In wake of leader’s death, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres elevates Tamara Kangas Erickson to the top spot

It’s the beginning of a new era at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.

Days after a poignant memorial to late president and artistic director Michael Brindisi, who died Feb. 5 and left his stamp on the company that he ran for 37 years, the nation’s largest dinner theater announced that it has elevated one of his closest artistic collaborators to the top spot.

Vice president and resident choreographer Tamara Kangas Erickson, 53, worked with Brindisi on 52 shows over her career, including nearly every mainstage production at the theater since 2004, when she became resident choreographer.

She has been CDT’s vice president since 2010, when she, Brindisi and a group of assembled investors bought —and saved — the now-thriving concern.

Kangas Erickson is now the first female leader of the 56-year-old theater. Her vision will offer both continuity and innovation, said board member and co-owner Jim Jensen.

“Her deep appreciation for the arts, coupled with her unwavering dedication to our staff, artists, employees, and audiences, make her the perfect leader to continue and build upon the remarkable legacy established by Michael Brindisi,” Jensen said.

On Thursday, Kangas Erickson elaborated on that sentiment.

The theater is near and dear to Kangas Erickson’s own heart. She first auditioned for CDT as a 9-year-old, singing “Do Re Mi” from “The Sound of Music” during the brief tenure of artistic director Howard Dallin.

“I was this kid from Shakopee who’d come into the theater, stood on that stage and poured my everything into it,” Kangas Erickson said. “And I remember him saying, ‘Wow, that’s a big voice coming out of a very little body.‘”

She won the part of Marta von Trapp, the calm and curious younger sibling. She would go on to perform in numerous shows at the company before assuming artistic leadership and building friendships with her ensembles, including film star Amy Adams.

And she helped Chanhassen become an integral part of the Twin Cities performing arts ecosystem, a place whose long-term performing contracts allows artists and other members of the creative to maintain stable livelihoods.

While Chanhassen currently has “Grease” on the boards and will remount “White Christmas” at the holidays — Brindisi’s last two productions — CDT also announced that “Guys and Dolls” will be Kangas Erickson’s first production as head of the company.

“We’re very excited to present that show because the theater hasn’t done it since 1986,” Kangas Erickson said. “It’s an American classic that I think we can make feel fresh and modern.”

CDT also announced that it had promoted general manager Solveig Huseth Theis, who has been with the company since 1978, to executive vice president, and Nick Haug, who was formerly in marketing and theater relations, to the new role of director of entertainment and company manager.