Brad lives in South Park, no . . . not the one in Colorado like the cartoon show, but just south of downtown Seattle. Brad says, “I’ve lived in Washington all my life. Moved to Seattle from my farm in eastern WA when I was 16 to pursue my big dreams. :-)”
Brad got his first taste of “panto” in 2018 at CenterStage. He recalls, “My first Panto acting gig was Rapunzel, and it was an amazing experience! I saw Beauty and the Beast the year before, but I didn’t have any idea how much fun being in the show was actually going to be. All of the vaudeville-esque vignettes that move so quickly from one to another, all with the audience of kids (and adults!) yelling and jeering and cheering and singing – it was crazy, and I’ve been hooked ever since.”
Rapunzel was staged in 2018. Each CenterStage panto was a favorite Doman family event. Here was our write-up of that production – nwadventures.us/PantoBeauty.html
There are stock characters and the Dame usually has the best lines. My favorite had the Dame talking to the audience and fixes her eye on a man and saying, “You remind me of fourth husband.” When the man asks, “How many times have you been married?” She responds, “Three.” An old joke, but they are the best . . . and usually only picked up on by adults.
I don’t recall what recipe Brad was following in this scene from the panto “Robin Hood,” but I know it got a rise out of all the adults in the audience and chuckles from everyone.
Brad went from acting in “Rapunzel” to producing “Disenchanted!” again in 2018. Brad says, “Dis! in Seattle was a really fun time. It was my first big production for my theatre company MAMCHES, and I learned so much from the experience. The co-creators Dennis Giacino and Fiely Matias moved to Seattle for a few weeks to direct and choreograph, and it was wonderful to work with them again, having been a producer on the original Off-Broadway Disenchanted! premiere in 2014. I took a big gamble on mounting a show in July/August in Seattle and had to work about 5x harder to get butts in seats because we were competing with the Capitol Hill Block Party, Seafair, the Torchlight Parade, and of course GORGEOUS SUMMER EVENINGS. We had several sell-out shows, and overall I think we sold 71% of the run, including matinées, so it was something we were really proud of. We leaned on a lot of friends in the area, and somehow we pulled it off! Our costume designer, Vanessa Leuck, also designed the original Off-Broadway show costumes, and since then, we’ve become friends and are working on projects together in NY and CT. She also costumed the 2020 Off-Broadway show Emojiland, which she, her husband Ethan Popp (Mrs Doubtfire, Back to the Future, Tina, Rock of Ages), and I were producers on. Unfortunately, Emojiland ended early because of Covid-19. Fingers crossed for a remount or tour soon … ! The whole producer career track has been a wild and crazy ride. Definitely not for the faint of heart.
(Critics Pick from NYT – nytimes.com/2020/01/19/theater/emojiland-review-theres-a-rom-com-in-your-phone-with-music.html
Here is a clip from Disenchanted! on Broadway
Disenchanted! is scheduled to run at Tacoma Musical Playhouse . . . just months away (January 21 – February 13. 2022)
Brad says, “I’m really excited to see the TMP production of Dis! — Brynne Geiszler, an actor and person I really, really love is Snow White; she and I were in Seussical together at Seattle Musical Theatre many years ago and we had some fun times in the ensemble as Whoville residents. At the heart of Dis! is Pocahontas’s song, “Honestly”, which carries the message of the show. I’ve seen a dozen or so different productions of the show around the country, and it’s most successful when characters aren’t caricatures. Mulan, for example, reveals her sapphic side in “Without the Guy”. The tendency is to go “angry” or “gruff”, playing a stereotype of “angry lesbian” for laughs … at the expense of the heart of the show. There’s so much more to the characters than a two-dimensional portrayal. The writer Dennis Giacino wrote story arcs (archetypes) for every single character, and so paying close attention to that will really pay off in the end.”
Here’s Lulu Picart singing “Without the Guy” at Broadway Sessions in NYC:
Peg and I last saw Brad in CenterStage’s “A 1940s Radio Christmas Carol” Brad showed his serious side as he gave a report on our fighting forces around the world battling our enemies overseas during World War II – thesubtimes.com/2021/07/13/1940s-radio-christmas-carol-worth-waiting-for-centerstage-play-review/
A different Centerstage panto is calling for Brad. “This is my third go around as the Dame (Puss In Boots – November 27 – December 19, 2021), and this year I’m working with the costume designer to create special wigs for the show. Right now my studio looks like a bomb went off, but I think the audience is really going to love it.”
