July 29 - Aug 21, 2023
Ritz Theater
The NEXT Festival is Theater Latté Da’s New Work Festival showcasing three works that stretch the boundaries of musical storytelling. Each show in the Festival receives public presentations providing audience members the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the creative process. Following each performance is an in-depth conversation with the playwrights, composers, and lyricists. Be a part of Theater Latté Da’s commitment to the next generation of the Great American Musical.
The NEXT Festival is made possible in part by the generosity of donors to Theater Latté Da’s 25x25 initiative, our campaign to develop 25 new musicals between 2021 and 2025. Learn more about NEXT 25X25 and how you can get involved here.
Subscribers who added a NEXT Festival pass to their 2022-23 subscription package have been contacted via email with instructions on how to book seats and dates. If you purchased a NEXT Festival pass and have not received an email, please call the box office at 612-339-3003.
Click the links below to purchase a $30 NEXT Festival Pass or single tickets:
THE TEARS OF LA LLORONA: A BORDER ZARZUELA
Songs and Libretto by Celeste Moreno
Arrangements by Bethany Brinton
Direction and Dramaturgy by Crystal Manich
Music Direction by Sonja Thompson
In a graveyard north of the Rio Grande, a woman is awakened from death after sixteen years. She claws herself out of her grave. Called by the spirit of vengeance, her past rushes back: the loss of her beloved babies and her death at the hands of her former husband. Writer/composer Celeste Moreno and arranger Bethany Brinton weave traditional Latin American musical forms, popular music and the legend of La Llorona, the weeping woman, to create a new kind of ghost story.
Presentations:
Saturday, July 29, 2023 at 2:00pm
Monday, July 31, 2023 at 7:30pm
Special Event - One Night Only Concert!
THE NINTH HOUR
A Beowulf for the Modern Age
Music and Lyrics by Kate Douglas and Shayfer James
Join Kate Douglas and Shayfer James for this concert presentation of their rock noir musical.
Inspired by one of the oldest works in the Western canon, The Ninth Hour explores the intricacies of mankind's relationship with power and violence. This is a classic story of glory and ruin as told through triumphant pop anthems, heart-wrenching lullabies, heroes and monsters.
A hero, summoned to be a protector against a relentless enemy, must confront the evil within herself as a monster comes to terms with the agony of isolation at his life's end. The full album is set for release in July 2023. To learn more visit www.ninthhourmusical.com.
Presentation:
Saturday, August 5, 2023 at 7:30pm
MACBETH AND THE WEÏRD SISTERS
By Andrew Wilkowske & Kelley Rourke
Adapted from Verdi & Shakespeare
Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Lara Bolton
Musician Andrew Wilkowske and librettist Kelley Rourke’s audacious take on the Verdi opera and Shakespeare’s tragic story of ambition reimagines the score for a rock band, replacing classical strings with electric guitars and envisioning Macbeth as the front man/lead singer of Macbeth and the Weïrd Sisters, a 70’s and 80’s-style arena rock band.
Presentations:
Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 7:30pm
Monday, August 14, 2023 at 7:30pm
LOVE THEM FIRST
Music and Lyrics by Randy Preston
Book by Candrice Jones
Directed by Kelli Foster Warder
Music Direction by Adam Dorfman
Based on the KARE 11 award-winning documentary film Love Them First: Lessons from Lucy Laney Elementary.
Developed in association with Love Them First Musical LLC with special thanks to TEGNA Inc.
Adapted from Lindsey Seavert and Ben Garvin’s award-winning documentary, Love Them First: Lessons from Lucy Laney Elementary, this new musical chronicles a year in the life of the students, staff, and charismatic principal of a North Minneapolis elementary school. It's a story of inspiration, heartbreak, perseverance and the power of love.
Presentations:
Saturday, August 19, 2023 at 2:00pm
Monday, August 21, 2023 at 7:30pm
