DOWNEY – A holiday classic cartoon will soon light its way onto the Downey Theatre stage for a live performance in just over a week’s time.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical will feature on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 6:30 pm.

The show is a for-stage adaptation of the beloved 1964 stop motion TV special.

According to Bob Penola, who helped develop the show, there was great care put into honoring the source material.

“As you might imagine, given the fact that [the show] was originally a Claymation special with puppet figures, doing this was going to take some imagination and some creative ideas in order to translate what you remember – or those of us who are old enough to remember – that special when it first premiered as something that was unique and very Christmassy, and to bring it to life without losing the things that people love the most about it,” said Penola.

In addition to retaining the music from the original show, the show also includes songs from the catalog of Johnny Marks, who wrote the score for the special.

“We found a couple of really great chestnuts that we added into the show in a very natural way to give a little more production value and excitement at different points in the show,” said Penola. “We feel, and I think anybody who sees the show, will totally love the addition of these songs.”

Talia Gloster, who plays the titular reindeer of the show, said that Rudolph represents an “open, unadulterated, unassuming curiosity and openness of other people.”

“Rudolph just really takes everyone at face value, which is why he meets some really wonderful people,” said Gloster. “Because understands what it is to be sort of shunned, he treats people with the kind of openness that I think he’s hoping he’ll receive back, and then in putting out that good in the world he receives it from the people around him.”

Gloster suggested that Rudolph serves a very unique purpose for many of its young audiences.

“For a lot of kids, and we talk about this as a company, this is a lot of kids’ first experience with live theater in general, so I think that is a really wonderful way, this is the perfect show for them to really be experiencing that for the first time in that it is totally okay that they interact with the characters,” said Gloster.

For adults, it strikes a different chord.

“I think for a lot of adults, it’s such a representation of so many years of holidays and Christmases, and this movie has been around and continues to be around so I think there’s a lot of nostalgia associated for people who see these characters represented so accurately on stage,” said Gloster.

Tickets can be purchased at the Downey Theatre box office, or online at www.downeytheatre.org.

Rudolph musical becoming a Downey tradition