After being closed down for a year now because of COVID 19, Chanhassen Dinner Theater will be making some changes both on stage and off going forward, “You know I’ve had a lot of time to think about this during the summer and winter,” said artistic director Michael Brindisi, “I want the company to come back as a more diverse company not only on stage, but in all areas of our operation.”
He told WCCO’s Dave Lee he was deeply troubled by the death of George Floyd and is recommitting himself to be more inclusive.
He explained that they will be replacing Cinderella, with Footloose in the show that will follow its production of “The Music Man, which will reopen July 2 at 50 percent capacity.
Brindisi said several actors will not be available then, and he’s looking to add more diversity in the cast then and going forward.
He told Lee that the decision to replace Cinderella came into question after he noticed the cast of Cinderella was nearly all white, and it didn’t jive with the new mission, “The reaction from the theater has been really good. You know, the actors have basically been asking us for some time to be more diverse.”
He also said the decision in part was based on their current financial situation.
“You know we’ve been closed for over a year, and we’ve dug a pretty deep hole,” Brindisi said. “Cinderella is a big expensive show, with expensive royalties and sets and costumes and I thought I’d try to be more prudent to come out of the gate with something less taxing on our limited funds.”
He said he’s not ruling out staging “Cinderella” at some point in the future.