REVIEW
A Christmas Story: The Musical
Where: McPherson Playhouse
When: Tonight-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.
Tickets: $19.75-$49.50
Reservations: 250-386-6121
Rating: Three and a half stars
The experience of watching the relatively new A Christmas Story: The Musical was a pleasant surprise, even though the very thought of it seemed dubious at first.
The musical is inspired by American humorist Jean Shepherd’s story of bespectacled nine-year-old Ralphie Parker’s late Depression-era Indiana childhood, which had itself spawned a 1983 movie. What a surprise it was, then, to behold how freshly it evokes not just nostalgia for a simpler time, but fond memories of the celluloid holiday favourite.
As tempting as it might be to declare that the cast and crew of Victoria Operatic Society’s inventively charming production had us at the leg lamp, director Pat Rundell and company actually grabbed us sooner.
Despite some highlights, however, this family-friendly seasonal bonbon doesn’t fully achieve liftoff until Rundell and his very capable choreographer, Tara Britt, pull out all the stops for A Major Award. That’s the production number in which the young protagonist’s Old Man (Gary Moss) triumphantly celebrates the arrival of his crossword contest prize, that supremely tacky fishnet-stockinged leg lamp.
This peppy Ziegield Follies-like dazzler featuring stockinged chorines who kick step in unison while wearing large fringed lampshade replicas is worth the price of admission.
You can feel the audience’s gleeful anticipation of the leg-lamp unveiling and other highlights. Such classic moments are cued with warmth and to wry perfection by Chris Moss, who reminisces about Ralphie’s experiences in December 1940. And wouldn’t you know it: The visions of an Official Red Ryder Range Model Carbine Action BB Gun dancing in Ralphie’s head have become a song of the same name.
Half the fun — especially during the show’s superior second act — is reliving those familiar sequences with a musical-comedy spin that’s laced with poignancy here, especially in the home stretch.
Rundell and his creative collaborators waste no time establishing the Christmas spirit via an opening visual tableau, with snow falling onstage, a bell-ringing Santa Claus and other street-scene characters. They bring this retro winter wonderland to life with It All Comes Down to Christmas, the big, brassy seasonal mood-setter that is to this Yuletide musical what We Need a Little Christmas was to Mame.
It’s one of several hummable numbers in Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s catchy if derivative score, which musical director Brad L’Ecuyer and his top-notch orchestra bring to life with gusto. Other musical highlights include The Genius on Cleveland Street, the Old Man’s self-congratulatory number that in part recalls Easy Street from Annie. It’s exuberantly delivered by loose-limbed Gary Moss, who offers, by turns, a buffooonish and touching portrayal of the old-fashioned dad distracted by broken furnaces and Oldsmobiles and given to muttering faux curse words.
Keeley Teuber is another standout as Ralphie’s dutiful, June Cleaver-esque mother, who humours her husband during his amusingly dated father-knows-best behaviour.
Teuber also confidently showcases her musical ability, notably on What a Mother Does, a tender ballad that underscores the domestic humanity beneath the comic hijinks.
A Christmas Story: The Musical boasts two showstoppers: Britt’s playful choreography is impressively unleashed in Ralphie to the Rescue, which imaginatively reflects Ralphie’s classroom fantasy as a Wild West hero, complete with fake horses and can-can kicks; and the frenetic You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!, which showcases Jennifer Sanders, a vamping revelation, as Miss Shields, and Neil Croswell’s tap-dance wizardry.
If young Carson Hunter isn’t quite as irrepressible a Ralphie as we might have expected, his rat-a-tat description of that beloved BB gun is spot on. He certainly has his moments, such as when he’s forced to wear that wince-inducing pink bunny suit his aunt made him, or when he blurts out “Oh, fudge” in slow motion after some lug nuts are spilled while he helps his Old Man change a tire.
The show’s pint-sized standouts include Daniel Yaxley, a bundle of laughs as Ralphie’s kid brother, especially when it’s time to put that ridiculously bulky snowsuit on; and Nate Harris, who admirably (and amusingly) rises to the challenge of singing Sticky Situation while his tongue is stuck to the schoolyard’s frozen flagpole.
Working with 11 children and two bloodhounds — Au and Douglas — who brought the house down when they inevitably appeared to devour the family’s Christmas turkey, Rundell has imbued this show with enough whimsy and wit, including a risqué gag involving a blue bowling ball, to compensate for weaker moments. The most obvious was an apparent shortage of oomph early on the night I attended.
Rundell also glosses over this retro romp’s more distasteful aspects, including the unsettling sight (unless you’re a National Rifle Association member) of an American boy proudly standing with a rifle in his hands. And while the infamous Chinese restaurant scene remains, it’s softened somewhat by having just one waitress with an exaggerated Asian-American accent sing Deck the Halls to the Parkers.
Other noteworthy assets in this show: Dan Costain’s simple yet effective design, including the Parkers’ period-appropriate family home and a multi-functional red glitter curtain; Elodie Adams and her crew’s witty, colourful and Christmasy costumes; and Adam Wilkinson’s nostalgic lighting design.
