OREM — A Christmas Story, the Musical at the SCERA Center for the Arts in Orem is a fun-filled two hours. While it is based on the 1983 movie of the same name, one does not need to have seen the film to enjoy this production. As a newcomer myself, I thoroughly enjoyed it with consistent big laughs. Directed by Kurt Elison, A Christmas Story (music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and a book by Joseph Robinette) revolves around Ralphie Parker, a 9-year-old boy who wants nothing more than to get a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas. The musical takes place in December in the 1940s as Ralphie tries different tactics to convince his parents to gift him the BB Gun. We learn about the Parker family’s Christmas through dream sequences, fantasy dances, and moments that seem like they should be dreams.
The score by Pasek and Paul is charming and surprisingly catchy. Additionally, the music is oftentimes fast and lyrically challenging, but choreographer Rebecca Boberg doesn’t let that limit the amount of dancing in the show. Perhaps the most consistently outstanding part of this production was the dance numbers. Multiple child dancers made my jaw drop as they performed astounding tricks, taps, flips, and more without appearing to break a sweat.
Not only was it impressive to see such a large cast of children perform onstage with clear motivations in every scene, but it was even more impressive to watch them have cleaner dance moves than their adult ensemble counterparts. The young triple threats consistently outshone their older peers with their ability to perform complicated choreography whilst remaining grounded in the scene and singing strongly.
Liam Kaufman plays Ralphie Parker and confidently leads the entire ensemble of both children and adults, whipping masterfully through Pasek and Paul’s challenging songs. Kaufman’s facial expressions light up the stage and his ability to sing, dance, and act so consistently whilst almost never leaving the stage would be a challenge for any adult actor, which he mastered as a 14-year-old. Ed Eyestone plays Jean Shepherd/Narrator and is a delight to listen to as Eyestone recounts the narrator’s childhood memories as the older Ralphie. Eyestone is charismatic and brings a Steve Martin-esque joy to his performance brightening the whole stage. Together, Kaufman and Eyestone build a heartwarming and deeply lovable main character.
Another highlight of SCERA’s production was Cassidy Gunderson as Mother. The program says she has been on “a 10-year hiatus,” and boy, am I glad she decided to return to the stage. Gunderson’s voice is crisp yet smooth, perfectly embodying the comforting character of Ralphie’s Mother. Gunderson is the most believable actress onstage, with a quick wit and patient love for her family.
Gunderson was paired with Bryan Harper as “The Old Man,” or Ralphie’s father. While Harper’s singing voice is also easy to listen to, he presents a much more “caricature-like” performance compared to Gunderson. This over-the-top, loudly fake-swearing, drooling lamp-obsessed version of “The Old Man” garners lots of laughs at the show’s beginning. However, because of the exuberance in his performance, lots of Harper’s highs are outshiningly high, and his lows are sometimes surprisingly scary. Where I believe the script was trying to portray a stereotypical 1940’s grumpy father, this production’s direction left Harper seeming more unhinged than I believe was intended.
Harper’s performance is a sign of the direction given by Kurt Elison. While each scene is polished individually, tonal inconsistencies leave the arcs of the story feeling lacking. This could be due to difficulties in adapting the original movie script. All that to say, the overall story that Elison does end up telling is heartwarming, even when it may miss a few emotional beats here and there.
The number of specialty costumes designed by Kelsey Seaver was impressive for all ensemble members. One design in particular stood out to me as particularly clever. From the very beginning, it was clear that young Ralphie was the same person as the Narrator because of their matching scarves, jackets, and even makeup design, also by Seaver. These visual clues really helped the expositive opening make sense, and I imagine it also helped many younger children in the audience.
Lighting Designer Chase Elison also showed his skill in communicating with the audience when differentiating between dream and reality. Elison’s pink tones and light specials enhanced the fantasy of Ralphie’s mind at key points, letting the script shine in those moments. I was also impressed with Followspots Story Anderson and Benjamin Wilson who followed many busy performers and never missed a cue.
To round out the skillful technical team, Zippy Hellewell designed a spectacular set. Of particular note, looking at the two-story house that highlighted the brother’s bedrooms up top while building out the kitchen and living room below was particularly engaging. This set was only beaten by the Santa slide lending itself to lots of comedic moments.
Overall, the most magical part of the show for me was not necessarily the script itself or even the technical design. Instead, it was seeing the layers of Christmas memories built by the performances on stage. A Christmas Story, the Musical is about a man remembering a wild childhood Christmas to tell to his listeners on the radio. By the song “Somewhere Hovering Over Indiana,” I realized that this cast of children performers will grow up and tell the stories of their “wild childhood Christmas,” but about the Christmas season of performing in this show. In a way, seeing the dedicated faces of the children performers as they turned red from dancing, smiled from ear to ear pretending to look at toys, and sang as hard as they possibly could in that SCERA indoor theatre is what drove home the script’s meaning to me. Their “Christmas Story” is this production, and realizing that was more magical than anything else.
This review was supported by a generous grant from the Orem CARE program.
