"Journey On: A 100th Show Cabaret Celebration" by Theater Latte Da at the Ritz Theater

To begin their 28th season of doing theater musically, Theater Latte Da is celebrating their 100th show with a wonderful cabaret that highlights many of the previous 99 shows. They did not offer tickets to review this production since it's such a short run, but I've loved Theater Latte Da for nearly 20 years and I wasn't going to not see this show. I bought a ticket for myself, and I'm writing this for myself. Checking my show spreadsheet, I have seen over 100 performances by Theater Latte Da, but that includes readings, concerts in the park, and repeat performances (it's rare for me to go back and see a show a second time, but it happens more often with this company than any other). And I'm not sure how they're counting their shows, e.g., is All is Calm, which they've done many productions of, counted as one show or eleven? But I think it's safe to say I've seen three-quarters of Theater Latte Da's 100 shows. There's something truly special about this company and the way that they tell stories, and the stories they choose to tell. Nothing cracks the hard shell I've built around myself like the intersection of music and theater, and Latte Da has cracked me open countless times, as well as made me laugh, surprised me, made me think about the world differently, and moved me (literally and figuratively). I had a smile on my face and tears in my eyes throughout the Journey On cabaret, filled with lovely memories and exciting plans for the future (continuing through October 19). If you'd like to enter for a chance to win two tickets to any Theater Latte Da show this season (or the Guthrie Theater), all you need to do is donate $15 to your favorite theater and fill out this form.

The cabaret is hosted by an artist who's been with Theater Latte Da since the beginning - the one and only Tod Peterson. He's an effortlessly charming and disarming host (even or especially when he forgets what he's supposed to say and asks Music Director Bradley Beahen leading the fab onstage band). He's joined by eight Theater Latte Da, and #TCTheater, favorites - Bradley Greenwald, Deidre Cochran, Erin Capello, Evan Tyler Wilson, Felix Aguilar Tomlinson, Isa Condo-Olvera, Kim Kivens, and Ronnie Allen - each one a powerhouse singer and a talented storyteller, who all look gorgeous in their glamourous party wear in shades of black, gold, and red (I need to get costume supervisor Amber Brown to style me for the next Ivey Awards, if only we still had Ivey Awards). They sing solo, in pairs or trios, and most gloriously, as a group. The most poignant parts of the show are when each one of them tells their origin story with Theater Latte Da, and the beautiful way the company has supported them as an artist and a human.

Since we're talking about Theater Latte Da origin stories, here's mine: the first Latte Da show that I saw was Floyd Collins in 2006, at the end of their 8th season. I had just fallen in love with Dieter Bierbrauer's performance as Tony in West Side Story at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, and in the upcoming section of his bio he noted that he would next be in Floyd Collins with Theater Latte Da. I had never heard of the show or the theater company, but I went to see Dieter, in the old Loring Playhouse (an early home of Latte Da which Tod sadly reported is now office space). I've seen virtually everything Theater Latte Da has done since (and I still miss Dieter, who did many shows with Latte Da before leaving town seven years ago). It didn't take long for Peter Rothstein, co-founder (with high school pal Denise Prosek) and director of most of their shows in the early years, to become my favorite director due to his singular vision for creating theater musically. I was heart-broken when he left us to become the Artistic Director of Asolo Rep in Florida, but am very pleased with the way that the company is continuing with the tradition of developing new works of music-theater and doing new takes on classics under the leadership of new AD Justin Lucero. And I couldn't be more excited about seeing the next 100 shows by Theater Latte Da in their gorgeous historic permanent home the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis.

As long as we're going down memory lane, here are a few of my favorite Latte Da productions. I started this blog in 2010 so I don't have a record of the early shows, but will never forget Floyd Collins (isn't it time for another #TCTheater production of this Adam Guettel stunner, especially with this year's gorgeous Broadway debut?), The Full Monty in 2009 at the old Ordway McKnight Theater (another great show we haven't seen since), and Violet in 2010 at the Guthrie Studio, which became and has remained one of my favorite musicals. Favorites since I started blogging are Spring Awakening, Company, The Light in the Piazza, Ragtime (which absolutely wrecked me, just before the 2016 election), Assassins (with an onstage carnival the audience could visit before the show), Chicago (the only production of it I've seen that isn't the current Broadway production), the regional premiere of Once, Merrily We Roll Along, and the trio of their original holiday shows A Christmas Carole Petersen, All is Calm, and Christmas at the Local (the medley of which in this cabaret made those tears spill over). The early pre-2006 shows I most regret not seeing are Sunday in the Park with George (which may be my favorite Sondheim) and The Man of No Importance, a musical I don't know much about other than it's set in Ireland and rarely done. But I'm comforted by the fact that I will never miss a Theater Latte Da show again.

Scroll down for the full song list included in the program, which I didn't look at before the show. If you're planning to see the show, I encourage you to just let it play out without knowing what's coming, and be delighted by each new song, new story, new memory, as I was.

the gorgeous and talented cast (photo by Dan Norman)