A Christmas Story is to sing-&-dance from memory

N.B. BLR gives readers a Quicky version that features three sections :  From the footlights, Acting pin-spots & Who gonna like. Enthusiasts with time who want more back-story & dialogue quotations & production details as well as ticket specifics can read the entire review in the Wordy version that follows.

Quicky Version :

From the footlights : Almost everybody in Western culture despairs over storekeeper cynicism with their "early onset Christmas" that now starts a week or two after Labour Day. Indeed, a cliche for sure is to ask how "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing" in the choir loft can possibly out-ring "Jingle Bells" at the cash register. But. Take nine kids, get them singin' & dancin' & tappin' their toes and their hearts out to the tunes of a dozen-plus clever songs -- do that and even Grumpmeisters like me find their heart softening and trilling a bit at all the fun. Directed and choreographed by Vancouver's unstoppable, incomparable Valerie Easton, this seasonal show is definitely an evening you'll agree meets the "That's entertainment!" test. ACT will doubtless reprise it for years to come.

Acting pin-spots young & old alike : As a former p.r. guy for a public school district decades back I remember threatening to quit, announcing peremptorily to my boss in 1976 : "I have just been to the last elementary school production of The Wizard of Oz I'm ever going to...!" Well this ain't no elementary school production, folks, far from it. This cast of youngsters is a dizzyingly and freakishly talented troupe. In many cases they approach professional levels of skill even at their pre-teen ages. Valin Shinyea as young Ralphie, certainly, possesses a confidence and nuance of gesture that his lengthy stage and screen c.v. attest to. While all of them deserve kudos for their focus and crisp deliveries, I found my eye kept jumping to Jordyn Bennett as Esther Jane -- the class snitch on Flick -- as particularly engaging. And crowd favourite Jakob Phan as Grover, the bully's pet stooge, wowed the house with his stupendous tap footwork and toothy bright-eyed grins.

On the adult side of the program, Matt Palmer as The Old Man grabbed this viewer's eye repeatedly with his antics on "The Genius on Cleveland Street" and "A Major Award" particularly. Playing opposite, his "good wife & helpmeet" Meghan Gardiner gave her stereotypical Mother role a warm and gentle interpretation. Delightful vocal chops as well. For her part, Sara-Jeanne Hosie as Miss Shields the spinster schoolmarm brought out countless smiles over the night.

Who gonna like : The Jean Shepherd original comic essays that drive A Christmas Story are quite frankly designed to tickle the funny bone of War Generation and Boomer cohorts. After all, what do Gen X, Y & Z's know about Tinker Toys, Lionel trains, Red Ryder BB guns, Palmolive soap as mouthwash, or bullies doing Dutch rubs on their victims' heads? But the "That's entertainment!" aspect of A Christmas Story -- where the fast footwork and clever choreography of the young stars in the cast come into play -- will no doubt give them some live theatre buzzes that no YouTube or Instagram or Facebook image could ever do. A touching and embracing snatch of Christmas this is for sure!

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Wordy Version :

A Christmas Story is to sing-&-dance from memory

From the footlights : Almost everybody in Western culture despairs over storekeeper cynicism with their "early onset Christmas" that now starts a week or two after Labour Day. Indeed, a cliche for sure is to ask how "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing" in the choir loft can possibly out-ring "Jingle Bells" at the cash register. But. Take nine kids, get them singin' & dancin' & tappin' their toes and their hearts out to the tunes of a dozen-plus clever songs -- do that and even Grumpmeisters like me find their heart softening and trilling a bit at all the fun. Directed and choreographed by Vancouver's unstoppable, incomparable Valerie Easton, this seasonal show is definitely an evening you'll agree meets the "That's entertainment!" test. ACT will doubtless reprise it for years to come.

The story's genesis : American comic Jerry Seinfeld credits Ohio's Jean Shepherd with providing him his comic inspiration from an early age. Shepherd was one of USA's first radio talk-show hosts on New York's station WOR where he spun tales of comic irony about life in the mid-20th century. Perhaps his most noted collection of published stories was titled "In God We Trust -- All Others Pay Cash", and that book is the source of many of the scenes that Shepherd re-drafted for film in 1983. Some 25 years later, two University of Michigan theatre arts students, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, collaborated on the musical score with veteran Joseph Robinette who did up the show's libretto, a.k.a. its "book". When ACT sussed out a Seattle production five years ago, decision was quickly taken to perform it, eventually, in Vancouver. So now it will twin as a second Christmas biggie opposite the ACT mainstay It's A Wonderful Life that opens November 19th on Granville Island.

