It's a Rudy-full Thing
“Rudy” returns to Fanny Hill for Christmas
Emily Albrent, photos by Andrea Paulseth |
What would you do if you found out you were related to legendary Christmas-hater Ebenezer Scrooge? That’s the situation for the lovable Rudy in Don Hodgins’ latest yuletide comedy, A Carol of a Christmas, at Fanny Hill Dinner Theatre.
Face with this genealogical bah-humbug, Rudy – played as always by Hodgins, the playwright and director – predictably loses his holiday spirit. His wife tries to point out to him that Scrooge is a fictional character, but Rudy refuses to see the error in his ways. In order to set him straight and get him back into the Christmas mood, Rudy is visited by ghosts of sitcoms past.
Hodgins said over the years there have been around 520 different performers involved in his series of Christmas-themed plays focused on Rudy. Hodgins said when anything in the arts creates a long-standing tradition these shows have, it is impressive. “It’s a fun piece, the actors are having a great time doing it, and we are sure the audience is going to fall in love with it,” Hodgins said.
Hodgins said he has written many plays around Rudy and the holiday spirit and the writing process can sometimes be hard. Especially for Carol of a Christmas, technical problems are one of the biggest concerns, he said. “I think the integration of everything is hard because of the fact that there is multimedia, and you have eight characters up there,” Hodgins said. “You never know what technology is going to do to you.”
The play is meant to be funny and lighthearted but also to get the audience into the holiday spirit, and Hodgins said with comedy, timing is everything. “A one-second variance can make a difference between a mild chuckle and a big laugh from the audience,” Hodgins said.
All ages are welcome to attend the show, but Hodgins said the show is more catered toward an older audience. “Dinner theater is a grown-up sport,” Hodgins said. “It’s not written for kids, but they will think it’s fun.”
A Carol of a Christmas • Nov. 13-Jan. 12 • Fanny Hill Dinner Theatre • 3919 Crescent Ave. • (715) 836-8184 • Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays (show 8pm, dinner seating 5:45-7pm); Sundays (show 1:30pm, brunch seating 11:30am-12:30pm), and some weekday matinees • show-only tickets $25.99; dinner tickets $43.99-$46.99 • For full details, see Full Slate or fannyhill.com/now-playing/
