Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again Maple Grove Amc
He'due south captured hearts in a Vermont ski social club, on hills live with the sound of music, in a gritty immigrant neighborhood in New York Metropolis and now on a rustic Greek island.
Dieter Bierbrauer has been the leading man in many a Twin Cities musical over the by two decades. Among them: Bob Wallace in "White Christmas" (Ordway, 2016), Capt. Von Trapp in "The Sound of Music" (Ordway, 2015,) Tony in "Due west Side Story" (Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, 2005) and — opening this weekend at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts — Sam Carmichael, the winner who takes it all, in "Mamma Mia!"
A tall, handsome singer/actor who calls himself a "baritenor," Bierbrauer has as well played some not-so-romantic leading men: the grumpy "Erstwhile Man" in "A Christmas Story" (Ordway, 2014), evil John Wilkes Berth in "Assassins" (Theater Latte Da, this past winter), wicked Bill Sikes in "Oliver!" (Latte Da, 2015) and the heroic Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables" (Bloomington Civic Theater, 2013). His first Twin Cities leading man gig was in "Jekyll and Hyde" at Bloomington Civic in 2002.
Bierbrauer admits he's non the total leading man bundle. "I can sing and deed, simply I probably don't dance very well," he says. In fact, he had to learn to tap dance for the Wallace (Bing Crosby) function in "White Christmas."
He credits local theater leaders like the Ordway'south erstwhile producing artistic director James Rocco for supporting his career. Rocco helped him get the tap lessons before he had the part. ("They weren't even sure they were going to use me," Bierbrauer says.) Bierbrauer was also a regular in Rocco'south "Broadway Songbook" musical theater series at the Ordway.
"The Ordway is the place I lived for a while," Bierbrauer said last week during rehearsals. He's been in seven mainstage productions there and multiple Broadway Songbooks.
Iconic leading man roles are challenging, he acknowledges. Whatsoever Capt. Von Trapp is going to be weighed against Christopher Plummer in the flick version of "Sound of Music." And Bing Crosby? Well, a would-exist Bob Wallace crooner has a lot to live up to.
"You have to be careful when you monkey with iconic productions," he says.
But those love shows are restructured for the phase, which makes it easier for an role player to brand it his ain, Bierbrauer says.
And in the instance of "Mamma Mia," the leading man was played by actor Pierce Brosnan in the motion-picture show version. Information technology's not much of a stretch to out-sing that particular picture star, Bierbrauer laughs.
Bierbrauer had the role of P.T. Barnum in the brand-new musical "Five Points" this past winter at Theater Latte Da. It was all his own. He'd similar to do more like that. "The dream is to make something new," he says.
A well-known office and a long run means an actor has to rely on a few tricks to go along the show both familiar and fresh. "You lot want to keep the tension the aforementioned," he says. "When you live in a show that long, the people in the show with you lot can run into if you're just not at that place." Swain actors provide a spark.
And the audition will "stoke the flames," Bierbrauer says. "I don't retrieve the audition knows what they bring to a show."
Like a good plotline for a leading man story, Bierbrauer got his start in the Twin Cities as a singing waiter at Backstage at Bravo, which used to exist on Hennepin Artery in downtown Minneapolis. Co-workers told him, "You should exercise some shows," he says.
"So here I am, nigh xx years later."
Bierbrauer says he knew he wanted a life in music when he was growing up in a small town in southwestern Wisconsin. (Stuck in the back seat of the car with his brother on a 5-60 minutes route trip at age 5 seems to have been major inspiration.) His mom was a music instructor and he focused on vocal performance at nearby Luther College in northeast Iowa, graduating in 1996.
And about that name? Bierbrauer (whose brother is named Paul) said his parents were told their German-sounding last name needed a proper first name. A family friend dropped off a volume of German start names, and Dieter, it was.
The leading man captured the eye of his real-life wife, Anna, on phase, as well. She was working as an thespian and designer at the late Theatre de la Leune Lune. They met during Jeune Lune's productions of "Figaro" and "Don Juan Giovanni," which ran in repertory in 2007.
In between gigs, he's done "whatever it takes" along the fashion — from office temp jobs to house painting. He'due south choosier in his roles since his children were born, he says. A role at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, provides an "amazing" corporeality of stability, with shows running for eight months.
Only that's many nights away from the family unit, Bierbrauer says. "I don't want to miss all those bedtimes." His son, Seeley, is half-dozen, and his daughter, Sonnen, is 4. Anna left the theater and has a primary's degree in landscape architecture.
Bierbrauer says he had but proposed to Anna when he left for a stint Off Broadway in a show called "Power Balladz." "Power Balladz," which featured one-act packaged with the music of the 1980s, ran at the Lab Theatre in Minneapolis then Off Broadway for a while in 2010. Bierbauer was with the show in Pittsburgh, likewise.
But he decided to render to the Twin Cities — only in fourth dimension for Anna to leave for grad school.
Son Seeley seems to have a bit of his parents' flair for the theatrical. Bierbrauer missed performing on opening night of "Ragtime" at Park Square Theater in 2012 when Seeley fabricated his grand archway that nighttime.
"Mamma Mia!" could be the last fourth dimension Twin Cities audiences see this well-known leading man. Bierbrauer's wife, Anna, is starting work on her doctorate in planning in Denver and the family leaves right after "Mamma Mia!" closes.
Bierbrauer hopes to proceed interim, simply he simply knows a little about the theater scene in Denver. Actors seem to come in from New York and California, he says.
"Everybody has to run into where they fit."
Surely the Mile High Metropolis can fit a new leading man on its stages.
IF YOU Go
- What: "Mamma Mia!"
- When: Tuesday through Aug. v
- Where: Ordway Heart for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul
- Tickets: $132-$34; 651-224-4222 or ordway.org
Source: https://www.twincities.com/2018/07/15/my-my-twin-cities-stages-cant-resist-him-dieter-bierbrauer-is-leading-man-again-in-mamma-mia/
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