Latté Da Launches New Season: MY FAIR LADY and Cabaret Celebration JOURNEY ON Slated to Dazzle
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Theater LattÉ Da - Journey On 2025 - Photo by Dan Norman
(MINNEAPOLIS/ST PAUL) Theater Latté Da (Justin Lucero, Artistic Director; Elisa Spencer-Kaplan, Managing Director) announces that single tickets are now on sale for its first two productions, Journey On: A 100th Show Cabaret Celebration, and Lerner & Loewe’s timeless classic My Fair Lady. The 2025/26 season will open with the organization’s 100th production, celebrate the 100th anniversary of the opening of the historic Ritz Theater in Spring 2026, and mark the successful completion of the ambitious NEXT 25x25 initiative to support the development of 25 new musicals over a period of five years.
Theater Latté Da opens the season with the celebratory limited-run concert Journey On: A 100th Show Cabaret Celebration (October 8-19, 2025), jointly curated by Latté Da co-founder Denise Prosek and Artistic Director Justin Lucero. Lucero also directs the work, and Prosek will serve as music director.
"Reaching our 100th production is both a joyful milestone and a heartfelt reminder of the incredible journey we’ve taken with our audiences, artists, and community,” says Lucero, Artistic Director of Theater Latté Da. “Journey On is not just a celebration of our past, it’s a tribute to the bold artistry, unforgettable music, and passionate collaboration that continue to shape our future. We can’t wait to welcome audiences to this once-every-100 evening of song, memory, and festivity."
Featuring eight exceptional actors drawn from productions past, Journey On will be led by emcee Tod Petersen (A Christmas Carole Petersen, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Merrily We Roll Along), a beloved mainstay from the company’s earliest days to its most recent season. Casting for Journey On will include Erin Capello (Passion, Next to Normal), Bradley Greenwald (Johnny Skeeky, Twelve Angry Men) and Evan Tyler Wilson (Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, All is Calm); complete casting to be announced in the coming weeks.
Cue the confetti and put on your Sunday clothes! We invite audiences to join us for a cabaret-style bash packed with powerhouse performances by Latté Da luminaries, emceed by Twin Cities favorite Tod Petersen. In honor of achieving this “impossible dream,” Journey On is a musical trip down memory lane, with unforgettable numbers drawn from almost three decades of beloved shows. This strictly limited engagement kicks off our season with style, soul, Sondheim, and “all that jazz” you’ve come to expect from Minnesota’s home for adventurous music theater.
During the holiday season, Theater Latté Da will delight audience members of all ages with Lerner & Loewe’s beloved My Fair Lady (November 12 - December 29, 2025), the first Lerner & Loewe musical to be presented in the company’s 28-year history. Artistic Director Justin Lucero will direct the classic work, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, lyrics by Frederick Loewe, adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s play and Gabriel Pascal’s motion picture Pygmalion. Abby Magalee will choreograph the production, with music direction by Denise Prosek. Casting for My Fair Lady will reunite the duo of Anna Hashizume (Johnny Skeeky, La Bohѐme) and Felix Aguilar Tomlinson (Johnny Skeeky) from 2024’s Johnny Skeeky, joined by Norah Long (Johnny Skeeky), James A. Williams (Latté Da debut, August Wilson’s Radio Golf on Broadway) and Tod Petersen. Complete casting will be announced at a later date.
When Professor Henry Higgins takes on the ambitious task of molding flower seller Eliza Doolittle into his vision of refinement, she is swept into a world brimming with possibility and unexpected discoveries. Widely considered one of the greatest musicals of all time, My Fair Lady is guaranteed to capture hearts with its wit and charm, even as it reveals that asking someone to change the way they speak is asking them to surrender a piece of who they are.
“My Fair Lady has long dazzled audiences with its wit and romance, but at its core, it's a deeply resonant story about voice and identity and transformation. In our production, we’re looking closely at what it truly means to ask someone to change the way they speak and what’s lost in that transformation,” states Lucero, the production’s director. “Voice is more than sound; it’s selfhood. When someone is asked—or forced—to reshape their voice, they’re also being asked to surrender a piece of themselves. Our approach honors that complexity, holding space for the beauty of transformation while questioning the cost.” This thought-provoking, endlessly entertaining classic is a perfect theatrical gift for all ages, carried along on a timeless score featuring such songs as “I Could Have Danced All Night” and “On the Street Where You Live.”
Following the first two productions in the 2025-26 Season, a bold new wintertime production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerietakes the stage, led by Artistic Director Justin Lucero, and continues with the local premiere of the hilariously irreverent Broadway hit Gutenberg! The Musical!; the Latté Da-commissioned World Premiere of My Ántonia, adapted from the beloved Willa Cather novel; and the return of the annual NEXT Festival, dedicated to the development of new musicals and plays with music.
2025/26 SEASON AT A GLANCE
Journey On: A 100th Show Cabaret Celebration
October 8 - 19, 2025
Conceived by Justin Lucero and Denise Prosek
Directed by Justin Lucero
Music Direction by Denise Prosek
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Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady
November 12 - December 28, 2025
Book & Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe
Adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s Play and Gabriel Pascal’s Motion Picture PYGMALION
Original Production Directed by Moss Hart
Directed by Justin Lucero
Choreography by Abby Magalee
Music Direction by Denise Prosek
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The Glass Menagerie
February 4 - March 1, 2026
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by Justin Lucero
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Gutenberg! The Musical!
April 1 - May 3, 2026
LOCAL PREMIERE
By Anthony King and Scott Brown
Directed by Tyler Michaels King
Music Direction by Jason Hansen
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My Ántonia
June 3 - July 12, 2026
WORLD PREMIERE
Conceived by Jessie Austrian, Noah Brody, Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses
Music and Lyrics by The Kilbanes
Book by Noah Brody
Adapted from the novel by Willa Cather
Directed by Jessie Austrian
Choreography by Joey Miller
Music Direction by Jason Hansen
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NEXT Festival 2026 (Season Add-on)
July - August, 2026
