Theater Review: Gaslight Theatre warms you for the holidays

An old fashioned Christmas story has come to The Gaslight Theatre in Tucson. It’s 1961 in Smalltown, USA, and playwright Peter Van Slyke, along with musical director Linda Ackermann, have created “A Smalltown Christmas,” a holiday show, enhancing the joy of the season.

Yes, just like in the old fashioned feel-good Hollywood movies, you will meet the good guys trying so hard to preserve the simple joys of the holiday season, like Pop Porter and his sweet daughter, Rolinda who are being beset by the meanest man in town, Mayor Dishwater, his son, Reginald and Tiffany Harker, despicable daughter of the local Cadillac dealer.

Tough times have hit Pop’s Record Shop and unless he comes up with the rent money to keep the place going, the mean mayor, who also owns most of the town already, will own Pop’s business too.

The economy may be hitting dire straights in the real world, but the Gaslight cast keep their chins up by dancing and singing their way through any adversity.

Some of the familiar Gaslight faces are on stage delighting the audiences as usual.

Deborah Klingenfus, as Tiffany, is as beautiful and mean as a villainess can be. Such a pro to watch. Many audience members tell us they go just to see her perform.

Longtime Gaslight favorite and cut-up king, Joe Cooper, plays the crotchety Mayor Dishwater, as only someone with the talent and a ba-zillion years of experience can - perfectly! If this role wasn’t written for Joe, well, then he has made it his own.

Todd Thompson, our hot rod hero, Sarah Vanek as Rolinda his love interest, and David Orley as Pop, are all solid performers and they play off each other with ease.

Some new faces in the matinee we attended stepped in at the last minute, and indeed, were Christmas presents for the Tucson audiences.

David Wilkins as Reginald, as the mayor’s spoiled son, brought the house down with his blues rendition of why he didn’t enjoy Christmas, complete with a harmonica solo. Jessica Gillies stepped in as Bitsy Porter, Rolinda’s innocent younger cousin, and carried her own. She showed her dancing talent in the Smalltown dance contest.

Getting his feet wet as Fenwick, was newcomer Jake Chapman, with his rubbery dance movements and larger than life facial expressions.

Add to that Charlie Hall as Buddy Baker, the graceful moving big guy, and you have yet again one of the most talented casts ever assembled on a Tucson stage.

It is not only the talent on the stage that makes Gaslight a must stop in Tucson, it is the vast talent behind the scenes that also brings joy and delight to its audiences.

In “A Smalltown Christmas,” the sets are some of the best we’ve seen at the venue, particularly the ice skating scene. You really believe the actors are skating as Main Street whizzes by and, oh, the perfect sounds as each skater stops and we hear the sound of their skates grabbing the ice. Sound effects may seem like a small detail but that’s exactly what makes Gaslight’s technical side so outstanding - the small details that work so well.

And featured on the small side stage is the old fashioned Porter home lit with a myriad of Christmas lights. Behind the second story window is flowered wallpaper in Rolinda’s room, another small touch perhaps, but one of the things that makes the sets in the Gaslight shows stand out.

So, get the family together, and take a trip to Broadway - Broadway, Tucson style, that is - and join the Gaslight gang as they take you back to what Christmas is all about. The kids will love it. Grandma will love it. And so will you!

“A Smalltown Christmas” by Peter Van Slyke, with musical direction by Linda Ackermann runs through Saturday, Jan. 3, 2009 at the Gaslight Theatre, 7010 E. Broadway, Tucson.

There are multiple performances scheduled almost every day in December through January 3rd to accommodate the holiday crowds. Call the Gaslight Box Office at 886-9428 for ticket information and reservations or visit: www.thegaslighttheatre.com.

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740\

Roberta Konen has a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Emerson College, Boston, Mass. She has also acted and directed for more than 25 years.