I've never been a big fan of the movie "A Christmas Story" but loved the musical when I saw it on Broadway. I was really looking forward to this broadcast and I have to say that, for the most part, I really enjoyed, despite some missteps.
Some things can start off so badly that they NEVER recover, and "A Christmas Story LIVE" came very close to doing that with the cheesy and completely inappropriate pop number that started the evening off; just awful. I really thought the show was Dead On Arrival after that hideous opening and it really took me a while to get into the show after that. What a HUGE mistake that was!
Thankfully I stuck with it and slowly warmed up. I really liked the kid playing Ralphie. While at times it looked as if he was just hitting his marks and trying to remember what to do next, he thankfully had enough personality to still be endearing. And he had a terrific singing voice. In the end, he really did carry the show.
I don't know what to say about Maya Rudolph. I had very little knowledge of her outside of SNL and people more familiar with her than I assured she me had a background in music. Well, you'd never know it by watching this show. I was told that she was a pretty good singer, but of course we all know having a good voice does not mean you can deliver a song in a musical. There are so many other elements needed to sell a song in a musical besides just having a "good voice"; technique, phrasing, musicality. But to my dismay, Rudolph did not even have a very good singing voice, never mind all of those other things. Notes that were supposed to be held were cut off as she seemed to run out of breath. And, as I've said before, her choice for "What a Mother Does" did not work for me. Erin Dilly actually chose to play the song more controversially by having the mother LOVE her housewife life. She seemed perfectly content and happy to have her day full of ironing, sheets and cooking. Definitely a less "P.C." choice. Rudolph played it more sarcastically, as if she were thinking "Yeah, right. THIS is supposed to be fulfilling??" An actor's choice to be sure, but it did not work for me.
And they missed one of the biggest emotional payoffs in the musical (for me). At first I thought it was the actor's (Dilly's) choice, but it has happened in the national tour without Dilly which leads me to believe it was a director's choice. It happens during the mother's Act 2 song, "Just Like That". The song starts out being about the mother trying to convince Ralphie that these rough times (he's just gotten into a huge fight with Scut and is fearful of Dad's reaction when he gets home) are over before we know it. But the song turns into a song about a parent lamenting that her children are growing up so quickly right before her eyes, and she needs to cherish these moments because they will be gone "Just Like That". On stage, there was a brilliant and moving moment when the mother picks up Randy's snowsuit from the kitchen floor and holds it to her, hugs it to her, and squeezes it as if Randy is in it and she is trying to hold onto him exactly the way he is; as if she can hold him and stop him from growing up. It happens during the lyric, "All the crazy moments, flicker past, then they're gone. Crazy, messy moments (she picks up the snowsuit) yet you try......to hold on......" and then she squeezes that snowsuit. And the song stops for a moment as the holds it. Then she continues, slower, "But they pass you in an instant...Pass you by so fast....Don't forget to remember these moments, never last." That staging really helped that number hit the heart and they didn't do it, didn't do anything close to it, on the TV broadcast. I really missed that and the song suffered because of it not being there.
But enough about Rudolph. The other revelation in the show (aside from Walken) was Chirs Diamantopoulos as the old man. He played the part quite well, catching just the right amount of distracted irritability and the right amount of warmth as well. I really liked the side plot (not in the stage version) of Ralphie trying to find some way to connect with his dad and thinking that his dad doesn't notice him, yet his dad gets him the rifle. And the moment at the end, right before Ralphie goes outside to shoot, where Dad sings a reprise of "Ralphie to the Rescue", that was very sweet. I also liked the "La La Land" joke during his "Major Award" acceptance speech; "Is this a mistake? Someone check the envelope." And that flip was wonderful. I would still give John Bolton the nod as the best Old Man simply due to his wonderful facial expressions and goofy physicality. He really was special in that role, But Diamantopoulos was very good.
I also liked the kid who played Randy though I don't know what they were going for with his "look"; his clothes were too old (like a little adult) and his hair too perfect. Were they going for a (very) young Ronald Reagan look?
Krakowski was excellent as Miss Shields, though I was distracted by my constant thought whenever she was on screen; "Why didn't she play the mother?". Oh, well. And I missed the big solo tap dance by one of the kids in "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out". I know there is only one Luke Spring, but all the subsequent professional productions I have seen have kept the specialty tap boy, and I was disappointed this show didn't.
Matthew Broderick took some getting used to; that same kind of delivery he's been doing for the past 15 years/ At first he was kind of bland and expressionless, but I liked him better as the evening went on. And he did really hit the ending out of the ball park. The part with the mitten gave me goosebumps.
Anna Gasteyer was good but needless. Her number did nothing for the show except made it longer and its length of nearly three hours was almost as deadly as that opening number.
Some other things:
*I loved the way they handled the Chinese restaurant "Deck the Halls" scene; still very funny but not offensive.
*I am not sure why they didn't have David Alan Grier sing Santa's part in "Up On Santa's Lap" since has musical comedy experience.
*Why did they rewrite "Stick Situation"? The stage version was better.
*"Somewhere Hovering Over Indiana" did not work. Why were the kids outside in the snow wearing their pajamas? And at the end they were lying in the snow! This was something where the literal back lot set hurt the number. On stage you don't see snow or a street. You just imagine all of these kids are thinking the same thing and are all singing about the same thing, not that they literally snuck out of the house and are out dancing around in the snow in their p.j.s.
*I wish they could have done something about all the greenery and leaves on the trees. This was supposed to be winter in Indiana.
Remember back in the old days when they used to make videos of stage musicals and televise them (Sweeney Todd, Camelot, Into the Woods, and even more recently Billy Elliot, She Loves Me, Gypsy and Falsettos)? I wish they would do that. I would have been happier if they had just made a professional video of the current A Christmas Story tour and televised that.
But, overall, I did like this production.
Updated On: 12/19/17 at 10:33 PM
, and some of which was decidedly not (that embarrassing Hannukah number). I cared about maybe 3 songs (including 2 sung by mom) and very few others. Is this really the right property to lavish all this effort on?
