Benjamin Dutcher

In one of the most well-known and well-loved melodies in opera, the hopelessly romantic Alfredo raises a toast to his beloved, free-spirited Violetta. In a new production from Out of the Box Opera (Minneapolis) and Opera Columbus helmed by stage director David Lefkowich and General Director Julia Noulin-Mérat, audience members, too, will be guests at Violetta's party.

This passionate, timeless, and indelible story of love among young artists in Paris, can stake its claim as the world’s most popular opera. Theater Latté Da brings Peter Rothstein’s innovative, award-winning staging to the intimate Ritz Theater. Lyrical and touchingly beautiful, La Bohème is the definitive depiction of the joys and sorrows of love and loss, and a celebration of art in the face of adversity. It is sung in Italian with English surtitles.

Sixty-five minutes of the most beautiful acapella tells the story of the British and German soldiers who put down their guns during the Christmas holiday of 1914 to come together as comrades during an all-too brief truce during World War I.

Did you know that it was Jewish composers who wrote some of your favorite songs? Whether it was Take Me Out to the Ball Game or Over the Rainbow, Piano Man or Send in the Clowns, to Da Doo Ron Ron or Hold On, some of the best-known songs ever written were written by Jewish composers. 

You won't find a better production of this masterpiece, now celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Theater Latte Da today announces its 2019-2020 season

SWEENEY TODD opened on May 1 at Asolo Repertory Theatre and is running through June 1, 2019.

Asolo Repertory Theatre proudly continues its 60th season with SWEENEY TODD: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It will be directed and choreographed by Peter Rothstein, who helmed the theatre's critically acclaimed 2018 production of Ragtime. Featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, a book by Hugh Wheeler and from an adaptation by Christopher Bond, this musical masterwork and global phenomenon previews May 1 - 3, opens May 4 and runs through June 1 in the Mertz Theatre, located in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts.

It is bound to happen every once in awhile that various theatres in the Twin Cities all decide to produce the same musical within the same season. The positive thing is that the other two productions of She Loves Me (one at Daleko and one at Lyric Arts) were absolutely fabulous and the most recent production by Artistry was too. I don't mind seeing this for a third time within the same year because it's so ridiculously charming.

Shortly after midnight, on Christmas Day of 1914, a German soldier whose name is now lost to history committed what might be the most subversive act in all of modern warfare.  He walked, unarmed, out of the front line trenches and into the middle of No Man's Land, faced the enemy British soldiers before him and, in his native tongue, began singing 'Silent Night.'

Laura Little Theatricals and Theater Latte Da present the American premiere production of the off-Broadway premiere of the new musical All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, now playing off-Broadway at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culturein a limited holiday engagement through December 30. Performances are Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30PM; Sunday at 7pPM; Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday at 2PM. (Exceptions: There are no performances on Sunday, December 9 at 2PM or Sunday, December 23 at 7PM; there is an additional performance on Monday, December 24 at 2PM.)

On Sunday, November 11, the cast and creative team  All Is Calm honored the 100th anniversary of the armistice with a reading of an excerpt from "For the Fallen,' a poem by Robert Laurence Binyon, first published in The London Times on September 21st, 1914 and a singing of "Silent Night.'

Laura Little Theatricals and Theater Latte Da announce casting for the Off-Broadway premiere of the new musical ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914.

Asolo Rep continues its 2017-18 season with the celebrated American musical RAGTIME. Directed by Peter Rothstein, founding artistic director of Theater Latte Da in Minneapolis, RAGTIME features a book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, who all garnered Tony Awards for the production. The original Broadway production was directed by Frank Galati, who received a Tony nomination for his work and is an Associate Artist at Asolo Rep. A collaboration with Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre, RAGTIME is currently on stage through May 27 in the Mertz Theatre, located in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. Check out photos of the new production below!

Asolo Rep continues its 2017-18 season with the celebrated American musical RAGTIME. Directed by Peter Rothstein, founding artistic director of Theater Latte Da in Minneapolis, RAGTIME features a book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, who all garnered Tony Awards for the production. The original Broadway production was directed by Frank Galati, who received a Tony nomination for his work and is an Associate Artist at Asolo Rep. A collaboration with Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre, RAGTIME is currently on stage through May 27 in the Mertz Theatre, located in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. Check out photos of the new production below!

A third new theater company is making its #TCTheater debut this month, following a charming new original musical RAGTIME WOMEN by Theatre Elision and LITTLE WARS, a powerful story of women in their prime brought to us by Prime Productions. Now we have Trademark Theater, whose mission is to 'expand the breadth of original theatrical works born in Minnesota by creating, developing, and producing dynamic stage productions.' Their first creation is a new adaptation of an old story - Robin Hood. And it most definitely is original and dynamic. I saw a reading of it as part of Illusion Theater's 'Fresh Ink' series last year and was impressed with the storytelling and original music. But now, with the added elements of movement, costumes, set, lighting, and all of the theater magic, plus a super talented and energetic young cast, it's something truly exciting.

Friends, Theater Latte Da has done it again. They've created a music-theater production that is so stirring and chilling, it's nothing short of brilliant. After the delightfully innovative and stripped-down INTO THE WOODS this spring, they return to Sondheim with a similarly innovative and stripped-down SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. But where INTO THE WOODS was a fun and slightly sinister mish-mash of classic fairy tales, SWEENEY is all darkness and death, albeit with a bit of dark humor. Director Peter Rothstein again cast just ten actors in the show, many playing multiple roles and all perfect for the parts, and Denise Prosek leads a pared down orchestra of just four, that still somehow sounds musically full on this gorgeous and disturbing score. With a couple of actors not known for their singing leading this talented cast, and a cohesive look to the set, costumes, and theater space that is well used, this SWEENEYis completely engaging and all-consuming, and brilliantly shows what Latte Da can do with not musical theater, but theater musically.

I don't know opera, and I don't believe I had ever heard the name Maria Callas before seeing Theater Latte Da's MASTER CLASS. But I have been educated. I now know that Maria Callas was one of the most talented, dedicated, and fascinating artists of the 20th century. Her paintbrush was her voice, her canvas was the stage, her creation was opera. She sacrificed everything for her art, and had very strong opinions about what art is and what it isn't. She shared those opinions in a series of master classes at Julliard in the early '70s. Playwright Terrence McNally used those classes as the backdrop against which to tell the story of who this woman was in his 1996 Tony-winning play. Her attitude towards art may not lead to the healthiest and happiest of lifestyles, but it does in some cases lead to some exquisite art, both in her singing, and in this magnificent production by Theater Latte Da.