Philip Grecian was smart when he chose to let a narrator pretty much recite Jean Shepherd verbatim as the focal figure in his play version of Shepherd’s time-honored holiday tale, “A Christmas Story.”
Shepherd first relates his Indiana childhood memory of when all he wanted for Christmas was a Red Ryder 200-shot air rifle with a compass and a thing that tells time in its stock in his 1966 comic novel, “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.”
You know, the gun everyone, including Santa Claus, tells Ralphie, the boy who wants it, will knock his eye out.
Grecian took his cue, and some rich description, from Shepherd’s book to lead into and out of well-crafted scenes that illustrate the funniest or most dramatic parts of Shepherd’s story.
Amy Kaissar was smart to cast Richard B. Watson as The Narrator in Bristol Riverside Theatre’s perfect and perfectly entertaining production of Grecian’s “A Christmas Story: The Play,” which runs throughout the holiday season to December 31.
Jean Shepherd was primarily a humorist, and Watson relays the Yuletide doings in the Parker house, circa 1949 or 1950, with a broad smile and unfailing affability that colors all his Narrator says with the exact irony, wryness, empathy, concern, and comedy needed.
Shepherd wove several chapters of his book into his 1983 movie script of “A Christmas Story,” and Grecian, Kaissar, and Watson make the most of every nuance and offshoot he provides, whether it be Ralphie’s yen for that air rifle, his father’s affection for a hideous leg lamp he wins in a contest, the hijinks of the neighborhood children, or the noble attempt Ralphie’s mother makes to keep all in order and perspective.
Kaissar was smart in general. She not only cast well. As a director, she created a smooth, satisfying flow between scenes. “A Christmas Story” moves like clockwork, sliding doors opening and closing behind Watson as he sets up a sequence, each one hilariously illustrating some aspect of the Parkers’ Christmas.
Kaissar is also shrewd in creating little exchanges among children and townspeople that give her production a strong sense of place, time, and human behavior. Kaissar and company put you in the Parkers’ Hohman, Indiana (a stand-in for Shepherd’s Hammond), giving the show texture and atmosphere beyond the story at hand.
Kaissar’s entire production is one big holiday present that is suitable for children but has plenty for adults to savor, especially when Watson’s narrator is at his most tongue-in-cheek or sarcastic.
The production drolly but sweetly rekindles memories of Christmases from most of our childhoods. The desire for a specific present, the day-to-day family activity as the holiday approaches, and the world of children at school, at play, and fighting are all vividly and amusingly represented on the Bristol stage. We feel as if we’re watching life, life with which we are familiar, unfold before us.
Sure, it unfolds in a spirit of heightened comedy. Funny though they are, each sequence registers as authentic. Kaissar and company do that good a job at keeping the satirical recognizable and infusing even cynical passages with warmth.
That company includes several fine performances and seamless ensemble playing.
Richard B. Watson earns the most praise because he so skillfully makes a complex, complicated part appear to be easy and effortless.
In addition to being a congenial emcee, finding the right note of commentary and mood in every phrase, Watson imitates minor characters Ralphie or his family encounter. Just the welter of words he has to memorize and delivers with such effect is impressive.
Watson sets a tone and pace for “A Christmas Story.” Between him and Kaissar, the show never flags. Its two-and-a-half hours sail by and even leave you wanting to see more.
The brunt of Shepherd’s humor is aimed at Ralphie’s father, called The Old Man in lieu of a name, and Ben Lloyd plays him masterfully.
Lloyd can do pratfalls, grumble beneath his breath while trying to remain pleasant, or unleash a string of nonsense language alleged to be obscenities, but he is careful to keep his Old Man from descending into a stock sitcom father who comes off as a fool or foil instead of a human being with human failings.
Lloyd, through all of his sputterings, tantrums, and silliness comes across mostly as a responsible, concerned father who has a hair-trigger temper and a rich supply of foul language but also a knack for maintaining and repairing things and a strong love for his wife and children. As with much of Kaissar’s production, Lloyd finds the ideal line between reality and characterization.
He is matched in excellence by Brenny Campbell, who plays the mother that keeps the home going more calmly and with less drama.
That doesn’t mean Campbell doesn’t have and doesn’t ace her share of funny lines and full-blown zingers. She can be as sarcastic and ironic as Lloyd is flustery and temperamental.
Again, it’s the balance in Campbell’s performance that impresses. She is as put-upon as any wife and mother, always figuring out ways to get her reluctant children to eat or surprising her son by being proud and understanding at a moment he expects to get the lecture and walloping of his life.
The combination of Lloyd and Campbell give structure to the played-out scenes the way Watson gives structure to the narrated portions.
Demetria Joyce Bailey, as reliable as they come in everything she does, adds to the balance as Miss Shields, Ralphie’s teacher who knows exactly who is in her class and what they might be up to and can be sharp or subtle in turn.
Nick Barrington does well as Ralphie. He exudes the child of the time “A Christmas Story” is set and has a knack for making you root for him to get his gun, eye hazard or not, and get though other passages of childhood, such as turning tables on a bully, witnessing triple-dog dare bets, or campaigning to get what he wants from parents.
Brady McAnany, Annalise Geist, Carter Harris, Molly Slack, Royal Jorgensen, and the town bully, Jackson Deen Goral also do well as the various children surrounding Ralphie.
The one cavil I have, and it is small and understandable, concerns the children’s diction. You can’t always decipher what some are saying, but you always know how it affects the play.
Yoshinori Tanokura’s set is as perfect as the rest of Kaissar’s production. Each element, from a curtain showing a small Midwestern town and cars from the ’40s to the Parkers’ living space and those handy sliding doors exactly suggest their purpose. Comic touches and reality combine happily again.
The snowsuit that engulfs Brady McAnany as Ralphie’s brother is just one triumph of Linda B. Stockton’s costume design. Xotchil Musser’s lighting and Damian Figueras’ sound are come up aces.
A Christmas Story: The Play, Bristol Riverside Theatre, 120 Radcliffe Street, Bristol, Pennsylvania. Through Sunday, December 31, Wednesday and Thursday, 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m., Wednesday and Saturday, 2 p.m., and Sunday, 3 p.m. $55 to $60. 215-785-0100 or www.brtstage.org.
