CENTERstage Productions brings A Christmas Story to the stage, in Philip Grecian’s faithful adaptation of the 1983 film—Jean Shepherd’s gently anarchic Midwestern childhood filtered through tinsel, BB-gun longing, and the belief that a single Christmas morning can change a boy’s life. Under the direction of Rik Lopes, the production leans into Shepherd’s lived-in humor: the coal-fumed furnace that detonates without warning, the neighborhood bully Scut Farkas lurking like a ginger menace, the great tongue-to-lamppost experiment, and of course the Old Man’s infamous “major award,” that fishnet-clad lamp glowing like a beacon of suburban triumph.
At the center is nine-year-old Ralphie Parker—played by Harvey Ryan—mounting his campaign for a Red Ryder BB gun despite universal adult prophecy of ocular doom. The full Parker family and classroom crew are here (Eric Ryan, Molly Feibel, Howie Riggs, Eli Molinaro, Jessica Boyd, and more), along with a lively ensemble that keeps the memory-machinery humming.
A holiday perennial in the making, staged with affection and just enough mischief.
