Peter Rothstein News

ALL IS CALM - The Christmas Truce of 1914, written by Peter Rothstein, with musical arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach, will be directed by Julia Thudium, running December 4th-27th at the Vortex Theatre.

The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center is excited to present unique performances during November and December that bring music, comedy, history and the holidays to the forefront. Whether it's a fancy evening, a girls getaway or a family outing, there's something for everyone before the year is through!

The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center is excited to present unique performances during November and December that bring music, comedy, history and the holidays to the forefront. Whether it's a fancy evening, a girls getaway or a family outing, there's something for everyone before the year is through!

National Alliance for Musical Theatre presents the 27th ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, which takes place today, October 15 and tomorrow, October 16 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).

National Alliance for Musical Theatre has announced final casting for the 27th ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, which takes place on Thursday, October 15 and Friday, October 16 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).

Mark Benninghofen is known to many from years of performances at the Guthrie, on screen and in the ad world but not so much in musicals. Learn more about the man and this musical and get to Latte Da to see it pronto.

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.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre has announced additional directors and casting for their 27th ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS. The Festival will take place on Thursday, October 15 and Friday, October 16 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).

On Monday night I attended my 9th Ivey Awards. Yes, even before I started Cherry and Spoon in 2010 and started getting press tickets to the event in 2013, I was still a theater geek (read all the words I've written about the Iveys here). The Ivey Awards are my favorite theater night of the year, not so much for the awards themselves, but because it's a celebration of another year of amazing local theater that gathers all of my favorite theater artists in one room. Even though I've met many of them, I still get starstruck when I walk through the crowd and every other face I see is someone I've enjoyed watching on stage. I love to watch awards shows on TV so it's a thrill to get all glammed up and actually attend one in person. I even painted my toenails with a glittery green called 'One Short Day' - appropriate because of its musical theater geekiness and and because this event that I look forward to all year goes by in a whirlwind of people and honorees and loud music and conversations. And now it's over for another year, but more great theater is still to come which we will be celebrating next year!

Joe Dowling, the Guthrie Theater's recently retired artistic director, was honored at the 2015 Ivey Lifetime Achievement Award, the celebration of Twin Cities theater, on September 21 at the Historic State Theatre in downtown Minneapolis. Critically-acclaimed actor Mikell Sapp received the Emerging Artist Award.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre just announced the preliminary directors and casting for its 27th ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS. The Festival will take place on Thursday, October 15 and Friday, October 16 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).

Cat Brindisi has a familiar name but not just because of her parentage. You've seen her on many area stages and will soon see more from this busy actor who appears in the Guthrie's STAGE KISS. Learn more about her in 6 Questions & a Plug.

Mother Road Theatre Company announces its 8th season illustrating its commitment to enrich the Albuquerque community with professional works and programs that tell stories, promote literacy, enliven our artists and audiences and electrify the New Mexico landscape.

What do you get when you combine a talented young playwright, an excellent cast that includes five up-and-coming actors and two beloved veterans of local stages, stirring a capella gospel music arranged by a local musical legend, and the Twin Cities' best director of 'theater musically?' You get CHOIR BOY, a lovely and affecting play about a young gay man coming of age in an African American boarding school. The playwright is Tarell Alvin McCraney of the excellent Brother/Sister trilogy that Pillsbury House Theatre has produced in its entirety in the last several years. While those plays have an epic, mythical quality, CHOIR BOY is more grounded in reality, but just as beautifully written. Add in musical direction and arrangement by Sanford Moore and direction by Peter Rothstein, an expert at using music in the best possibly way to enhance the theatrical storytelling, and you have something quite special going on in the Guthrie's Dowling Studio.

2014-15 McKnight Theater Artist Fellows Austene Van and Sally Wingert, along with their collaborators, will present selections from works in progress on June 29 at 7 p.m. at the Illusion Theater.

?Being a grown-up is hard. You have to be concerned about things like bills, a job, a house, traffic, the deterioration of the environment, and violence and injustice in our backyards and around the world. It's really a drag - no wonder Peter Pan doesn't want to be one! And while we boring and worried grown-ups don't have the option of returning to a blissful childhood, we can go to the Children's Theatre Company and forget about all of our grown-up worries, remembering and reveling in the joy and freedom of youth. What better choice for CTC, then, than the musical adaptation of J.M. Barrie's iconic tale about the boy who won't grow up? Kids love it because they see themselves in Peter, and we grown-ups see an even deeper meaning in the story as we watch the children around us grow up in an increasingly dangerous world, and long for our own days of innocence. It's a perfect choice perfectly executed by the entire cast and creative and technical teams. This PETER PAN is something quite magical, and quite simply the best thing I've seen at CTC.

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) is thrilled to present Peter Pan the Musical for the first time on our stage, now through June 21, 2015 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage. Ivey Award-winner Peter Rothstein directs with choreography by Joe Chvala (Flying Foot Forum). Scroll down for a first look at the cast in action!

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) is thrilled to present Peter Pan the Musical for the first time on our stage, April 21 through June 21, 2015 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage. Ivey Award-winner Peter Rothstein directs with choreography by Joe Chvala (Flying Foot Forum). The creative team of national theatre luminaries includes Set Designer Walt Spangler (Broadway credits include A Christmas Story the Musical, Scandalous, Desire Under the Elms), Costume Designer Linda Cho (Tony Award for A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder) and Sound Designer Philip S. Rosenberg (Broadway credits include The Elephant Man and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder).

I first saw the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical fairy tale mash up INTO THE WOODS four years ago, and have seen it several times since then, including the recent star-studded movie. Every time I see it I like it more. I think Sondheim is like Shakespeare in that it has a very specific rhythm and cadence to it that takes a minute to get used to, but the more time you spend with it, the richer and deeper it becomes. Such has been my experience with INTO THE WOODS, so I was primed to love my favorite theater company Theater Latte Da's production of it. But it has exceeded my expectations, and even Sondheim newbies will be enthralled by this brilliant staging of a brilliantly written musical. Latte Da has pared down this big Broadway musical to something that feels intimate and innovative, using a small cast and orchestra, and inventive and thoughtful choices in every detail of the production. This, my friends, is Broadway re-imagined, or at least how I would like to see Broadway re-imagined. Simply put, it's sublime.

Director Peter Rothstein sets Sondheim's fairytale mashup in a Bavarian beer garden with ten actors who take on more than two-dozen characters in this highly theatrical tour-de-force. Check out a promo for the show below!