How it's all put together :  The show is essentially a flashback on Shepherd's youth in Hammond, Indiana. Specifically for the 24 days of December during which kids phantasized religiously and relentlessly on the One Big Present they hoped to snag on Christmas morning if only they can survive the month without blotting their copybook. And back in the day, what red-blooded American 9-year-old boy didn't dream of getting a BB gun? (I remember being precisely that age and shocking my bedridden Grandma who, when I proudly produced it for her on Boxing Day, immediately scolded me : "You're not going to shoot at squirrels or birds I trust!" I was struck dumb. But you can bet no animal ever expired from BB...) Shepherd's young Ralphie Parker not only aches for an official Red Ryder carbine action BB gun, he positively obsesses over it. But everyone he tells about his Big Wish for Christmas has the same irksome riposte : "You'll shoot your eye out!" his mom, his teacher, even a liquor'd-up Santa at Higbee's Department Store all tell him. 

Shepherd qua adult circulates the stage to narrate the flashbacks and tie the scenes together from memory, but the music and the storyline acted out by the kids pretty well allow the script to bounce along engagingly on its own. Ralphie's dad whom he calls The Old Man has cursing bouts with the aging coal furnace that's constantly on the fritz from clinkers jamming up its works. But he's also a devoted crossword puzzler who dreams of becoming The Genius of Cleveland Street by winning a local contest. He does, and shortly his prize arrives : a lifesize lamp that's a Follies Berger dancer's leg wrapped in fishnet. The Old Man clasps it lovingly. (A less likely prize in Republican Ohio in 1940 is hard to conjure, even if Shepherd did write the occasional piece for Playboy.) The burlesque high-kicks number done by the adults pirouetting with nine look-alike lamps was, as kids would say today, simply "sick" [sic].

The warmth of Mom's enthusiasm for this dubious front window lamp, meanwhile, is considerably less than luke, and its demise is all but certain. Add to this bit of silliness the kids' playground antics of a "triple dog dare", lips on a frozen pipe, the neighbourhood bully on the losing end of a punch-up, put it together and what you've got is a Brownie Hawkeye shot at f1.4 into a mirror. Want some Kodachrome nostalgia for small town life? This is it. A gentler, kinder time and place where there was zero reason to fear a kid's BB gun would ever morph into what we have today : rifles that with a single pull of the trigger can slaughter innocents by the dozens. 

Production, production production !  Never having seen the 1983 movie, I was unaware of this piece either with or without any song-&-dance. Now I am spoiled. Because it is precisely because of the spirited song-&-dance that give Shepherd's stories their creativity and energy in 2015. Thanks not only to the boundless enthusiasm of the 19 cast here, but what direction and choreography Director Easton give them to work with is what will bring me back to see it again. Put another way, one more Boomer trip down memory lane without Easton's trademark song-&-dance excellence would be a stage show I could easily give a miss to.

Sure, the dialogue is fun. Classic Shepherd. Dad is jokingly referred to as "the most feared furnace fighter in northern Indiana". He's also a man given to bouts of potty-mouth : "His tapestry of profanity is still hanging its face over Lake Michigan," narrator Ralphie tells us. Or when Flick gets his tongue stuck to the flagpole, Miss Shields the Grade 4 teacher scolds the class : "I am sure the guilt you feel for this is worse than any punishment you could receive!" These are the kind of whimsical snippets that make the crowd giggle.

But what makes the crowd roar are the choreographed songs and the dances that bring Ralphie's BB gun daydreams alive : in "Ralphie To The Rescue" he imagines himself a hero dispatching baddies be they be-caped vampire villains or cowboy outlaws or gangsters in a Chicago speakeasy (when the kids' lengthy tap-dance with a vampy Miss Shields easily won top production honours on the night). The seven neighbourhood chums do the show's best comic number "When You're a Wimp!", while Mom's "What A Mother Does" and "Just Like That" recall for us that simpler time when routines for "housewives" -- women married to their domestic caregiver role -- were more predictable and less tricky than are today's more egalitarian household arrangements. 

