Korea last year, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Claybourne seems pretty fantastic to me in yet another dynamite promotional video put out by Signature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sJfjND0P9Y

Claybourne Elder is wonderful...he sings Sondheim as well or even better than others...i saw his FINISHING THE HAT at the Hollywood Bowl last year and fell in love

JBC3 said: "Elder can sing and is handsome, but his acting is far weaker. That was very problematic with his George. Hopefully he has improved or will do better with Giorgio."

I 100% agree. I was deeply disappointed in his George, thought it was just because I saw it early in the run, came back later in the run and was still disappointed. The videos of him for Passion seem really beautiful, though, so I am going to keep an open-mind! I will be going tomorrow night, so will post on how it goes!

This makes me so happy! I live about 10 minutes away from Signature and their productions have always impressed me. I bought my tickets for passion after seeing the preview performance at their annual open house. Natascia Diaz was (as per usual) phenomenal. I was lucky to see her in In the Heights and am thrilled to see her in another show. Can’t wait!

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Updated On: 8/13/18 at 02:27 PM

I'm not sure if anyone has time, but Signature Theatre does provide rush tickets as well as student, educator, first responder, and military discounts.

My friend and I did the rush for their production of Gypsy and we sat on bar stools, but the theatre is so small it did not matter one bit! That was a bit ago, though, so I'm not sure how they are doing rush for this show.

https://www.sigtheatre.org/plan-your-visit/special-opportunities/

(I do not work for them, I just am utterly in love with this place and try to visit as much as I can!)

I just got back from opening night. It was absolutely brilliant. The performances were all fantastic, especially Natascia. Claybourne was physically a little stiff at some points but that could have just been the costume, overall his performance was great. The set design was beautiful and the staging was fantastic. All in all this was essentially a perfect production.

The only critique I have was that the nudity was kinda gratuitous. I never saw the original production so I'm not sure how exactly the nudity was handled then, but here, Giorgio and Clara were both completely naked in bed during the entire opening number, then after the song is over, Clara stands up to put on a robe and you see everything (side note: I didn't know that landing strips were in style in the 1860's). Then, throughout the show, she shows up in a completely see-through robe. Overall, it just felt unnecessary to the show as a whole. Maybe somebody more familiar with the show could chime in, but it felt like a bit much to me.

Updated On: 8/16/18 at 10:51 PM

Yes, the original production featured full nudity from both Jere Shea and Marin Mazzie in the opening sequence. That was the only nudity in that production.