Theatre Autumn brings the Finnish premiere of the musical Tootsie to Lahti

Four directors in the picture in front of a gray window curtain in the lobby of Lahti City Theatre.
Instructors in a group photo. From left Esa-Matti Smolander, Samuli Reunanen, Laura Mattila and Tommi Kainulainen. Mikko Roiha is also part of the autumn team of instructors.

The musical, based on the Oscar-winning film, would have had other takers. The Gulf was first.

– After all, Lahti is a well-known musical city! We managed to get Tootsie here right under the nose of another Finnish theatre,” says the director.

In the story, an actress who is unemployed because of her difficult character pretends to be a woman and gets the lead role in a musical.

According to Kainulainen, the focus is on how gender is presented and constructed. She believes that getting inside another person’s skin allows us to examine our attitudes and creates a new kind of empathy.

The director Laura Mattila is standing in front of the promotional photo of Vihervaara's play Anna in the lobby.
The Anna books were among director Laura Mattila’s childhood favourites.

Roiha hopes that young people in particular will discover national comedy.

– \\Protagonist\\ Esko is a young man who has high opinions about himself and what the world has to offer him. When they are broken, he has to look at himself again and changes.

Cooperation in many directions