On Black Friday, the touring company of the iconic Christmas TV classic Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer will land at the Boch Center Shubert Theatre for a seven-show weekend run. The musical faithfully adapts the holiday classic and runs from November 24th until November 26. Theater Mirror caught up with Talia Gloster, the performer who plays Rudolph, during rehearsals for the show before the tour.
TM: How have rehearsals been so far?
Talia: It’s been an incredibly smooth process. We have a bunch of performers who have done the tour in the past and are returning this year, and the new people are picking things up so quickly, which means we’re going to have a lot of time to fine-tune things and make sure everything is as sharp as it can be before we head out on the road.
TM: How long have you been involved with musical theater?
Talia: Since I was a young girl. I started by performing plays in the living room with my little sister. Like many young girls, my first foray into musical theater was playing ‘Annie’ when I was 5, and I never really stopped. I wound up at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Theater, Film & Television.
TM: So, you landed the role of Rudolph last year. What were you doing before that?
Talia: I was pretty fresh out of school, so this is the first real professional gig I booked, which is exciting. I think the connections I made at UCLA helped get me the role, which was gratifying after coming out of school.
TM: Rudolph is a really iconic show, especially for baby boomers who feel nostalgic for the original Rankin/Bass TV production. It’s been almost 60 years since it first aired, so were you familiar with the show from when you were a kid?
Talia: It’s iconic for me as well. In watching the movie to prepare for this role, I don’t remember when I first became aware of the existence of this movie. It just feels like something I’ve always known. The (characters), the voices, and the movie’s visuals. It feels very much like it’s always existed in my mind.
TM: What appeals to you most about this show?
Talia: This character is a universal symbol for accepting and loving our differences, and that reaches over any boundaries like religion or culture. It’s a really universal message.
TM: Do you think the central theme of celebrating those seen as “the other” resonates even more today?
Talia: Oh, it absolutely does. I think there’s something so powerful about this in the context of a children’s show – even though I do think this show is as much for adults as it is for kids – of really having to distill such huge topics as prejudice and loving our differences, and having to put them into the simplest terms for a kid to understand I think it synthesizes a very powerful message around valuing our differences, that is very important to this day.
TM: Are there elements that reflect that inclusiveness in the show?
Talia: Yes, we do have quite a diverse population of cast and crew members, and it’s a gift that casting emphasizes, making sure there are lots of different kinds of representation as far as cultural backgrounds and race in the room.
TM: In terms of the production, is it faithful to the original show – the same songs, characters, etc.?
Talia: Yes. Everything is super true to the movie. The actors are doing the voices that you hear in the movie. We work with the voiceover coach to make sure we’re really doing all the voices justice because we know that people expect nostalgia and the familiar voices and stories that they love so much from the movie, so we definitely try to make sure we can recreate them.
For tickets and information go to: https://www.rudolphthemusical.com/
