Theater: Latté Da stirs Callas, Sondheim and more for 2014-15 season

Star TribuneBy Graydon Royce June 17, 2014

Theater Latté Da brings familiar faces to the stage in some unfamiliar places.

Sally Wingert, who played Fräulein Schneider in “Cabaret,” returns as Maria Callas in “Master Class.” The play shows Callas reflecting on her life and career as she coaches opera students at Juilliard. Artistic Director Peter Rothstein directed this Terrence McNally play at Park Square, way back in 2001. Andrew Bourgoin plays Callas’ accompanist and music director. “Master Class” opens the season (Oct. 8-Nov. 2) with performances at the MacPhail Center for Music — a venue Latté Da has never used.

For the third year, Latté Da will partner with Hennepin Theatre Trust to re-imagine a familiar musical. Well-known singer-actor Bradley Greenwald will play Fagin in “Oliver!” at the Pantages Theatre (Feb. 4-March 1). “Aida” opened the series in 2013 and “Cabaret” followed. “Oliver!” will feature 30 members of Minnesota Boychoir.

Greta Oglesby will make her Latté Da debut as the Witch in “Into the Woods,” the fairy tale mash-up by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. Oglesby is best known for her performance in the musical “Caroline or Change” at the Guthrie Theater. David Darrow, who played George Gibbs in Latté Da’s “Our Town,” has also been signed for “Into the Woods” (March 4-29, 2015) at the Ritz Theater in northeast Minneapolis, another new venue for Latté Da.

Rothstein will stage “All is Calm” with Cantus at the Pantages (Dec. 17-21). And the season will conclude with “Next: New Musicals in the Making” at the Ritz (April 30-May 17, 2015).