The production's director, Jamie Lloyd, told the Daily Mail, "The men in the show, all of whom are playing soldiers, will play all the other roles, including the female ones. . . It'll make it more of an intimate chamber piece. I think past productions have been marvellous but overblown, and I want to strip it right down and give it the atmosphere of a psychological thriller."

The Tony-winning Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical will also undergo some edits from the authors themselves, according to Lloyd, who said the production will be ten to fifteen minutes shorter than the original London production and will feature new lyrics from Sondheim and tweaks to the book from Lapine.

Lloyd said, "I email and call them and then we chat about and discuss the pros and cons of each change . . . . Sondheim's such a nuts-and-bolts man and he's intrigued by everything - the casting, the sets and the whole process of it."

Passion begins performances at the Donmar Warehouse in London Sept. 10.

-- Thomas Peter