5th Avenue Theatre Trailer

Watch this dynamic trio of Seattle locals sing "Been a long day" from the hysterical production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at The 5th Avenue Theatre! Eric Ankrim stars as J. Pierrepont Finch, the ambitious window washer determined to reach the top of the corporate ladder. Sarah Rose Davis plays the quirky Rosemary, a secretary hoping to catch the eye - and hand- of a certain successful businessman. Sarah Rudinoff plays Smitty, the all-knowing secretary unafraid to speak her mind.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at The 5th Avenue Theatre

Power, sex, ambition, greed... it’s just another day at the office in this classic satire of big business. From the corporate offices and the typing pools of the 1960s – think Mad Men – to the modern cubicle wars of today, this hysterical satire of Big Business is comedy at its finest. The title says it all. J. Pierrepont Finch is a man on a mission – to achieve stunning success at the World Wide Wicket Company while doing as little as possible to deserve it. Join the “Brotherhood of Man” attending How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and do it the “Company Way!” This Pulitzer Prize-winning musical by Frank Loesser is office intrigue at its funniest, complete with some slinky choreography!

Interview by David-Edward Hughes in Seattle Gay Scene

Born in Alexandria, Virginia, and raised on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, Sarah Rudinoff, a self-described “half-Episcopalian, half-Jew” has lived and worked in a number of North American cities. She has appeared in Negative Space and Richard Foreman’s Ontological Hysteric in New York City and in several new plays at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. For a number of years she has been based in Seattle.

Sarah she has appeared in many of Seattle’s professional theaters including starring as Ruth in Wonderful Town and Hildy in On the Town at the 5th Avenue Theatre., as Yitzhak in the original Seattle production Hedwig and the Angry Inch and in her solo shows Broad Perspective (1998), Go There (2003) and in The Last State (2004), a piece about growing up haole (Caucasian) in Hawaii.

I had the pleasure of directing her in a well-received concert version of It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s Superman, where she managed to top Linda Lavin’s Broadway performance as the over-sexed Sydney. We have stayed pals and I am pleased to share with you our chat about her life, career and latest role as Smitty, the BFF of another Sarah, leading lady Sarah Rose Davis in the 5th Avenue’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, directed by the 5th’s Bill Berry,  and opening Thursday, February 4, 2016.

Five Questions with Encore

Sarah Rudinoff is an actor, writer and singer who’s been performing in Seattle for two decades. She’s worked everywhere from the Rep to Re-Bar, from mainstage musicals to solo shows to Wes Hurley films to RuPaul’s Drag Race viewing parties with BenDeLaCreme. Her multimedia performance with Steven Miller in last year’s City Arts Genre Bender was a hilarious highlight of the evening.

Rudinoff is a versatile and compelling artist who communicates the joy of performance in whatever medium she chooses. Currently she’s playing Smitty in 5th Avenue’s How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and next month she’ll present a new solo work, NowNowNow, in collaboration with David Bennett at On The Boards. She joined me for this week’s installment of Five Friday Questions.