Acting pin-spots young & old alike : As a former p.r. guy for a public school district decades back I remember threatening to quit, announcing peremptorily to my boss in 1976 : "I have just been to the last elementary school production of The Wizard of Oz I'm ever going to...!" Well this ain't no elementary school production, folks, far from it. This cast of youngsters is a dizzyingly and freakishly talented troupe. In many cases they approach professional levels of skill even at their pre-teen ages. Valin Shinyea as young Ralphie, certainly, possesses a confidence and nuance of gesture that his lengthy stage and screen c.v. attest to. While all of them deserve kudos for their focus and crisp deliveries, I found my eye kept jumping to Jordyn Bennett as Esther Jane -- the class snitch on Flick -- as particularly engaging. And crowd favourite Jakob Phan as Grover, the bully's pet stooge, wowed the house with his stupendous tap footwork and toothy bright-eyed grins.

On the adult side of the program, Matt Palmer as The Old Man grabbed this viewer's eye repeatedly with his antics on "The Genius on Cleveland Street" and "A Major Award" particularly. Playing opposite, his "good wife & helpmeet" Meghan Gardiner gave her stereotypical Mother role a warm and gentle interpretation. Delightful vocal chops as well. For her part, Sara-Jeanne Hosie as Miss Shields the spinster schoolmarm brought out countless smiles over the night.

But go for the "show" if nothing else :  Costume designer Sheila White has done masterful work here. The variety of costumes for all the daydream sequences was quite frankly astonishing to behold, rich and sumptuous in every instant. And the quick-change costume changes were slick. Set designer Amir Ofek provides a visually rewarding series of scrims and fly gallery drop downs that please nicely. And then there's the rich sounds of the band headed up by Danny Balkwill. Coupled with mic's for all the actors balanced out by Chris Daniels, the show's tunes blend well indeed.

Who gonna like : The Jean Shepherd original comic essays that drive A Christmas Story are quite frankly designed to tickle the funny bone of War Generation and Boomer cohorts. After all, what do Gen X, Y & Z's know about Tinker Toys, Lionel trains, Red Ryder BB guns, Palmolive soap as mouthwash, or bullies doing Dutch rubs on their victims' heads? But the "That's entertainment!" aspect of A Christmas Story -- where the fast footwork and clever choreography of the young stars in the cast come into play -- will no doubt give them some live theatre buzzes that no YouTube or Instagram or Facebook image could ever do. A touching and embracing snatch of Christmas this is for sure!

Particulars :  Book by Joseph Robinette based on stories by Jean Shepherd. Words and Music by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.  Production by Arts Club Theatre.  Performances at ACT's Stanley Theatre, 2750 Granville Street, thru December 27th (schedules vary).  Run-time 120 minutes plus intermission.  Tickets & schedule information by phone at 604.687.1644 or via www.artsclub.com.

Production & artistic team :  Director / Choreographer Valerie Easton.  Musical Director Danny Balkwill. Set Designer Amir Ofek.  Costume Designer Sheila White.  Sound Designer Chris Daniels.  Lighting Designer Gerald King.  Stage Manager Pamela Jokobs.  Assistant Stage Manager Anne Taylor.  Assistant to the Director Cory Haas.  Apprentice Stage Manager Tanya Schwaerzle.

The Band :  Danny Balkwill (Keyboards / Trombone).  Graham Boyle (Drums).  Henry Christian (Trumpet).  Ken Cormier (Keyboards / Keyboard Programming).  Craig Salkeld (Trumpet / Keyboard).  Bryan Vance (Reeds).  Anonymous (Chime). 

Performers :  Cameron Andres.  Scott Augustine.  Jordyn Bennett.  Graham Coffeng.  Brennan Cuff.  Meghan Gardiner.  Janet Gigliotti.  Glen Gordon.  Sara-Jeanne Hosie.  Elizabeth Irving.  Avery Johnson.  Duff MacDonald.  Julia MacLean.  Katie Murphy.  Matt Palmer.  Jakob Phan.  Gordon Roberts.  Graham Verchere.  Robyn Wong, & Valin Shinyei as Ralphie.  

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