Very at ease, wearing a smile in a Seattle Seahawks T-shirt, Chris Serface welcomed a sold out audience to “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” He had a great delivery on three Rudolph specialty Drinks: The Bumble, The Rudolph, and the Fireball. The Rudolph, with a combination of vodka and cranberry, kept calling to me, but I had other ideas. During intermission I chatted with an friendly couple to my right and an actor on my left.
There was no turn table for this production, but the light works and props combined well to produce a nice feeling of a huge TV cartoon and make believe.
Sam Barker as “Sam” welcomed the audience and they responded well. Sam has quite a number of local acting credits and I really enjoyed him in A Gentlman’s Guide to Love and Murder. His rendition of “A Holly Jolly Christmas” jump started the production.
Carrying much of the attention with her bright red nose was Rudolph, played by Jennifer Torrence seen here with Katie Jones who was featured in TLT’s production of “The Happiest Song Plays Last.” Jennifer has a BA in Theatre Arts and a minor in Music from Central Washington University, which has been a great starting ground for many people in the acting arena of the Pacific Northwest. I would have loved to have seen her as the Munchkin Mayor in The Wizard of Oz.
Santa Claus was played by Craig Rock. My wife and I really enjoyed his work in both “The Diary of Anne Frank” (Lakewood Playhouse) and “Tartuffe” (CenterStage). He made his first appearance at TLT with the fantastic production of Murder on the Orient Express.
Alan Plaster played the Boss Elf and Coach Comet. He has performed before at TLT in “Scrooge!”, “Murder on the Orient Express”, and “A Chorus Line”, all at TLT.
Selayna Rudolph was involved with Fireball, Elf, and Misfit Toy. This was her TLT debut. She has acted in Ragtime, Newsies, Sweeny Todd, and The Adams Family. We love to see young actors taking on as many parts in school as possible. She enjoyed working with the other actors in “Rudolph.”
Making her debut at Tacoma Little Theatre is Libby Catalinich. She played Mrs. Donner and Elf. I know Libby from the Rotary Club of Tacoma #8. She is making her debut at TLT, but has acted in “The Wizard of Oz”, “The Sound of Music” and “Tuck Everlasting.”
“I was disappointed about “Mrs. Claus.” (far right)” Madonna B. Hanna has appeared in several roles, but we only see her briefly in “Rudolph.” She has appeared on NBC’s Today Show as a competitive sprinter.
One of the really nice things about this production is the number of young actors who participated and enjoyed being on stage and getting applause from a sold out audience.
All production photographs are courtesy of Dennis K Photography.
Don’t wait . . . get your tickets now: https://tacomalittletheatre.csstix.com/event-details.php?e=463
