Posts Tagged Pirates of Penzance

Beware: Bradley the Green!

As you probably know by now, there are pirates running amok at Park Square, but who is leading this band of motley marauders? Who, oh who, is their fearful leader?

When I sally forth to seek my prey
I help myself in a royal way.
I sink a few more ships, it’s true,
Than a well-bred monarch ought to do…

For I am a Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!

And playing our incorrigible PK is Bradley Greenwald, or if you were to meet him on the high seas, Bradley the Green!

A well-known face around town, Greenwald has been performing in the Twin Cities for the past 25 years, starting when he landed a touring gig with the Minnesota Opera while in college. While in the midst of majoring in German, he fell into voice lessons and quite literally find his voice. He took time off of school for that tour and never went back.

Fast forward to today and he’s one of the most hard working actors and singers in the community with a mountain of credits at theatres such as Theatre da la Jeune Lune, the Guthrie, 10,000 Things Theatre, Children’s Theatre Company, Jungle Theater, and A Prairie Home Companion. Greenwald doesn’t discriminate either when it comes to choosing projects. In a 2015 interview with the Pioneer Press he said,

If it’s honest and honestly written, I love it… Whether it’s a 1918 novelty song, ‘Impossible Dream’ or Act II from the finale of ‘Figaro.’

Photo by Ann Marsden

No wonder he’s so popular to work with! No wonder, too, that he’s even got his own fan club on Facebook. (Upon further investigation it’s called “The Association of Bradley Greenwald Lovers”. It’s an open group as well. Nice.)

What does Bradley the Green have to say about all this attention? Again in the aforementioned interview, ““a little oodgy”. It’s that sly sense of humor, combined with his voice, that he is able to wield so effectively and highlighting that effectiveness is his treasure chest of accolades that includes a McKnight Fellowship for Theater Artists and a 2006 Ivey Award for the one-man drama, I Am My Own Wife at the Jungle Theater.

The Major General (Christina Baldwin) with the Pirate King (Bradley Greenwald). (Photo by Petronella J. Ytsma)

With all of that, Park Square is happy to share him with audiences in one of the most famous operettas of all time, The Pirates of Penzance, where  those comic skills and sublime voice will be on full display as the lovable and goofy, Pirate King.

 

 

Oh, better far to live and die
Under the brave black flag I fly,
Than play a sanctimonious part,
With a pirate head and a pirate heart…

But I’ll be true to the song I sing,
And live and die a Pirate King!

Tickets and information here. 

 

Max Wojtanowicz, Pirate Apprentice

In Park Square Theatre’s production of The Pirates of Penzance, Max Wojtanowicz plays the rather naïve but lovable pirate apprentice, Frederic. His character’s accidental path to piratehood is a hoot, and so is his path to finding true love. Here’s Max to tell us a bit about playing Frederic and also a few things about himself:

1. What’s your favorite thing about playing Frederic?

I love looking at the world through the eyes of a child, and Frederic has a childlike innocence about him. He’s been on a pirate ship his whole life, and adulthood, women, and dry land are entirely new to him! And even though he’s a little clumsy with his words and his feet (I empathize there!), he still wants so badly to do right. I’m also so glad to be working on this role with our director, Doug Scholz-Carlson, who knows the play and the character so well.

2. This is a really rigorous production for cast members. What is the most difficult thing to do as Frederic and why?

Our production is really demanding, both physically and vocally, but the most difficult part by far is not breaking character by laughing at the comedic genius of Christina Baldwin and Bradley Greenwald. Sharing the stage with both of them, and the rest of this gorgeous cast: Can we talk about a dream come true?

Max being fitted with a mic for an interview
(Photo by Connie Shaver)

3. Frederic could have become a pilot but, due to unexpected circumstances, ended up a pirate. If Max had not gotten hooked on theatre at an early age, he may have become a (fill in the blank) instead.

I think I might have become a writer. I wrote a lot of stories as a kid, and I still do! Maybe I would have ended up in journalism? That might be the best case scenario. Realistically, I probably would have ended up a bit like Frederic: out to sea, singing high Bs, not much direction in life.

4. You have a number of upcoming gigs after The Pirates of Penzance. What are they?

Cab Cabaret at Troubadour on April 16; The Good Person of Szechwan with Ten Thousand Things from May 10 to June 3; Ball ArtSHARE at the Southern Theater from June 20 to 24; and I have an ongoing Musical Mondays at LUSH with The Catalysts.

5. You’ve been a Minnesota Fringe Festival favorite for the past years. Do you plan to put on a show to keep up the tradition this year?

Not this year! We had a good run for five years in a row; and I can’t wait to be back in the Fringe with a really good idea, but that idea hasn’t quite come to me yet. Plus I’m buying a house and getting married this summer, so it’ll be a wee bit busy already!

6. What is fulfilling for you about being in The Pirates of Penzance in 2018?

Gilbert and Sullivan were writing at a time when opera was very popular, and they were really smart guys, so smart that they knew exactly how to make fun of both opera and society. They were keen on world events and satire, and I think the temptation right now is to make sure all of our art reflects the world we live in, like they did. To be frank, that would make for some pretty glum stuff. We need hard-hitting, incisive and relevant stories onstage right now, but there is also room and use in the world for fluff, silliness and frivolity. Hopefully, our show has a little of all of that. Maybe a little more silliness than anything else.

7. Do you have a favorite “piratey” thing?

I like to involve my nephews in whatever play I’m doing. They’re five-year-old twins, and they have huge imaginations, so lately my favorite piratey thing to do is pretend to be pirates and draw costume sketches and making “arrrr” noises with them!

Tickets and information here!

 

 

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