Whether staging movement for this season鈥檚 revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses or choreographing the Tony-nominated Waitress, story drives Lorin Latarro. A Juilliard grad, Latarro made inroads in the Broadway world as a dancer (making her Main Stem debut in the 1999 Kiss Me, Kate revival) before working as the associate choreographer on Broadway鈥檚 American Idiot and graduating to choreographer with Scandalous. Now, Latarro drives the story as she makes her directorial debut with A Taste of Things to Come at Off-Broadway鈥檚 York Theatre.
Taking her spot in the director-choreographer鈥檚 seat, Latarro says that her approach doesn鈥檛 veer very far from her stance as a choreographer. 鈥淚 always approach my movements from a storytelling and storyboarding point of view,鈥� she says. As the leader of the new musical by Hollye Levin and Debra Barsha, Latarro executed a clear vision and crafted the musical numbers to serve that greater goal. 鈥淚 have a keen understanding of when choreography gets in the way; if it鈥檚 over-choreographed it can get in the way of storytelling and the forward motion and trajectory of a piece,鈥� says Latarro. 鈥淒on鈥檛 get me wrong, I danced in Movin鈥� Out and A Chorus Line and Guys and Dolls, [but] I鈥檓 really starting to learn how far to go for what you鈥檙e trying to say.鈥�
Her subtle but evocative choreography for the middle America-set Waitress鈥攚hat Latarro calls 鈥渆xpressionistic and human and pedestrian鈥濃攊s proof of her judiciousness and her ability to tap into the mentality of a piece. Her form matches content, and that holds true for Things to Come, the story about four mid-century Illinois housewives coming into their own. 鈥淚 tried to be meta by starting the show with very tight parameters, like a corset almost, and use the numbers in a pastiche sort of way,鈥� she says of the 1950s-set first act. The show begins as performative, with Joan Smith (Paige Faure) serving as the perfect hostess to the audience. 鈥淏y the end of Act II, I鈥檝e been more deconstructive,鈥� Latarro explains. 鈥淭he women are really looking at each other, they鈥檙e not singing out to the audience,鈥� mirroring the theme that these women now lead lives that they have chosen.
In that first act, Latarro interwove commercials of the era to enmesh the audience in the throwback experience, before fast-forwarding to the more progressive and less presentational second act. 鈥淸I wanted to] use the styles in which we direct and choreograph in a meta way as the decades fold forward,鈥� she continues.
Still, in light of the results of Election 2016, the archaic ways of the 1950s feel less pastiche than planned. The newfound political implications of the show are something Latarro had to deal with. 鈥淵ou could look at [the show], and take a scene, and take those girls out of the corset and鈥攊n a way鈥攊t could be 2016,鈥� says Latarro. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 totally depressing and it鈥檚 totally real. You could also look at it and go, 鈥楪ee, progress is not a straight line. It鈥檚 messy and it鈥檚 bumpy.鈥� It鈥檚 slow. Change is molasses.
鈥淚 wonder how we鈥檒l all feel in 2025 and 2040 as we try and close the pay wage gap and we try to get more than one in ten female directors on Broadway,鈥� she jabs. Latarro鈥檚 Off-Broadway direction is a step towards more women directors on the Great White Way.
Latarro learned from three such experts on her last three Broadway projects, having worked with Donmar Warehouse artistic director Josie Rourke on Liaisons, Tony winner Diane Paulus on Waitress, and Tony winner Marianne Elliott on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. From her work with these pioneers, Latarro feels she is a more benevolent leader and an artist encouraged to advocate for her own talent.
And just as these four women have demonstrated generosity, inclusivity, and openness as female directors and individual craftspeople, the characters in Things to Come represent both a familiar 鈥渢ype鈥� of woman and specific personalities.
鈥淚 think the macro and the micro are different,鈥� she says. 鈥淥n some levels they are phenotypes or archetypes, but, individually, we worked really hard to figure out all of [each character鈥檚] personal 鈥業 wants.鈥欌�
As for Lorin Latarro, she wants a world where 鈥済reat artists are great artists鈥濃攏o matter their gender, and鈥攊f she gets really specific鈥攆or Things to Come to travel around America. 鈥淚t couldn鈥檛 be a better year for this little show to go to all these tiny theatres across America,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t would make me so 丑补辫辫测.鈥�
