The music is not the most memorable take-away from the musical foray of “A Christmas Story.” The success of the musical lies in its clever expansion of some of the famous scenes from the film.
When the family arrives at a Christmas tree lot, Ralphie’s Old Man starts his wheeling-and-dealing, with a successful conclusion. To highlight this back-and-forth, human Christmas trees spring to life, sliding and singing on the tree lot. It’s superb.
All the pre-teenagers in this musical are quite impressive, and while many childrens’ laughs could be heard during the show, it’s by no means a G-rated “Bambi” fest. After all, one of the most hilarious parts of the film is when Ralphie, played by Clarke Hallum, utters the “F-word,” which results in his soap-swallowing.
The show keeps an excellent pace throughout, with the exception of a kind-of-slow beginning. Dazzling the packed-house at 5th Avenue Theatre was an appearance off-stage by Peter Billingsley, who played Ralphie in the 1983 film.
One bone of contention is casting and dressing the mother as a neat-and-tidy, pristine housewife greatly missed the mark. The producer must have known this, and whatever the reasoning for not being true to the frumpy character that she was in the film, it hurts a bit not to see a messy mom in this role.
The Old Man, played by John Bolton, deserved his extended standing ovation. He had some amazing dance numbers, particularly his self-aggrandizing of “A Major Award,” which is the beloved leg lamp. It was quite unexpected for all the man’s neighbors to start a routine with their own leg lamp, followed by a line of kids with their mini-leg lamps parading across stage. What a great way to articulate this film scene in music.
Truthfully, the musical did justice to the film, adding its own flavor in just the right quantities. The mother-spanking-their-sons bit was accentuated wonderfully with the mothers on the first floor, creating “smack” sounds with wooden sticks, along with the screams of their sons, one floor above.
Miss Shields, played by Carol Swarbrick, is a convincing presence, especially when she’s joined by various monsters on stage to haunt Ralphie for his bee-bee gun wishes. It’s quite a barrage of harassment on the poor boy. The movie achieves this with just two scary creatures, but the movie expands the army of influences, even including Frankenstein and his bride.
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