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| Jamie Douglas |
On November 28, there was palpable excitement
around Geva Theatre. Yet it wasn’t
the fresh memories of Thanksgiving or the
hectic rush of Black Friday that hung in
the air as people filed into the downtown
Rochester theatre, but rather a sight of early
Christmas merriment.
Standing before a sold-out audience, director Mark Cuddy
cheerfully welcomed the audience to Geva’s premiere of A
Christmas Story, a Phillip Grecian play based on the eponymous
film.
The crowd’s expectations were high, and Cuddy seemed
to know it and acknowledge the expectations he had to live
up to. Released in late 1983,
A Christmas Story follows the
wintertime adventures of Ralphie Parker and his family as
they prepare for Christmas in 1940s Indiana. It was an unexpected
hit film, gaining critical acclaim for its lighthearted
approach towards childhood nostalgia.
Rather than merely recreating the film on stage, Grecian’s
production sought to reinvent the tale, providing a fresh
outlook on a well-loved story. For those who have seen
the film, all of the familiar subplots are present, including
the infamous leg-shaped lamp, the frozen flagpole, and (of
course) the “official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred
shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and
this thing that tells time,” which Ralphie is constantly plotating to obtain. The acting was superb, the sets
meticulous. Gavin Flood, portraying Ralphie,
appears identical to the film’s original star,
Peter Billingsley, reaffirming the accuracy with
which the performance was staged.
Still, there are changes from the film, mainly
to necessitate to the confines of a stage.
An on-stage adult Ralphie (Eric Michael Gillett)
is used in lieu of the film’s offstage narrator,
observing events first hand as he retells the
story of his youth. In a setting where stage
limitations could break a production of this
nature, the crew at Geva proved successful,
working with the play carefully to ensure every
rough edge was smoothed out.
Even for those who haven’t seen the film,
A Christmas Story is a remarkably enjoyable
tale drenched in childhood nostalgia,
Christmas time merriment, and theatrical skill.
Geva provides a wonderful production
of this play, and it seems likely
to become a facet of Rochester theatre.
At least director Mark Cuddy
hopes so, referring to the play as a
“new tradition” during his introduction
speech. “Before our eye was
not only a charming holiday story;
it was an American family holiday
story,” he writes in the playbill,
“It captured all the nuance of anyone
who has ever celebrated this
holiday with their relatives: boy or
girl, father or mother.”
“A Christmas Story” will be playing
at Geva Theatre through December 28.
Ticketing information can be found at
http://tickets.gevatheatre.org.
