Theater Latté Da Announces Upcoming Season; TWELVE ANGRY MEN Musical, LA BOHEME and More

Theater Latté Da today announces its 2019-2020 season. The highly-celebrated company will launch a series of productions that encompass a continued commitment to presenting original and re-imagined musical theater beginning with the Tony award-winning and longest-running American musical CHICAGO; the homecoming of the LattéDa original docu-musical ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914; the area premiere of Michael John La Chiusa's powerful musical masterwork BERNARDA ALBA based on the play by Frederica Garcia Lorca, Peter Rothstein's award-winning staging of Puccini's beloved opera LA BOHÈME, the world premiere musical adaptation of the American courtroom drama TWELVE ANGRY MEN, and continued robust commitment to the development of new musicals and plays-with-music in the annual NEXT FESTIVAL.

"I continue to be inspired by the musical theater and the vast range of stories it can tell," shares artistic director Peter Rothstein. "This season is a celebration of some of the art form's greatest works as well as new work by some of the most exciting voices working today. And I find each of these stories moving, challenging, funny, and profound."

The season opens with the show-stopping Tony award-winning musical, CHICAGO (September 18-November 3, 2019) by John Kander (Cabaret, Kiss of the Spider Woman) and Bob Fosse (Pippin), based on the stage play by Maurine Dallas Watkins (Libeled Ladyscreenplay) with music by John Kander (Cabaret, Kiss of the Spider Woman) and lyrics by Fred Ebb. Directed by Peter Rothstein with music direction by Denise Prosek and choreography by Kelli Foster Warder.

Set in 1920s Chicago and based on real-life murders and trials, CHICAGO follows Roxie Hart, a wannabe vaudevillian star who murders her lover. In the Cook County Jail, Roxie meets her hero, the famed double-murderess and nightclub performer Velma Kelly. Tensions come to a head as the two murderesses vie for the ultimate spotlight. Broadway's longest-running American musical, CHICAGO is a female-driven powerhouse. It's a dazzling and satirical look at fame, justice, and the media machine. The production features Britta Ollmann, Robert Berdahl, Dorian Brooke, Fernando Collado, Michelle de Joya, Jaclyn Juola, Joey Miller, Reed Sigmund, Jessica Staples, Maureen Sherman-Mendez, Angela Steele, Dylan Rugh, and Regina Marie Williams.

ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914 (November 27 - December 22, 2019), the poignant docu-musical about the World War I Christmas truce, will celebrate a homecoming after a successful Off-Broadway run at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture in 2018. This moving ode to peace is written and directed by Peter Rothstein with vocal arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach. The production will feature the talents of the Minneapolis-based cast who starred in the highly-lauded Off-Broadway run, which earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for Most Unique Theatrical Experience. The production will be available as a season ticket add-on.

The Western Front, Christmas, 1914. Out of the violence a silence, then a song. A German soldier steps into No Man's Land singing "Stille Nacht." Thus begins an extraordinary night of camaraderie, music, peace. A remarkable true story told in the words and songs of the men who lived it. A Theater Latté Da original, this a capella production has become an annual holiday classic and is brought to life by a cast of 10 actor/singers, beautifully blending iconic WWI patriotic tunes, trench songs, medieval ballads and Christmas carols. Featuring Sasha Andreev, Benjamin Dutcher, Ben Johnson, Riley McNutt, Rodolfo Nieto, James Ramlet, and Evan Tyler Wilson.

In January, the Ritz Theater will erupt with the fiery sounds of flamenco music with the area premiere of Michael John La Chiusa's BERNARDA ALBA (January 15-February 16, 2020). La Chiusa (The Wild Party, Marie Christine) brings a musical voice to Federico Garcia Lorca's final 1936 masterpiece through pulsing castanets, trilling Spanish guitars, and resounding rhythmic stomps.

Bernarda Alba is a powerful matriarch, who imposes a strict rule on her household following her second husband's funeral. Bernarda's five daughters, however, struggle with Bernarda's cold regime. The girls' dreams, desires, and the lure of the outside world begin to permeate their isolated existence. Theater Latté Da's production features a cast of ten of the Twin Cities' finest women actors including Regina Marie Williams as Bernarda Alba, featuring Aimee Bryant, Haley Haupt, Christine Hwang, Kim Kivens, Meghan Kreidler, Ann Michels, Nora Montenez, Sara Ochs, and Britta Ollmann. Crystal Manich, recently appointed Artistic Director of the Mill City Opera and renowned opera director leads the production. Music direction by Jason Hansen and choreography by Kelli Foster Warder.

In the spring, Theater Latté Da brings Peter Rothstein's innovative, award-winning staging of Puccini's
LA BOHÈME (March 11-April 26, 2020) to the intimate Ritz Theater. Peter Rothstein directs, the production featuring orchestrations for Parisian street instruments (accordion, piano, guitar, violin, and clarinet) by Joseph Schlefke. Performed in Italian with English titles projected above the stage.

Puccini's LA BOHÈME (March 11-April 26, 2020), the passionate, timeless, and indelible story of love among young artists in Paris, can stake its claim as the world's most popular opera. Lyrical and touchingly beautiful, LA BOHÈME is the definitive depiction of the joys and sorrows of love and loss and meaning of life in the face of adversity.

Season 22 concludes with the world premiere of TWELVE ANGRY MEN, (May 27-June 28, 2020) book by David Simpatico (Disney's High School Musical 1 & 2, The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing) music and lyrics by Michael Holland (You're Gonna Hate This,Hurricane) based on the teleplay "Twelve Angry Men," by Reginald Rose. Peter Rothstein directs with music direction by Denise Prosek.

In form, TWELVE ANGRY MEN is a courtroom drama; in purpose, it's a crash course in those passages of the Constitution that promise defendants a fair trial and the presumption of innocence. In a small New York City jury room, on "the hottest day of the year," twelve men debate the fate of a young defendant charged with murdering his father.

Theater Latté Da continues its robust commitment to new work with their NEXT FESTIVAL in July 2020. The summer festival showcases three new works that stretch the boundaries of musical storytelling, where audience members are invited into the ground floor of the creative process.

Season tickets are currently on sale; packages start at $120. Call the box office at 612-339-3003 or purchase online at Latteda.org.