Lorin Latarro is having a moment right now. It’s not her first time in the spotlight—she’s performed in fourteen Broadway shows and been part of the creative team for many plays and musicals—but this beam might be the brightest yet. This spring she is the choreographer for two of the season’s most anticipated Broadway hits: the revival of The Who’s TOMMY and Huey Lewis and the News’ The Heart of Rock and Roll.

Thank you for signing up!

By clicking submit, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime.

As with every moment of significance, other significant moments led up to it: when a famous German choreographer walked into Latarro’s dance class smoking a cigarette… when a performer in Swing! was injured and the show needed a last-minute replacement… when Latarro got a life-changing call while riding in the backseat of a cab.

But we could go back even further to when Latarro trained at a local dance studio in New Jersey and came into New York City on the weekends to see Broadway shows… when she watched the performers on stage and thought, “I want to do that.”

She and I spoke a few days before TOMMY opened in NYC, following the show’s critically acclaimed run in Chicago. We connected in a short break between Latarro bringing her 6-year-old daughter to the Trolls experience at CAMP 5th Avenue and leading a rehearsal. Just another day for a busy mother-director-choreographer. “There was a parent event that I couldn’t go to recently,” Latarro told Observer, “and my daughter told her teacher it was because I was busy choreographing rock and roll.” She laughed in the telling, but her daughter was right. She has made quite a name for herself by doing just that.

How did she get here? “Once a dancer, always a dancer,” she said when I mentioned my own training and injury. “Our brains are different from other people’s. It changes how you think about the world, being a dancer.” Maybe that’s why I see her journey to star choreographer in phrases and holds—in fast but perfectly controlled spins. Let’s break it down.

Pina Bausch, queen of Tanztheater, was Latarro’s teacher during her first year at Juilliard. “She came into the room smoking,” she said with........

© Observer