The 5th Avenue Theatre is presenting a brand new addition to holiday theater offerings with the new adaptation of the classic 1983 film, "A Christmas Story: The Musical". And while half the show harkened fond memories of the film and left me with a wonderful sense of hope for this new piece of musical theater, the other half fell into old familiar musical traps and left me wanting as it shot its eye out.
In case you haven't seen the movie that is shown incessantly over the holiday season (sometimes for 24 hour periods nonstop) here's a brief rundown. We follow the quest of young Ralphie Parker as he plots and schemes to convince his parents (and Santa) to get him the best Christmas present in the world, a Red Ryder 200 Shot Carbine Action Air Rifle. The problem is he keeps running into obstacles of his Mother, his teacher and even Santa as they warn him away from the gift with the familiar, "You'll shoot your eye out." But Ralphie is tenacious and will have his prize. Meanwhile we also get to know the rest of the Parkers and their neighbors as we dive into the world of story originator
Jean Shepherd. Complete with bullies, major awards and triple dog dares, the story harkens back to a simpler time when the biggest thing kids had to worry about was what Santa was bringing them.
The show itself is a charmer with book by
Joseph Robinette who manages to keep the feel of the original material intact and still hits all the points and jokes that have become so familiar. The problem I ran into was with the songs. As I said, half of the show worked great. Act One was filled with wonderful tuners that captured the tone perfectly. And composers/lyricists
Benj Pasek and
Justin Paul seemed to show that someone understands the structure of musical theater. The songs were either perfect for moving the story along or emphasizing through song what a character couldn't do any other way. And the songs "Ralphie to the Rescue" and "A Major Award" were both complete show stoppers and crucial to the story. Then we hit Act Two and suddenly it was like a completely different writing team as the songs ceased being essential as every single moment in the play got one right up to the end. So many superfluous numbers that could have been forsaken for just telling the story weighed down the second half until it finally ended with a whimper of exhaustion.
The cast however is superb and has the perfect style for the period.
Clarke Hallum plays the scheming Ralphie and even though he was a bit presentational at times, his voice is right up there with any of the adults on stage.
Anne Allgood is endearingly lovely as Ralphie's Mother and her moment in Act Two where she covers for Ralphie had me in tears.
Frank Corrado is spot on as the narrator
Jean Shepherd as he weaves this wonderful tale for us in the guise of a radio drama. And special kudos to
John Bolton as Ralphie's "Old Man" who practically steals the show with is antics and especially with his overly zealous "Major Award" number.
With a gorgeous set from
Walt Spangler and costumes that look like they were transported right from the movie by
Elizabeth Hope Clancy, this show could have been the new theatrical holiday standard by which all of the "Elf"s, and "Grinch"s would be judged. I only wish the writers had realized what they were doing so right in the first half and could have kept it up in the second.
"A Christmas Story: The Musical" plays at the
5th Avenue Theatre through December 30th. For tickets or information contact the 5th Avenue Box Office at 206-625-1900 or toll free at 888-5TH-4TIX (584-4849) or visit them online at www.5thavenue.org.
Photo Credit: Chris Bennion
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