Lookingglass Theatre Company has announced the cast and design team for ensemble member Mary Zimmerman’s, “The Steadfast Tin Soldier,” based on the story from Hans Christian Andersen.

The cast features artistic associates Kasey Foster (Ballerina) and Anthony Irons (Goblin), with Joe Dempsey (Nursemaid), John Gregorio (Rat), and Alex Stein (Steadfast Tin Soldier).

Original music composed by Artistic Associate Andre Pluess and Amanda Dehnert. Musicians include Leandro López Várady (Music Director/Piano), Greg Hirte (Violin), Juan Horie (Cello), Emma Hospelhorn (Woodwinds) and Constance Volk (Woodwinds).

The creative team includes Todd Rosenthal (scenic design), Ana Kuzmanic (costume design), TJ Gerckens (lighting design), Artistic Associate Andre Pluess and Christopher M. LaPorte (sound design), Leandro López Várady (associate arranger), Ensemble Member Tracy Walsh (choreography), Artistic Associate Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi (circus choreography), Blair Thomas (puppet design), Tom Lee (puppet design), Amanda Herrmann (properties) and Isaac Schoepp (rigging design).

“I’m very glad that our little Tin Soldier managed to march his way into the hearts of so many, and that he’ll be coming back again in the Holiday season steadfast as ever. We wanted to make something that was visually and emotionally overpowering—as well as very funny—and do that with no spoken language at all,” says Zimmerman. “People of all ages and from around the world are able to watch the show and feel it all the same, no English required. I think the silence of the characters—and the beautiful music that accompanies their adventures—allows older members of the audience to fall into a private, younger part of themselves; and for children, they are watching something in the manner they are used to: gathering up the story through the intensity of their earnest attention, through their intelligence which has no words.”

“The Steadfast Tin Soldier” runs November 1, 2019–January 26, 2020 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago’s Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.