Latest news with #LeaCollege
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'This amazing man has meant so much'
Feb. 7—Michael Brindisi got his start in theater while in Albert Lea Albert Leans are remembering fondly the co-owner and artistic director at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, who died Wednesday after leaving an indelible mark on Albert Lea theater decades before. "All of us at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres are profoundly devastated to make the announcement that our leader, mentor, colleague and most dear friend, Michael Anthony Brindisi, passed away very unexpectedly today following a very brief illness," the theater posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday. "This amazing man has meant so much to our Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' family, and this news is utterly shocking to us all." Brindisi had well over 100 productions to his credit and was preparing for his fourth production of "Grease." "His extreme passion for life and his love for what we do here for our employees, actors, musicians and audiences is something that is broadly evident in everything he did," the post said. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Brindisi grew up in a close-knit Italian neighborhood in Philadelphia and went to his first Broadway show in 10th grade, and was smitten with the production. His parents wanted him to go to college, so he enrolled at Philadelphia's Temple University but he never went to class because he would rather direct and act in plays and ultimately flunked out. The newspaper said in his second attempt at college, he went to Lea College in Albert Lea. While in Albert Lea he directed the first show at Lea College and went on to serve as artistic director for Albert Lea Community Theatre for several years. "You couldn't help but remember him the moment you met him," said Rosalie Truax about Brindisi in an interview with the Tribune in 2023. He was immediately embraced by a number of families in Albert Lea and quickly got involved with Albert Lea Community Theatre. Glen Parsons said he moved to Albert Lea in 1970 right out of college to teach here and the first show he did with Brindisi was "Fiddler on the Roof." He remembered others, including "Carousel," "Kiss Me Kate," "On Golden Pond" and "The Three Penny Opera." "The thing about Michael — when he was just meeting the cast for the first time with a new show, he had this fire about him," Parsons said. "He had so much enthusiasm, and it was so energy, that enthusiasm got the cast excited to prepare the show." Parsons said his wife and daughter also worked with him, his daughter, Andrea, performing a few years with Chanhassen. "His passion was just always there for every project," Parsons said. "Every show he just brought so much energy and so much attention do detail. It was just so much fun to work for him because he was so enthusiastic." Parsons said seeing how Brindisi directed made him become a better director, too. After graduating in 1970, Brindisi went away for a while, directed a play at Chanhassen and has been connected there ever since. He and his wife, Michelle Barber Brindisi, later started a professional summer theater in Albert Lea, which became known as Minnesota Festival Theatre. The theater ran for about 18 years. Brindisi and his wife liked to stay connected to Albert Lea as it is the place he got his start in theater. He still had many friends here.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Michael Brindisi, longtime Chanhassen Dinner Theatres artistic director, dies at 76
Michael Brindisi, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' president and artistic director, died unexpectedly Wednesday following a very brief illness. He was 76. 'Michael belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Twin Cities theater presenters,' said former Pioneer Press theater critic Dominic Papatola, who called Brindisi one of the kindest and most genuine in the business. He's also one of the most versatile, having spent decades directing and acting at CDT as well as scores of other theaters in the region. 'I can't think of a better situation,' Brindisi told Papatola in a 2002 interview when asked why he stuck with CDT. 'I have four or five months to prepare for a show. My wife and daughter work here. We have an acting company. And we're doing good work. Where else would I go?' Brindisi grew up in a working-class Italian neighborhood of Philadelphia and fell in love with theater after seeing a production of 'Golden Boy' with Sammy Davis Jr. while in high school. Brindisi went on to study theater at Temple University, but flunked out because he skipped classes in favor of acting in plays. A recruiter from the now-defunct Lea College in Albert Lea convinced Brindisi to move to Minnesota. It turned out to be a much better fit, as Brindisi directed his first show at Lea College and he went on to serve as artistic director for Albert Lea Community Theatre. In the early '70s, he began bouncing between Minnesota and New York, where he landed work in the Broadway production of 'Once in a Lifetime' and in the first national tour of 'Grease.' In Minnesota, CDT's then-artistic director Gary Gisselman saw Brindisi in a comedy revue at Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop and hired him for his first professional acting job at Chanhassen, a $90-a-week gig as an accordion player in Thornton Wilder's 'The Matchmaker.' In 1981, Brindisi met Michelle Barber when they were both in different plays. They later married and spent three summers in Bemidji running the Paul Bunyan Playhouse, where Brindisi directed close to 30 shows. They also founded the Minnesota Festival Theatre in Albert Lea, which ran for more than 20 years. Gisselman cast Brindisi once again in 1987 as Motel in 'Fiddler on the Roof.' After it wrapped, Britta Bloomberg, the daughter of CDT's founder, Herb Bloomberg, asked if he'd like to take over as artistic director. As Brindisi remembered in 2002: 'I said, 'You bet your ass I would.' ' Veteran actor Tony Vierling first met Brindisi in 1982 when he spoke at Vierling's acting class at Iowa State University. Five years later, Vierling acted in 'Fiddler' alongside Brindisi. The pair hit it off and Brindisi cast Vierling in his first show as artistic director, 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood.' Vierling has since appeared in 51 CDT productions. 'One of the things that has made working at Chanhassen such a unique thing is that you instantly feel like you're in a family,' Vierling said. 'There's a very specific familial feeling he nurtures out there. He genuinely likes people and loves doing the work with the actors.' Brindisi was also an inadvertent matchmaker. In 2007, he traveled to New York to audition actors. He hired Michael Gruber to perform in CDT's 'Easter Parade,' which featured Vierling in the ensemble. The two fell for each other and later married. 'We would have never met without Michael,' Vierling said. 'He changed the direction of both our lives.' Brindisi was a family man both at home and at CDT. Brindisi and Barber's daughter, Cat Brindisi-Darrow, grew up in the theater and made it her profession. Her extensive resume includes work as an actor, director, producer, writer and choreographer. Last year, she returned to Chanhassen to co-direct 'Beautiful: the Carole King Musical' with her father. Theater | Friends say man found dead in Hastings was a 'bright light' Theater | Obituary: Longtime Pioneer Press reporter George Beran 'knew St. Paul inside and out' Theater | Legendary Edina high school hockey coach Willard Ikola dies at 92 Theater | Obituary: 'Mr. Positive' was West End neighborhood's guardian angel Theater | 'Mr. Baseball' Bob Uecker, Brewers announcer, dies at 90 In 2010, Brindisi took on a new challenge when he purchased Chanhassen Dinner Theatres as part of group of employees and regional investors. He was one of three managing partners alongside Tamara Kangas Erickson and Steven L. Peters. Friday night, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres opens a new production of 'Grease,' which broke an attendance record when the company first staged it in 2006 and nearly matched those numbers on the second go-round in 2017. Years ago, as a gag, Brindisi framed a photo of himself back when he was in the national tour of 'Grease' and hung it backstage. He told the cast that way he'll always be keeping an eye on them. 'Little did he know that was going to be the way he watches us now,' Vierling said. 'His presence will still be there, we just won't see him. That's the hard part.'
