THEATER REVIEW: “A Christmas Story” @ Cleveland Play House by Laura Kennelly

The Cleveland Play House’s latest version of A Christmas Story, the holiday classic about family, gifts and dreams, shines with talent. Now at Playhouse Square’s cozy Allen Theatre, director Jackson Gay’s version offers a slightly new (but not too new) approach that not only invokes holiday spirit, but offers a new insight into the characters, especially of our hero Ralphie.

Ah yes, it is indeed a “dad story,” a comic event enlarged. It’s told by the adult Ralph (Herndon Lackey) about his 9-year-old self, Ralphie (a likeable Ethan Monaghan). The admirably agile Lackey, sometimes sitting on the stage’s edge, sometimes following the youngster upstairs to his room, shares with us Ralphie’s most exciting Christmas.

It’s the year he got his dream gift: an “Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle with a compass in the stock and a thing that tells time.” (This phrase is repeated often as Ralphie campaigns for his heart’s desire.)

[Side note: I am told by a 9-year-old I know that today instead of the Red Ryder rifle, the Raspberry Pi Starter Kit Pro is the “it” toy for Christmas. Sounds like fun to me.]

Our hero Ralphie, his friends Randy (Justin Anderson), Helen (Edith Foley), Flick (Ethan Tyler Graham), and Schwartz (Louis Guzowski), plus love interest Esther Jane (Parker Towns), plus his nemesis, the bully Scut Farkas (Declan Robertson), act with natural ability and confidence — even when plummeting down the slide after seeing Santa at Higbee’s department store.

They also join forces to sing (and urge us to sing too) at intervals between scenes. So much talent, so young — it’s cheery just to watch them.

The adults have relatively boring jobs, being adults from a kid’s point of view. Mother (a wise and intuitive Nicole Sumlin), the Old Man (a bumbling, good-hearted Greg Stuhr) and Miss Shields (an authoritative Derdriu Ring) serve as foils for the children who don’t (yet) really know how lucky they are to have such adults watching out for them.

Previous productions have evoked A Christmas Story’s power to generate warm memories for its adult audience. This one (written by Philip Grecian) does that as well, but it also has fun showing how creative writers’ belief in words starts early.

We see young Ralphie working to break a secret code sent over the radio. We listen to him musing gleefully about how his powerfully-written essay assignment will awe his teacher, Miss Shields. She will faint with joy. Writers think that way — words as a way to overcome bullies or charm love interests. While Ralphie may aspire to be a cowboy, shooting bandits, he’s really destined to be a writer, spinning tales. He certainly wrote this one.

The 1983 film written by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark that inspired the play (supposedly set in Indiana) was filmed in Cleveland. We have now claimed it as our own and to prove it, tourists can visit the original set in Tremont.

In addition to Gay, the creative team for A Christmas Story includes effective and economical scenic design by Riw Rakkulchon and period-perfect costume design by Tracey Dorman. Also contributing to make the show work: lighting design by Michael Boll, sound design by Joanna Lynne Staub, associate direction by Sam Morales, fight and movement choreography by José Pérez IV, wig design by Kathy Lynne Mathews, dramaturgy by Michael Glavan, casting direction by Calleri Jenson Davis, stage management by John Godbout, and assistant stage management by Kelsey Qualters. It takes a village.

Bottom Line: An old favorite given new life. If it’s not an official “Christmas Classic,” it should be after this excellent production.

[Written by Laura Kennelly]

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