Feature Story | Latté Da Rolls Out Season Lineup

Theater Latté Da has announced a 2009-10 season of two new productions and one holiday repeat. Gone from the schedule, though, is the perennial December favorite,
A Christmas Carole Petersen, after a run of nine years. The show declined in sales
last year, but artistic director Peter Rothstein said that was not the reason it was put on the shelf.

"It was still our second-top-selling show, and we were intending to do it, but the Ordway McKnight was not available on the dates we wanted," Rothstein said. "We're seeing what other lives it might have -- touring, licensing, getting it into other markets. It's too bad because it would have been the 10th year."

So what is on the slate? Rothstein will direct The Full Monty Oct. 15-Nov. 8 at the McKnight. It's based on the popular movie about unemployed British steelworkers who put together a striptease act to generate a little income. The musical, by composer David Yazbek and writer Terrence McNally, was produced on Broadway in 2000. A tour played the Ordway's main hall in 2003. Joshua James Campbell, Wendy Lehr (both recently in "Grey Gardens" at the Ordway), Zach Curtis and Latté Da favorite Randy Schmeling (Passage of Dreams) are featured in the cast.

Returning for Christmas is the Latté Da collaboration with vocal ensemble Cantus, All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914. The piece almost immediately became popular after its premiere two years ago. Last year, it played six dates at the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis and actually made money -- a rarity for theatrical productions in that venue. The story of Allied and German soldiers shedding their weapons to share Christmas Day 1914 returns to the Pantages Dec. 17-20.

Latté Da hopes that theatergoers have heard the name Jeanine Tesori enough in the past few months to take a chance on her first musical, Violet, next Feb. 26-March 21 at the Guthrie Studio. Tesori composed the music for Caroline, or Change, which was part of the Guthrie's just-concluded Tony Kushner festival. Violet was an off-Broadway hit and was done at Bryant-Lake Bowl in 2001 by Minneapolis Musical Theatre. Britta Ollman, a young star at Children's Theatre Company before going off to New York
(A Catered Affair), will play the title character. Violet takes a bus from the Carolina hills
to Oklahoma, hoping a televangelist can heal the scar on her face. Her journey takes
a detour when she meets a young soldier on the bus. Maeve Moynihan plays the
young Violet.

Latté Da just concluded its 11th season. Information on the season is at 612.339.3003.