Lillian Hochman, Emily Gunyou Halaas, Jamie Rodriguez, and Spencer Chandler Photo by Dan Norman

The team struck gold when they hit upon Willa Cather's classic 1918 novel "My Ántonia". The result is a shimmering, lyrically written, and lovingly staged new musical. My Ántonia is now making its world premiere at Latté Da's home, the Ritz Theater. It is the story of the life-long friendship between Jimmy Burden, a ten-year-old orphan sent from Virginia to live with his grandparents on their farm in the frontier of 1880s Nebraska, and Ántonia Shimerda, the daughter of Czech immigrants newly arrived in America to provide their children with a better life than in the old country.

Like Cather's novel, the show has much to say about the nature of a friendship between two people from different backgrounds but with a shared curiosity about life, who help one another face the challenges of growing up in a nascent community. It also depicts the lives of young women in that setting, particularly those who are immigrants from lands afar, struggling to learn English along with the customs and economy of American pioneer society. Finally, it is a love note to America's prairie lands, in all their beauty, bounty, and brutality.

In the musical adaptation, as in the novel, the story is told in flashback by Jimmy–now James–as a grown man and Harvard-educated attorney. Bookwriter Noah Brody brings the novelist herself, Willa Cather, into the plot, posing her as an old friend of James' from their fictional hometown of Black Hawk. They spot one another in an East Coast hotel and, over drinks, Willa, already a noted author, reveals that she is stumped as to what to write next. Then she asks James if he remembers his old friend Ántonia (of course he does) and encourages him to tell her about the spirited girl and the friendship they share, thereby providing Willa with the inspiration for her next book.

Jimmy's grandparents are generous and warm, both to their grandson and to their new neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Shimerda, Ántonia, and her older brother Ambrosch. The Shimerdas struggle mightily in their new life, which is nothing like the promises made to them. They were swindled by the man who sold them a farmstead that turns out to be mainly untilled, stone-hard ground with only a sodden cave for a shelter. Mr. Shimerda despairs and Ambrosch becomes insolent, but Mrs. Shimerda soldiers on. Ántonia's sunny disposition and eagerness to embrace any challenge keep her aloft.

Jimmy and Ántonia immediately take a shine to one another, as it might be put in those days. He helps Ántonia, who is too busy with farm chores to go to school, to learn English. Ántonia helps Jimmy's Grandmother with kitchen chores, from which she learns how to cook with unfamiliar foods and other facets of American household life. The Shimerdas suffer a tragedy, but persevere, determined to stake a home in their new land.

Ántonia's aptitude in the kitchen and good nature land her a job as a hired girl for one of the better off families in town, earning money that helps her family get by. Living in town, she becomes friends with other hired girls, all immigrants from different European nations. All the while, her friendship with Jim–no longer "Jimmy"–deepens. It becomes evident that, though she is a few years older than him, Jimmy is deeply in love with Ántonia; to Ántonia, Jim is like a beloved brother, more in tune with her than her always cross actual brother, Ambrosch. This remains true through the story's tender and deeply satisfying conclusion.

Music and lyrics for My Ántonia are by The Kilbanes, a band led by married pair Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses. Adding music to Cather's story adds sheaths of expression that illuminate both individual characters and the community ties among them. The music is in a gentle folk-pop vein, which aptly complements the play's setting and narrative. Brody's book and the direction by Jessie Austrian (Brody and Austrian are also a married pair) integrate the songs and book scenes well, so that the story flows effortlessly, like the arched waves of prairie grass on the Nebraska plains.

One song after another contributes to the narrative. Act I's "Train Song 1," reveals the charge of anticipation felt by the Shimerdas and by Jimmy, all bound for Nebraska. "Name, What Name" lets us see the growing friendship between Jimmy and young Ántonia as he teaches her English words for all the elements in her new surroundings. In the upbeat "Down the Road," Grandmother and other farm wives depict the nature of community among neighbors who must depend on one another to survive. "Keep You Warm" reveals the very different ways Mr. Shimerda and Ántonia cope with hardships, while "Lay Your Burden Down" is Mrs. Shimerda's message of hope and strength to her children. In the course of "Dig Down," young Ántonia transforms into a young woman, reaching inward for the resolve to turn each bend and discover what life will offer next.

More winning songs endow Act II, including the jaunty "Hired Girls" and the rollicking "Saturday Night Me," displaying how the stoic pioneers let loose, enlivened by Joey Miller's frisky choreography. "Old Country" shows Jim and Ántonia, now a young man and young woman, reflecting on the roots they always carry with them, and "Running Home" provides a breathless backdrop for James, egged on by Willa, to return home in order to bring his story to a proper conclusion, which is delivered in the inspiring and joy-inducing finale, "Sing to Me, Oh Muse!"

