Music adds new dimension to stage version of ‘Rudolph’

“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” translates the beloved TV special to the stage.

Bob Penola said that translation was a long time in the making; he’d been working on it for at least 15 years before the original live production debuted in 2012.

“Everyone has agreed along the way that it’s almost made to be transformed into a live musical because, in fact, it is a musical,” he said this week in a phone interview from New York.

“It was really figuring out how to translate it that took a long time to figure out.”

When the creative team came up with the idea of combining actors with puppets, “We were able to keep all the magic of the special,” said Penola, who adapted the script.

The live show, which comes to the INB Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, “doesn’t tamper with the story,” he said, but it does add to it.

Especially with music. The stage version uses more songs by Johnny Marks, who wrote the song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

“We found places where we could enhance the story with songs that are actually in the original special but you never hear them as a full song, you only hear a bit of the melody in the background,” he said.

“We decided that’s organic to the special because it’s already there, and now that we have the latitude and the time, we blew them out into full songs.”

And some songs get reprises, including Penola’s favorite, “There’s Always Tomorrow.” Rudolph gets to sing his own version in the second half.

“With the songs that we’ve added, we have definitely given a few characters a few more moments to shine,” he said.

Actors in costumes play the reindeer, Sam the Snowman and other characters, while puppets and puppeteers create Misfit Toys, woodland creatures and others. The puppeteers dress in white and are visible on stage, but not distracting, Penola said.

“The audience, especially the children, just believe that it’s the toy. They don’t even see the puppeteer,” he said.

Some of the costumes and puppets give a nod to the 1964 TV special’s stop-motion animation. The Sam the Snowman costume “moves and glides just like Sam does in the special,” Penola said. And the pieces of the Bumble puppet also mimic the original.

“It retains the charm, but you don’t lose the excitement of the live experience,” he said.

And though the TV special – produced by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. – is more than 50 years old, Penola said it’s as timely as ever.

“This show is so relevant right now in terms of bullying,” he said. It’s fun, and filled with holiday cheer, but still has a real point to make: “People that you would consider different often have the greatest gifts.”

Kimberly Lusk

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Where: INB Performing Arts Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

Tickets: $29-$49, available through TicketsWest outlets and at www.ticketswest.com