Downloadable Playbill - Hennepin Theatre Trust

Letter from the Director
A
merica has made three great contributions to the
performing arts: jazz, modern dance and musical
theater. Much like our melting pot, musical theater is a
diverse fusion, combining British Music Hall, European
operetta, African American rhythms, Vaudevillian humor and
American popular song. Broadway was the artistic playground for
the icons of American culture, greats such as George and Ira
Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers and Oscar
Hammerstein. They were the stars of popular music and
simultaneously defined a new art form, which in both content and
form reflected a fusion of diverse cultures.
For the last 15 years, Theater Latté Da has been re-imagining work
from the golden age of the American musical theater as well as the
work of our living playwrights, composers and lyricists. An incredible gift of a life in the
theater is the privilege of working intimately with voices of the past. I often feel like I am in
dialogue or even rigorous debate with the poetry of Oscar Hammerstein, the musical
vocabulary of Irving Berlin or the dramatic structure of Stephen Sondheim. Theater Latté
Da’s partnership with Hennepin Theatre Trust is the next phase of that exploration, allowing
us to expand our theatrical vocabulary and speak to a broader audience.
Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida is a story rich with things to say about slavery and freedom,
colonialization, patriotism and personal integrity. Set in ancient Egypt, it inspires great
theatrical imagination. And set to the music by Elton John, a living icon of popular music, it
inspires a heightened and dynamic emotional authenticity. The juxtaposition of Ancient
Egypt and contemporary western pop may seem like a disconnect between content and form,
but this unlikely fusion is at the heart of the American musical.
When I begin to re-imagine a given work, I ask myself a series of questions: Why does our
community need to experience this story now? If the characters were left to their own devices,
what tools would they have to tell their story? What are potential visual metaphors for the
ideological themes of a given work? And, ultimately, what can live theater do that film and
television cannot?
Film and television are literal art forms, while the theater thrives on metaphor, and
imagination. For me, the design process is as much about what’s not onstage as what is. My
goal is to trigger the audience’s imagination in order for them to complete our telling of the
story. The theater is a two-way street; it is only complete when the audience meets you
halfway. I’m glad you’re here.
Peter Rothstein
Director of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida
Artistic Director, Theater Latté Da
Theater Latté Da seeks to create new connections between story, music, artist, and audience
by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater.
4 PLAYBILL