A Christmas Story at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts

Last week I saw three different productions of A Christmas Carol and this weekend I have two different versions of A Christmas Story planned. I started with the one at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts last night and it was so much fun! This musical is a pretty faithful adaptation of the movie of the same name (one of my favorite Christmas movies) and it is narrated by radio personality Jean Shepherd (Ed Eyestone) as he recounts a memorable Christmas from his youth. Ralphie Parker (Tate McBeth) desperately wants an official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time for Christmas but his Mother (Celeste Harris), the Old Man (Mark Buffington), his teacher Miss Shields (Caitlyn Galvez), and even Santa Claus (Garrett Smit) tell him that he'll shoot his eye out. All of the well-known scenes from the movie are brought to life on stage including when Randy (Porter McCormick) eats like a piggy, when Schwartz (Mitt Harris) triple dog dares Flick (Isaac Hael) to stick his tongue to the flag pole, when the Old Man wins a major award, when Ralphie says the F-dash-dash-dash word while helping the Old Man change a tire, when Ralphie gets into a fight with Scut Farkus (Elias Kahler), when Ralphie gets a bunny costume from Aunt Clara, and when one of the Bumpus hounds eats the turkey forcing the Parkers to eat Christmas dinner at the Chop Suey Palace. I don't think that the songs in this musical are particularly memorable but I really enjoyed the staging, especially the numbers featuring the children such as "It All Comes Down to Christmas," "When You're a Wimp," "Ralphie to the Rescue," "Up on Santa's Lap," and "Somewhere Hovering Over Indiana."  The choreography in these songs is a lot of fun and McBeth and the children in the ensemble (over 20 of them) execute it very well. With the exception of "A Major Award" with Buffington and "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" with Galvez, I think the songs featuring the adults, namely "The Genius on Cleveland Street," "What a Mother Does," and "Just Like That," are less compelling because they take the focus away from Ralphie. This is not a criticism of Harris or Buffington, who do an outstanding job, or this production but, rather, it is a weakness in the show itself. The humor works best when we see Ralphie's parents as he does not as they are. I loved McBeth's performance because not only is he incredibly endearing but he is also an excellent dancer, particularly in "Ralphie to the Rescue" and his dance off with Galvez in "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out." McCormick made me laugh quite a few times with all of his antics and I enjoyed it when Eyestone, as the narrator, gets involved in the action. I was really impressed with the elaborate sets, including the two-storey Parker house (I loved the smoke coming from a vent when the furnace acts up) and the impressive Santa display at Higbee's department store complete with a slide. This production also has the best Oldsmobile (with working lights) I've seen! I thoroughly enjoyed this show (it is on par with the Broadway touring production I saw several years ago) and I would highly recommend it but, unfortunately, there is only one more performance and it is completely sold out (with good reason). This seems to be a yearly tradition for SCERA so put it on your list for next year.