Denise Prosek plumbs new depths in 'Frozen' at CTC

If you only associate the megahit musical Frozen with that one earworm, dig a little deeper.

“Frozen is about community,” says Denise Prosek, music director for the original production at Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) that opens April 19. “It’s about sisters, finding your true love — but that true love is usually yourself.

“Break down those walls and be in love with who you are, to be authentic,” she says. “We are searching for that sense of authenticity and community.”

It’s the local musical community that has been the center of Prosek’s career, forged largely at Minneapolis’ Theatre Latté Da, which she co-founded in 1988 with fellow Grand Rapids, Minnesota, native Peter Rothstein (now artistic director at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Florida). As the theater’s music director, she led scores of shows and also found time to lend her talents to other renowned Twin Cities theaters, including CTC, the Guthrie, Park Square, Theater Mu, the Ordway, Illusion and Hennepin Theatre Trust.

She also wrote the music and lyrics for I Am Betty, the 2023 History Theatre production that celebrated the legendary (and mythical) homemaker Betty Crocker.

It all started when Prosek was a preschooler; her mother asked her and her sister if they wanted to get a piano. With $5 contributions out of their allowance, they helped pay for it.

“My mother says I wouldn’t walk past it without playing,” Prosek says. “My punishment [for misbehavior] was I couldn’t play it. I never had a memory of struggling to learn piano.

“I immediately took to the piano — it must have chosen me.”

The theater component came in high school when her older sister became interested in the stage. “I was a terrible actor, I was stuck in the back, but I still loved it, just being in the room,” Prosek says. “Just the community, finding my people.

“Acting wasn’t meant for me,” she says, but when the school staged The Fantastiks, the drama teacher suggested Prosek play piano for the show. “And that was it,” she says.

After earning a music degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, Prosek found herself in Minneapolis and in the same theatrical circles as Rothstein, whom she had known in high school (but tangentially, because of a two-year age difference). When CTC was looking to stage a more adult offering, it hired Rothstein to put together a cabaret.

“Peter asked me to music direct, so I put together a little orchestra,” Prosek recalls. “It was super successful. And then Peter and I decided ‘Wow, that was really fun.’”

The two put together another cabaret, this time for the theater space at Minneapolis landmark Bryant-Lake Bowl, cementing the partnership that then led to the formation of Theatre Latté Da.

“Peter is significant in so many ways; don’t know if I’d be a music director in town if he hadn’t come to Minneapolis,” Prosek says. “I’m not sure I would have known what to do. I was playing at Chanhassen [Dinner Theatres], other jobs, trying to music direct, but not finding much enjoyment.

“Peter and I just connected immediately. We had a way of talking with each other. I was able to find a voice throughout the years of working with Peter; he allowed room for me to find a way in.” Forming Latté Da “gave me a place to be the music director I wanted to be. I could develop into a dramaturgical director, rather than just teaching someone the notes.”

Because the two “were pretty adamant” about working at other theaters while establishing their own company — “becoming isolated doesn’t help anything,” Prosek says — she found plenty of work around town and developed a sterling reputation at theaters large and small, all while maintaining her relationship with Latté Da.

Then came COVID-19, which forced her to slow down. “I was always in rehearsal, on a constant roller coaster I didn’t know I was on,” she says. “I was able to step back. Instead of packing music director jobs back to back, I was giving myself space to write and compose.”

Prosek is delighted that she was able to come into Frozen at CTC “completely fresh, with no overlap from another show.” She was particularly drawn to the project because of director Tiffany Nichole Greene. “I’m grateful to be in the room with her,” Prosek says. “She’s detail-oriented, yet allows people to have their own voice. She wants choices these people make to be real, grounded, difficult, challenging — because if there isn’t any challenge, why are we watching the show?

“That’s exactly how I like to music direct. These choices need to be real, otherwise we can just watch the movie.”

The admiration is mutual. “Working with Denise is a dream,” Greene enthuses. “She’s so specific, clear and kind. Her standards are high for herself and for others, and she makes it her duty to get everyone there.

“The music director is so important to the shaping of character and journey,” Greene continues. “What I love about Denise is that she understands the voice as a vehicle for journey, the communication of stakes, expressions of thought. We work well together in that way.

“She doesn’t push for ‘pretty.’ She pushes for the circumstances and the humanity of the moment.”

An example from Prosek: “In Frozen, the section when Hans tells Anna that he lied, ‘I don’t love you,’ it was feeling a bit dry,” she says. “I tried some experiments with pedal points on the piano and it added such a depth of emotion — how he was saying it was heightened.

“I think music combined with words becomes a really powerful way of storytelling. Music always has the power to guide you where you need to be emotionally, whereas words by themselves might not have that power. Whenever music is added, it gets a core visceral reaction.

“Music is a signal why you’re feeling what you’re feeling,” Prosek says. “That’s what I love, how music can help storytelling — and do it in a way that you don’t really know it.”

Event details

What: Frozen
Where: Children’s Theatre Company, Minneapolis
When: April 19 to June 15
Tickets: $15-$99