Theater Latté Da Presents Steerage Song 6/2-5

The world premiere of Theater Latté Da's original musical Steerage Song, which celebrates the journey of European immigrants to America during the height of immigration, will debut at St. Paul's historic Fitzgerald Theater and will run June 2-5, 2011.

Created by Artistic Director Peter Rothstein along with musician and writer Dan Chouinard, the new musical docudrama is premiering in partnership with Minnesota Public Radio. Steerage Song will tell a story through music of the journey immigrants took from Europe to America through Ellis Island.

Ellis Island was the gateway to America-a land of opportunity for some, a land of exclusion for others. Five thousand immigrants a day passed through this "Island of Hope, Island of Tears." Packed into the steerage of steamships, they left their homelands with few possessions, but a wealth of optimism, perseverance and music.

"For 150 years immigration has been a volatile discussion in this country. In creating Steerage Song, I hope to chronicle the journey of millions of new Americans through their music which expressed their hopes, sacrifices, pains and joys," said Rothstein.

Steerage Song is a musical kaleidoscope of the journey to America. Rothstein and Chouinard have woven together a rich tapestry of European immigrant songs, patriotic tunes, and melodies of Tin Pan Alley in a tribute to the voices that created a new sound of America. They have spent the past few years gathering immigrant songs from twenty European countries.

The show includes lyrics in seventeen different languages, but the driving force is the universal language of music. Providing a context for the music are projections of historic photographs and quotes taken from immigrant guidebooks, Ellis Island documents, immigration legislation and articles about life in New York's Lower East Side tenement district.

"The history of immigration is both rich and cyclical," said Chouinard. "By remembering our own history, we can look with greater understanding on the faces of immigrants in our community today."

Rothstein and Chouinard each have a long and fruitful history of musical storytelling. Rothstein's last creation was All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, which used a similar structure of music and found texts to create a unique musical docudrama. Chouinard's most recent commission was for the Minnesota Historical Society about St. Paul's Rondo neighborhood-the history of its streets, its people and its music.

The impressive cast of singers and actors includes Sasha Andreev, Braxton Baker, Erin Capello, Dennis Curley, Dylan Fresco, Jennifer Grimm, Jay Hornbacher, Jake Ingbar, Natalie Nowytski and Amy Stockhaus. They are accompanied by some of Minnesota's finest musicians, including Peter Ostroushko on violin and mando; Laura McKenzie on harp, pipes and concertina; Dirk Freymuth on guitar and strings; Dale Mendenhall on reeds; and Music Director Dan Chouinard on accordion and piano.

TICKETS
Tickets available at the Fitzgerald Theater Box Office, all Ticketmaster Outlets, and online at www.ticketmaster.com.
To charge tickets by phone, patrons may call 1-800-982-2787.
Box Office Hours: Tuesday through Friday, Noon to 5:00 PM.
FitzgeraldTheater.publicradio.org

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