‘A Christmas Story’ musical like the movie, but better from Lexington Theatre Company
If you’re skeptical about a musical version of “A Christmas Story,” the classic 1983 holiday movie, so was Brance Cornelius.
“Like any movie that you enjoy, when it’s musicalized, you just think, ‘Oh, gosh, don’t mess this up,’ right?” said the Lexington actor who is now playing The Old Man in the Lexington Theatre Company’s production of “A Christmas Story,” the musical.
So, he must’ve liked it? Right?
Cornelius saw a very early iteration of the show when he was a touring actor and happened to be in the same city as one of the pre-Broadway engagements of the musical with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who went on to huge successes including the Broadway smash “Dear Evan Hansen” and Oscar-winning film “La La Land” (2016).
“I’m super grateful for what the musical has done, which is flesh out the full family and the story,” Cornelius said. Maybe lost in the brevity and comedy of the film was the point that the parents, “were doing everything that they did to show that they love those kids and they loved each other. You’re pleasantly surprised all the hits and the highlights from the movie are there, and then there’s a little bit more that you didn’t know, that maybe you wanted, that’s satisfying in your heart.”
Cornelius got to know the movie growing up as it emerged from a small holiday release to a Christmas staple annually running in marathon showings on TBS and TNT. It was already a holiday classic when Cornelius’ stage son, Henry Walter, was introduced to it by his parents.
“When I first saw (the musical), I was like, this is 10 times better than the movie,” said Walter, a student at the School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCAPA). “I love music, and I love acting, I love dancing. So, it just elevated it so much and filled it with a lot of love.”
The show is a nostalgic look at Christmas in 1940s Indiana where Walter’s character, Ralphie, is obsessed with getting a Red Ryder BB Gun. All together now: YOU’LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT! (Please note, Cornelius asks us to not shout out lines before they’re said on stage.) It is based on monologues by radio personality Jean Shepherd Jr., who is the narrator of the movie, recalling his youth in the Northern Indiana town of Hammond.
The actor playing Jean in this production is a trip down memory lane for Lexington Theatre Company founders Lyndy Franklin Smith, who is directing and choreographing the show, and Jeromy Smith. Wayne Bryan was the producing director at Music Theatre Wichita when the couple came through the theater on their ways to Broadway. They have said on numerous occasions the Kansas company was their blueprint for the Lexington Theatre Company, which they founded in 2014.
“We would come home here to Lexington and look around for something like Music Theatre Wichita, which just didn’t exist,” Franklin Smith said. “We didn’t have a professional theater that was doing that kind of work here. And we kept asking ourselves that question, ‘Why? Why was that happening in Wichita, Kansas, but it’s not happening in Lexington, Kentucky?’”
Bryan reflects, “They are just a dream team, and frankly, I was hoping they would be my successors at Music Theater Wichita. We brought them back as directors and choreographers. But by then, the germ of an idea that was the Lexington Theater Company had already taken off and was off to such a great start. And it is so exciting they got to start from the ground up, creating their own theater using everything they’ve learned from all the theaters where they’ve worked in, including those in New York.
“It’s like a legacy gift to me that two of my kids are going and taking it to the next level.”
Franklin Smith said they had wanted to get Bryan to be in a Theatre Company production for years, but it wasn’t until he retired in 2021 that the opportunity opened up. Jean, she says, is a perfect role for Bryan. She recalled how he would hold pre-show audiences in Wichita enraptured with his pre-show talks filled with tidbits about the show du jour.
“With this role being primarily the storyteller and the narrator of this piece, I knew if I needed him to hold court, he could do it, because I’ve seen him do it for years and years and years and years,” Franklin Smith said.
Bryan is relishing the chance to perform for his one-time mentee and says she is making this expanded version of the familiar “Christmas Story” even better.
“Lyndy, with no fuss and just a few words of suggestion here and there, has brought us into reality in this show,” Bryan said. “And I think the show, as a result, will be funnier than it ever was, because you’re seeing real people getting themselves into these situations. … They all seem so real because Lyndy’s encouraging all of us to play the reality of who these people are, and not just the song and dance fun of them. It’s really special.”
A Christmas Story
Musical production by: The Lexington Theatre Company
When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21 and 22, 1 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 23, and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Nov. 24
Where: Lexington Opera House, 401 W Short St.
Tickets: $36-$125; lexingtontheatrecompany.org; 859-233-3535
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 5:00 AM.