BWW Interviews: Ordway's A CHRISTMAS STORY's Dieter Bierbrauer

Accomplished Twin Cities actor Dieter Biebrauer is playing an iconic character in a show based on an iconic, now classic Christmas movie. But don't expect him to be just like the one you remember from the film. "I'm a very different actor than the movie," Bierbrauer said. "Younger, and a different type."

The Old Man in the Ordway Center for Performing Arts-produced A CHRISTMAS STORY, THE MUSICAL, Bierbrauer said it's difficult to find a different take but he tried not to go back and watch the film as he prepared to play Frank Parker, dad of Ralphie. "We are just doing this show," he said. Bierbrauer said Director James Rocco decided that they were not trying to remake the movie. "The point is to tell the story the best you can." However, the musical does hit a lot of the big moments of the movie that is so beloved.

A CHRISTMAS STORY, THE MUSICAL is the hilarious account of Ralphie Parker's desperate quest to ensure that the most perfect of gifts, an Official Red Ryder® Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle, ends up under his tree this Christmas.

Bierbrauer said the musical version is not done a lot yet, and that this is one of the first independent regional productions that is also a great treat for Minneapolis-Saint Paul area audiences to see. There are four out-of-town actors in the production but the rest of the cast is locally grown talent. "The local theatre community should be proud," he said.

Bierbrauer's favorite moment is a huge cast number featuring cabaret singer Erin Schwab (Miss Shields) and the children singing and tap dancing in flapper-wear and zoot suits. "It's this big production number that they do so well," he said; children are like sponges who soak up new things. "It blows my mind how quickly kids learn things." Of course, many of the kids in the cast were trained dancers already, with extensive theatre and performance credits.

The Old Man also sings and dances, which is bigger than the movie's character. Bierbrauer, known for his vocal talents, gets a chance to share them in songs highlighting the elder Parker's wish to win a big prize and ultimately the prize itself, when he belts out his adoration of "A Major Award" while dancing with giant leg lamps that are, to him, like an Oscar.

The other memorable characteristic of The Old Man is his use of language -- the not-so kid-friendly kind. For that, this family show is highly scripted out with Bierbrauer memorizing a litany of comedic gibberish that covers for the harsher versions of the words but give the effect, nonetheless. "Tootin frootin" and even "Fahrvergnügen" come out of his mouth, but Bierbrauer said, "In my mind, these words mean very different things!" Asked if he is getting practice for when his own two children are old enough to get into trouble, he said that at ages 3 years and only 10 months, he mostly understands the tired desperation that goes with early parenthood.

Bierbrauer is really a fan of the show's music, which is all original with words and music written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. He has high praise for the locally based pit orchestra's "unbelieveably great musicians" who play everything from swing/Big Band to contemporary musical theatre numbers. He also gives high marks to his costars, Billie Wildrick, who plays Mother (and was in the original cast in Seattle) and Jay Goodman (Ralphie), a 12-year-old "tremendous singer."

Bierbrauer joins 38 other actors and two rescue dogs, who are accomplished performers in their own right, in this production that runs through Dec. 28. Read the BroadwayWorld.com Minneapolis/Saint Paul review by Jill Schafer here.

Tickets are available now and can be purchased online at www.ordway.org, by phone at 651-224-4222 or in person at the Ordway ticket office.

PHOTO: Dieter Bierbrauer in A CHRISTMAS STORY, THE MUSICAL. Photo by Christian Brown, courtesy of the Ordway.

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