Thursday, May 28, 2020

Theater Crush Thursday: Theater Latte Da

THEATER CRUSH THURSDAY!
We've loved Theater Latté Da for many years for many reasons, but right now we love them because they're using this extended intermission to focus on the creation of new work. With their recently announced NEXT UP program, they are investing in the future of music-theater by supporting playwrights, composers, lyricists, choreographers, actors, and more as they write new stories. Stories that we will one day be able to share when it's safe again to gather in the same space together. Theater Latte Da will be ready for that day with some exciting new plays and musicals.


Founded by Peter Rothstein and Denise Prosek in 1998, Theater Latte Da has given us many memorable moments over the last 20+ years, and grown from a small nomadic company to one of the most popular companies in #TCTheater, consistently selling out shows in the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis, which they purchased as their permanent home a few years ago. TLD is a musical theater company, but "they don't do musical theater, they do theater musically." In everything they do, they expand the definition of what music-theater can do and be.
Their productions range from inventive new takes on classic musicals (see: their brilliant production of CHICAGO last fall), to rarely produced musicals (the haunting BERNARDA ALBA earlier this year), to enhancing the storytelling of plays with added music (e.g., UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL in 2018), to new works with a little music (Harrison David Rivers' gorgeous play TO LET GO AND FALL with cello duet) or a lot of music (the stunning new musical adaptation of CYRANO DE BERGERAC - C. by #TCTheater artists Bradley Greenwald and Robert Elhai). Other favorite memories are too many to mention - the regional premiere of the multiple Tony Award-winning ONCE, a lovely VIOLET ten years ago, the crazy brilliant carnival of Sondheim's ASSASSINS, a gut-wrenching RAGTIME, the simply beautiful original holiday classic ALL IS CALM (to be broadcast on PBS this year) - I could go on and on! Latte Da was about to open their unique take on the opera LA BOHEME when all public performances were cancelled, and they've promised to bring this to the stage whenever it's safe.
Find out more about NEXT UP, and how you can support it, here:
http://www.latteda.org/next-up