Local Theater Icon: Bradley Greenwald

Article by Becky Fillinger, photos provided

From a Theater Latté Da production of OLIVER!  Photo credit Heidi Bohnenkamp

One of the Twin Cities favorite performers is Bradley Greenwald. We wanted to know more about his start in the performing arts – and what’s on the horizon this year. If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching Greenwald on stage (unlikely, but even if you have), do yourself a favor and get tickets for the upcoming reimagining of Puccini’s comic opera Gianni Schicchi at Theater Latté Da. Greenwald wrote the libretto, and directs and stars in the production. He never disappoints whether on stage or teaching acting and singing to high school students.   

Bradley Greenwald, Photo credit Devon CoxQ:  Anyone who has seen you on stage has a favorite Bradley Greenwald performance. For me, it was your portrayal of the Emcee in Frank Theater’s 2011 Cabaret on the Centennial Showboat. You were exuberant, playful, mysterious, a bit sinister, bawdy and in our faces! Alan Cumming would have been impressed. Can you describe your routine or preparation process before a performance?

A:  I like rehearsing much better than performing because there's so much freedom in the discovery process. Most people are probably not aware that what they see on stage - the choices performers have locked in for their characters that may seem so natural and obvious to the audience - only comes after a tedious process of finding the right choice for the right moment. And that involves rehearsing a lot of wrong choices. Rehearsing is exploration. And I could keep exploring a piece forever.

Q:  Let’s now ask you – what’s your most memorable Bradley Greenwald performance and why?

A:  I am never able to answer that question easily because there are so many, and they're never because of my performance - they're memorable because of a deep connection between the audience and those of us on stage. I do have a short list of moments that will live forever with me: the end of Leonard Cohen's "Halleluia" in Rumblings, and the very first run of Carmina Burana, both with Minnesota Dance Theatre; Theâtre de la Jeune Lune's The Magic Flute - ​the most joyful union of theater and audience I've ever experienced; singing Peter Mayer's "My Soul" with pianist Sonja Thompson and the sigh from the audience as snow started to fall on stage behind us at the end of every performance of The Longest Night at Open Eye Theater.

Bradley, accompanied by Sonja Thompson, in The Longest Night. Photo credit Star Tribune

Q:  How did you first discover your passion for performing?

A:  Completely by accident. My major at the University of Minnesota was German, and I planned on being a high school German teacher. But I got interested in classical music and started taking voice lessons. During that time, I spent a summer as a fellow with a Bach Festival in New York. There was a closing concert, and I had been asked to perform the aria "Ich habe genug" with a small chamber ensemble, a piece of music I was much too young and inexperienced to take on. It was too mature for me technically, and emotionally, and I actually pulled out of it after a couple rehearsals. But the vocal coach talked me back into it. He sat me down, listened to my reasons for not wanting to do it and he agreed that it really was too much for a young singer to tackle, but I had told my colleagues I would do it and should honor that commitment. And really, who's ever ready for anything? So, I did, and I don't remember performing it at the concert at all - it was suddenly over, and I was there on stage with these fantastic instrumentalists who had played their hearts into an aria sung by a man on his death bed, and the audience was hushed by this profoundly beautiful music and didn't clap for a good ten seconds after it was over. And I thought: this is what I want to do. I went back to Minneapolis unsure about what I wanted in life - and a few days later Minnesota Opera called and asked me to do their national tour of Madama Butterfly. I quit school, did that, and 35 years later I'm still at it.

Q:  Where and in what roles will we see you perform in 2024? Are there upcoming projects or performances that you're excited about?

JOHNNY SKEEKY; or, The Remedy for Everything runs May 29 - July 7 at Theater Latté Da.A:  The next production I'm in will be Johnny Skeeky; or The Remedy for Everything at Theater Latté Da, running end of May into July. Steven Epp, formerly of Jeune Lune, and I were commissioned to write a piece around the one act Puccini comic opera Gianni Schicchi, in the style of collaboration we had during all the opera projects at Jeune Lune. It's part play, part opera. Steve and I wrote the script and libretto, and we're directing it, and we're in it. And we're very excited about it. And grateful to Latté Da - we were commissioned one week before The Lockdown in 2020, and working on it that summer in Steve's backyard at opposite ends of his long picnic table was what kept us sane. Relatively.

Q:  How do you continue to grow and evolve in your skills and artistry? 

A:  Because I chose a life in the performing arts and have no practical skills, I had to stay employed - and I learned early on that I needed to be as versatile as possible to keep working. I've done everything from an Elvis impersonation to fake tap-dancing. Artists have been underpaid since, well, forever, and at 57, I'm still never guaranteed work, or entitled to keep drawing a paycheck from anywhere. And I'll never be able to afford retirement. I just keep looking for work one month at a time. So, I've learned to do many things over the years out of necessity. And I'm constantly adding to my tool kit. I've recently added writing and directing to my grab bag. Because of that, I have a deep respect for every genre, discipline and performance style under the sun. Because I've probably had to learn how to do it myself. If I have grown at all as an artist, it's because I am a jack-of-all-trades, definitely master-of-none.

Q:  You’re also a faculty member at McPhail Center for Music where you are the Prelude Coordinator. Could you tell us about the program?

A:  Anna Hashizume and I were brought on in the fall of 2021 to head Prelude - the singing and acting class for high school students. After our first couple years, we realized connection was a struggle for these kids in the age of devices and especially after COVID - that in some cases, they weren't even aware what connection was, much less how to make it happen. So, we have focused the program on how a young performer connects with other performers and with the audience. Once we made the rule that when singing a duet, the student had to look the other student in the eye, or into the eyes of anyone in the room listening as an audience, the transformation was unbelievable: their voices suddenly opened up and bloomed, they were committed to the material and to each other, and they were singing and acting with incredible abandon and creativity. And it ultimately makes them receptive to the singing and acting skills that Anna and I, and our inspired theater colleague Jon Ferguson, are wanting to teach them. It's just been beautiful to witness.

Q:  We’re so lucky to have you in the local creative community! How may we follow your news?

A:  I don't have a web page, but I am on Facebook and I publicly post everything I'm up to there, if anybody wants to come to a show. (Interviewer comment – of course we want to come!)