“A Holiday List of Goodies for Musical Theatre Lovers”
As Observed by Kevin Lane “Longtime MTL” Dearinger for The Lexington Theatre Company.
The Lexington Theatre Company’s effervescent production of A Christmas Story, the Musical, plays its six happy performances this week at the Opera House.
So much to anticipate!
Like Christmas morning!
What follows here is a checklist of sorts for the real Musical Theatre Lovers out there, but also for anyone lucky enough to have a ticket to A Christmas Story.
Think of this as an early wish list for Santa.
What to watch for. What to listen for.
Or think of it as a furtive shaking of a few choice packages, wrapped up in bright paper and temptation under the holiday tree.
The Tony-nominated score may be the most splendid box to shake in anticipation. It jingles and jangles.
The music and lyrics for A Christmas Story are the work of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, resourceful geniuses and EGOT winners (Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land, The Greatest Showman, et. al.). Their score for A Christmas Story is a holiday carnival of musical theatre history with surprises for every dedicated Musical Theatre Lover.
Listen to the musical vamp leading to “A Major Award.” Listen closely, MTLs! It’s pure Sondheim. Pasek and Paul are fans. Big smart nerdy fans! They have their own style, but they tip their hat to the master. (With witty support from veteran orchestrator Larry Blank—another master.)
Listen, too, for a bit of Music Man barbershop and rhythmic speaking. At one point, the score directs the orchestra to play as if for “Judy/Liza at the Palace.” If you know, you know. There is also a salute to the old Saturday matinee cowboy serials, or perhaps the Marlboro Man. Twice, the score requests that the tuba make what your grandmother considered a rude noise.
There is a very specific sense of humor at play here.
A Christmas Story has a leggy kick-line to celebrate the season. Of course, it does! Never in the history of Musical Theatre has a Musical Theatre Lover on any creative staff or in any audience been able to resist a kick line.
And why should they?
Later, in a moment of highbrow clowning, there is a choreographic salute to Swan Lake. With elves. “Put on the red shoes!”
A very Christmasy song in act two starts small and sweet. But by the end, the score throws caution to the wind and advises the orchestra to just “Go Nuts!” See if you can pinpoint that explosive moment.
The acting company of A Christmas Story is overflowing with theatrical gifts, as if Santa happily overloaded his sleigh.
Singing and dancing to this wonderful score is a typically sparkling The Lexington Theatre Company Ensemble, young and younger, grinning ear-to-ear with the pleasure of performing. Just remember that their apparent ease on stage is the product of training, skill, patience, repetition, hard work, and proud polish. Young professionals and lovely artists, each and every one.
Wayne Bryan is the guest everyone wants at the holiday table. His performance as narrator Jean Shepherd in A Christmas Story is a study of mellow, soulful acting. He conjures up the past with a shrug of his shoulders and a loving shine in his eyes.
Lee Harrington as Mother: patient, warm, and loving, even if handy with the soap. She never seems to stop moving, hovering over her family with a love that is felt more often than spoken. When she sings, however, Lee’s voice is full of that love, a caressing sound that will make you remember all those every-day moments of your own mother’s tenderness.
The ever-ebullient Brance Cornelius plays The Old Man. Watch for the moment when he discovers his inner ballet dancer. Silliness is one of the greatest gifts of live theatre. Flat out silliness touches theatrical divinity, and spontaneous ballet moves are, of course, essential to the Music Theatre Lover who has slipped over all the way to Musical Theatre Nerd. It’s in the blood of the breed. Without reservation, we can recognize Brance as a four-star, card-carrying MTN.
Showstopping Cecilia Snow, with her holiday-ready name, is Miss Shields, the wryly patient schoolteacher with secret talents as a night club chanteuse. And, yes, those are tap shoes you are hearing. If you are ever asked what a “triple threat” in the theatre might be, you can mention Cecilia with sequin-spangled confidence.
Henry Walter! Henry is a very important gift to the show and to The Lex. He is our hero, the December dreamer in all of us. As the intrepid Ralphie “to the rescue” (in wooly chaps, mind you!), he has a story to tell and fantasies that spring to life before us. These flights of fancy include bandits with pop-guns, zombies, black-caped villains, and dance-hall girls in a can-can. Bliss. Henry invites us into his imagination and sings like a Christmas angel gone to Broadway. He is musical theatre gold.
Look for little brother Randy (Luke Krohmer) and his face full of amused concern when he watches his big brother squirm. When he is trussed up in his insulated snowsuit against the Indiana frost, he is everything we remember of childhood winters.
Watch for Flick (Nicholas Wilson) as he faces a most unique challenge to keep on singing. You will know when you see it. Ouch. And keep an eye on the exquisite conscience of Schwartz (Zach Kotter); it’s all in his honest face. Together, Flick and Schwartz will make you remember your own schoolyard adventures, epic or disastrous.
You may not think so when they are so convincingly playing the playground bullies Scut Farkus and Grover Dill in A Christmas Story, but Elijah Burton and Brady Fields are solid theatrical pros and, off-stage, really nice guys. Really! So, no lump of coal in their stockings!
Lex favorite Marc Pavan is a department-store Santa crustier than a month-old baguette in the back of the refrigerator, surrounded by the most hyper-caffeinated elves this side of David Sedaris. More heaven on earth for the Musical Theatre Lover.
Various off-stage Santas and their North Pole Helpers have also been busy.
Coming to the show, you can joyously anticipate Lyndy Franklin Smith’s loving direction and exciting choreography (with tireless support from assistant choreographer Jesse Hanks), Brock Terry’s beautiful musical direction and
outstanding orchestra, Kyle Dixon’s vintage greeting-card set design, supervised by the invaluable Kevin D. Nedberg, Tanya Harper’s always magical lighting, Elizabeth Payne’s nostalgia-stitched costumes, Marcus Ross’s sensitive sound design, Esther Neel’s North Pole Workshop of stage props, and that keen-eyed shepherd tending her flock, production stage manager Nancy Uffner.
And all their invaluable assistants. Holiday magic takes the work of many dedicated hands.
A final thought:
A Christmas Story offers a special gift for older theatre-goers, one that will come with a jump of the heart and a sudden blurring of vision.
A moment of theatrical fantasy that seems so impossible and yet so real.
Turning your head and suddenly seeing your parents, your siblings, and your nine-year-old self, all as they were, all together, at a long-ago dining table, sharing a long-ago meal.
Happy memories will always be the greatest gift.
Happy holidays.
The Lexington Theatre Company’s production of A Christmas Story plays the Lexington Opera House for six performances, November 21-24.
Kevin Lane Dearinger is a retired actor, singer, and teacher. His published works include four theatre histories, six volumes of poetry, six plays, and two memoirs, Bad Sex in Kentucky and On Stage with Bette Davis: Inside the Fabulous Flop of Miss Moffat. For many years, he sang out to the back row, acted from his heart, and danced, as one tactful critic put it, “with athletic grace.” In his soul, he still does all three. He counts among his blessings the privilege of sitting in on rehearsals with The Lexington Theatre Company. He is proud of his Actors Equity Pension.
