The Classic Film Now Onstage!
A Christmas Story
by Philip Grecian
Based on the screenplay by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark, and other short stories by Jean Shepherd
Directed by Jocelyn A. Brown
- 11/14/05 REVIEW: Northern Lights
- 11/18/05 REVIEW: O.C. Register
- 12/08/05 REVIEW: O.C. Metro
THEATER REVIEW
Heart-warming family romp guaranteed a sure hit with young and old
by Anne-Margret Bellavoine, Northern Lights
November 14, 2005
Jean Shepherd wrote the screenplay for the 1983 classic movie and Philip Grecian rewrote the script into a holiday play directed by Jocelyn Brown.
Richard Comeau is Ralph Parker, reminiscing about a Christmas four decades earlier, in 1940, as he observes himself, reliving that very special time with Joe Neuhaus as nine-year old Ralphie.
The dysfunctional family includes 'the old man,' (Ray Akin), ferociously busy filling out contests and feverishly opening every day's mail with its depressing batch of bills. He spends his life eluding the pack of semi-feral hounds next door, and hoping for an alternative to the daily staple of meatloaf and red cabbage. Karen Webster is 'Mother,' busy keeping the household humming, with breakfasts of stodgy oatmeal force-fed to her children before bundling them up for frigid mornings going to school in Michigan winters.
Kristin Norris is Randy, the baby of the family, whose antics include contortion acts over and under every piece of furniture in the household, and a permanent urge to use the boys' room, especially in less than convenient situations.
Ralphie has just one thing on his mind - convincing Santa and/or his parents to give him "an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle with a compass and this thing which tells time built right into the stock,' per the glossy ads he diligently bombards his parents with.
School days are spent in the stern presence of Miss Shields (Alex Bueno), for whom Ralphie attempts to write a persuasive theme to help build a case for his rifle. However, her predictable response matches his parents': he'll shoot his eye out.
Classmates include Esther Jane (Ana Maria Campoy), who has a secret crush on Ralphie, and teacher's pet Helen (Kristin Norris), as well as best buddies Schwartz (Carter Mason) and Flick (David Chorley), eternally unlucky opposite playground bully Scut Farkas (Jeff Hellebrand).
Absurdity and mayhem rule with every highlight of the movie, from the hideous fishnet stocking leg lamp, to the deranged Easter bunny, frozen tongue stuck on pole, and turkey fiasco. Ralphie's world is a sure-footed glimpse at life experienced through a childhood's lens, where adults are clueless to the realities of their youngsters' world.
The antics are higher than life, and the cast enjoys themselves as much as the audience delivering this delicious seasonal treat suitable for the entire family.
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THEATER REVIEW
Excerpts from OC Register Review of "A Christmas Story"
by Eric Marchese, O.C. Register
November 18, 2005
"Grecian's script retains Shepherd's wry, tongue-in-cheek humor."
"Both film and play bring Ralphie's frenzied daydreams to life, including his warding off of a band of marauders with his trusty gun, dazzling his teacher with his lovely purple prose about said gun (which inspires a hilariously campy spoof of the "Nutcracker" ballet) and, funniest of all, dreaming of his family's utter remorse, à la 19th-century melodrama, for causing him to go blind from - what else? - soap poisoning."
"Thanks to the casting, the idea of having young adults portray children comes off without a hitch. Joe Neuhaus has the requisite bowl haircut, round-framed eyeglasses and rosy cheeks as the devious but well-meaning Ralphie, giving his line readings a genuinely childlike rhythm, his eyes shining when describing the air rifle of his dreams."
"[Kristin] Norris is an often hilariously squirrelly and fidgety Randy. David Chorley is goofy and Carter Mason generically kidlike as Ralphie's pals, while Jeff Hellebrand is suitably sadistic as the omnipresent bully who lives to terrorize littler kids."
"His speech loaded with Shepherd's hyperbolic colorations, [Richard] Comeau scores as an amused observer of his own past, his voice conveying excitement and a sense of wonder, putting a warmhearted spin on a Christmas season laden with mishaps and outright disasters."
"Katherine Futterer's multileveled set captures the sturdy simplicity of the mid-20th-century Midwest, its front panels plastered with vintage magazine covers (Boy's Life, The Open Road and more) and movie posters (Gene Autry, Dick Tracy, "Stagecoach" and the like). Erika C. Miller's costumes feature plaids, overalls, boots, saddle shoes and all manner of winter gear..."
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THEATER REVIEW
Leg Lamp Anyone?
by Steve Thomas, O.C. Metro
December 8, 2005
The Chance Theater's production of “A Christmas Story,” on the boards through Dec. 18, is a triumph of creativity over confined space. The well-regarded Anaheim company does a great job of capturing the heart, soul and humor of the popular 1983 movie in a radically different format.
The adult actors who play little Ralphie the beleaguered boy who is constantly warned about the dangers of “shooting your eye out” and his pals have the snowy, mythological, somewhat claustrophobic world of the children down pat.
Joe Neuhaus brings the father's frantic, quirky, forward-leaning battle with fate hilariously to life, and Karen Webster nails the mom: loving, scatterbrained, prone to mild hysteria, she is the prototypical mother of working class suburbia that a generation grew up with.
All of this takes place in a very small area with the simplest of sets which serves to highlight the actors' wizardry.
One flaw in the production's design is an overly obtrusive narrator. As in the movie, the narrator paints the emotional and social backdrop of the story with wonderful language. Unlike in the movie, the narrator here is seen onstage instead of being merely a disembodied voice.
The actor playing this part does a fine job, but his movement around the edges of the scenes is a distraction through at least the first half of the production, breaking the viewer's suspension of disbelief in the artificial world of the play.
Eventually, the viewer accepts his presence; he fades somewhat into the scene. But a disembodied voice would have been better.
The Chance Theater, 5552 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim: (800) 838-3006 or www.chancetheater.com.
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