The show's creators have divided the characters of Ántonia and Jim by three stages in life. First, young Ántonia (Lillian Bachman) and Jimmy (Maddox Tabalba); then Ántonia (Sara Masterson) and Jim (Will Dusek) as the two enter adulthood; and lastly, Ántonia Cusak (Emily Gunyou Halaas) and James (Tom Reed). All six actors are wonderful, and the continuity of their characters lives across those three stages feels thoroughly authentic. Tabalba and Hochman, portraying Jimmy and Ántonia in their childhood, are impressive. Masterson and Dusek are especially persuasive as a pair, perhaps due to the pivotal nature of emerging adulthood, as well as both actors' particularly splendid singing voices.

Halaas also plays Mrs. Shimerda, conveying the steel backbone it took for a pioneer woman to survive, along with her love for her children and hope for their future, beautifully sung in "Lay Your Burden Down." Spencer Chandler plays Mr. Shimerda, conveying the challenge of a stranger in a foreign land, dismayed at being swindled and appalled at the injustice leveled by the powerful against the helpless. Sally Wingert, as Grandmother, creates a strong sense of character, a woman who is welcoming and crusty, generous and crafty, and has the instincts needed to make a good life on the frontier. Bradley Greenwald is an endearing, reliable presence as Jimmy's Grandfather, though one wishes the actor and his gorgeous baritone were given more to do. Em Adam Rosenberg is perfect as Willa Cather: smart, outspoken, funny, slightly cynical and self-deprecating, and deeply curious about people. When her time comes to sing, Rosenberg's strong, clear voice serves her character well.

The folk-tinged music sounds wonderful throughout the show, played by a five-piece band–two guitars, bass, percussion, and piano–conducted by music director Jason Hansen. Hansen, The Kilbanes, and Andrew Higgins devised orchestrations that work with the score's folk element while providing an energizing lift that makes for a robust element in the realm of musical theatre.

Benjamin Olsen's set is composed of blonde wood benches and tables, frequently rearranged to form kitchens, railroad cars, and other locations, with a surrounding background of boards of different shades and textures, natural and processed lumber, fitted together like the assemblage of rough and polished individuals that created Ántonia's world. Wu Chen Khoo's lighting design and Katherine Horowitz's sound design are in line with the productions' overall high quality. Sarah Bahr's well-conceived costumes convey the styles and the hardships of late 19th century pioneer life, with an apt mannish outfit for Willa Cather in line with her custom.

My Ántonia is a thoroughly delightful, emotionally moving musical. The beautifully wrought performances at Theater Latté Da convey the lives of early white settlers, many of them poor European immigrants, who extended our nation's reach to the great plains. At the same time it expresses truisms of the human heart–family, romance, and friendship–that course through our veins in any historical place or era. The show doesn't have the "zazz" associated with big musical comedies, but it has tons of the heart and humanity those shows often lack.

I highly recommend you see My Ántonia here and expect it to find extended life at other regional theatre companies. At a time when there is much celebration of our nation's 250th birthday, My Ántonia tells an important chapter from those 250 years with both truth and affection.

My Ántonia runs through July 12, 2026, at Theater Latté Da, Ritz Theater, 345 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis MN. For tickets and information, please visit theaterlatteda.com or call 612-339-3303.

Conceived by: Jessie Austrian, Noah Brody, Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses; Music and Lyrics: The Kilbanes; Book: Noah Brody, adapted from the novel by Willa Cather; Orchestrations: The Kilbanes, Andrew Higgins & Jason Hansen; Director: Jessie Austrian; Music Director: Jason Hansen; Choreography: Joey Miller; Scenic Design: Benjamin Olsen; Costume Design: Sarah Bahr; Lighting Design: Wu Chen Khoo; Sound Design: Katherine Horowitz; Hair and Makeup Design: Emma Gustafson; Props Design: Madeline Foster; Intimacy & Fight Director: Annie Enneking; Dialect Coach: Gillian C. Rosewell; Assistant Lighting Designer: Ellie Simonett; Scenic Design Assistant: Clare Pearson; Technical Director: Bethany Reinfeld; Production Stage Manager: Shelby Reddig; Director of Production: Kyia Britts.

Cast: Spencer Chandler(Mr. Shimerda/ensemble), Will Dusek (Jim/ensemble), Bradley Greenwald (Grandfather/ensemble), Emily Gunyou Halaas (Mrs. Shimerda/Ántonia Cusak/ensemble), (Anna Hashizume (Lena/ensemble), Lillian Hochman (Young Ántonia/ensemble), Sara Masterson (Ántonia/ ensemble), Tom Reed (James/ensemble), James Rodriguez (Ambrosch/Wick Cutter/ensemble), Em Adam Rosenberg (Willa/ensemble), Maddox Tabalba (Jimmy/ensemble), Sally Wingert (Grandmother/ensemble).