Will Swenson talks Jerry Springer and Mormon movies

Broadway veteran Will Swenson knows how to rev up an audience. And that’s his job as the Warm-Up Man in “Jerry Springer: The Opera.”

Yes, Springer — the Kew Gardens native turned talk-show impresario of hoochie mamas, baby daddies and spurned transsexuals — is the subject of a profane, laugh-packed opera. A cult hit in London some 15 years ago, this limited-run production by The New Group opened Off-Broadway in February at the Pershing Square Signature Center and was recently extended to run an extra month, through April 1.

The show, by composer Richard Thomas and comedian Stewart Lee, features Springer (Matt McGrath replaces Terrence Mann in the extended run) and his chief rabble-rouser (Swenson, who has a devilish second act) during the taping of an episode.

Swenson, 44, known for star turns in musicals (“Hair,” “Les Misérables”), is married to Broadway legend Audra McDonald. The couple lives in Westchester, raising four children (two from his former marriage, one from hers, and their own 1-year-old daughter).

The lyrics in this show — “My mom used to be my dad . . . snip, snip” or “I was jilted by a lesbian dwarf” — are pretty darn funny. How’d the cast get through rehearsals?

It was hilarious. [He chuckles.] We’d be working and . . . the stage manager would say, “OK, let’s take it from [expletive].” The show is filled with vulgarity.

Not a show for everyone, clearly.

I don’t think [composer and co-lyricist] Richard Thomas would’ve gone as hard-core with the language if he was interested in pleasing a huge demographic. I think he just wrote something he thought would provoke.

Springer is a perplexing guy. He started out working with Bobby Kennedy and was mayor of Cincinnati — then he veered in this other direction. Do you get him?

No. [He pauses.] I don’t know. I guess when something hits, you just ride that wave. He’s certainly charismatic, relatable. It just happened that on his show they figured out if you’re more sensational, crazy, loud, bombastic, people will tune in. And they did — and birthed the reality television world, I guess.

Why do we feel so compelled to watch people make jackasses of themselves?

I don’t know. It’s . . . this slow-motion train wreck you can’t help but stare at. I think, to a large degree, that’s why our show works. It’s a reflection of the worst of us. And of how our country got to where it is and what we value.

What are people’s reactions at the stage door?

A small contingent are obsessed with the show — about 80 percent love it and have an amazing time — and 20 percent just think it’s the most terrible thing they’ve ever seen in their lives. [He laughs.]

You’d think the subject matter alone would weed those people out.

You’d think. You’d think. People maybe don’t realize how button-pushy it is.

Hey — I learned something new when researching your background. You grew up in Utah, raised Mormon.

Right. I’m not practicing now, but I grew up Mormon.

And you appeared in several films that are part of “Mormon cinema.” I never knew that was a thing.

It’s crazy, I know. Around 2000, my cousin, who’d gone to film school, said, “I want to make a movie about Mormons, for Mormons, like a John Hughes comedy with Mormon insider jokes.” I was like, “Sure, I’ll be in it.” We made the movie (“The Singles Ward”) and it was a massive success. Like we’ve learned with “Black Panther” — representation matters. People want to see themselves on-screen. And there are a ton of Mormons out there.

Then you directed and starred in your own film, “Sons of Provo,” a mockumentary about a Mormon boy band.

I had a great time and I’m super-proud of it. But I learned that I probably don’t want to direct something that I’m in again.

No? Lots of directors do it.

They’re more talented than I am. [He laughs.] It was too many hats on at the same time. I couldn’t concentrate fully on either one to the degree I would’ve liked.

What about just directing? You could direct and your wife, Audra, could star.

I think she’d probably prefer working with a much better director than me. And her schedule — she’s busier than anyone I know. But anything’s possible.

What’s up for you after this show? Back to being the suburban dad?

Yeah, exactly . . . I’ve got it seems like a million kids. [He chuckles.] Some days I just feel like a cabdriver. Piano lessons, soccer games, that kind of stuff. We’re always busy.

That’s a good kind of busy.

Definitely. It puts me in my place — reminds me not to take anything too seriously in this acting thing.