Cary Players Presents: A Christmas Story

The Cary News - Dec. 16, 2004

A Christmas Story Review

by Lisa Coston

If you have ever been a kid, you probably can relate to young Ralphie Parker, the central character in the classic holiday tale "A Christmas Story."

Who doesn't remember the neighborhood bully? Dreading Dad's arrival home to dole out punishment for your latest infraction? Your first crush?

And who doesn't remember the year they got the Best Christmas Present Ever?

Ralphie's best present ever -- a Red Ryder BB gun -- arrived under his tree on Christmas morning in 1938. It was a wish that had received so much opposition from adults in his life that by the time Christmas arrived, Ralphie had given up hope.

In a local stage adaptation of the story --which continues this weekend at the old Cary Elementary School downtown -- it is not so much the gift, but the hysterically funny and sometimes poignant family dynamics that lead up to it, that make the story one that all ages will enjoy.

This is the first pairing of the Cary Players adult theater group with the well-known Applause! Cary Youth Theatre. The maturity and experience of the local adult actors matched well with the playful youth performances, including that of red-headed Mick Williams, the sixth-grader from Lufkin Road Middle School who plays young Ralphie.

Matt Schedler, a town employee, plays the grown-up Ralphie, who now is known by Ralph and narrates the entire story. It is often those delivered lines -- I don't know how he managed to memorize all that dialogue -- that bring hearty laughs from the audience:

"Every kid I know was afraid of Scut Farkas" and his "good, crisp tendon-snapping arm twists."

"Over the years I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap," Ralph tells the audience as his younger self takes punishment for actually using "the vocabulary I acquired in my father's 'Olds(mobile).'"

BB guns may not be the toy du jour -- or one that today's safety-minded parents would even consider placing under the tree. Now we have Gameboys, iPods and motorized scooters. (The threat of broken bones has kept a longed-for trampoline from our family's back yard.)

The toys may be different, but the childlike feelings are the same. The quiet desperation -- how do I get my parents to understand how much I want it? The anticipation -- will it be waiting for me under the tree on Christmas morning? And the sheer joy if you win your appeal.

What I remember most about my childhood Christmases are the visits to both of my grandmas and the reunions with relatives we saw little of during the year.

But like most children, I slept restlessly on Christmas Eve, in great anticipation.

I do recall a few favorite gifts. In the sixth grade, I got a new AM/FM radio that sat on my nightstand for many years, even into my adulthood, playing the soothing sounds of "bubble gum" pop and soft rock music.

One year I got a box full of Tinkerbell lotions and lip gloss, the prettiest little package I had ever seen, from my godparents.

Another year --I do not remember which -- it was a Dancerina doll, the kind that now can be found at antiques and collectibles stores. Gosh, I'm not that old, am I?

I am sure that a pre-holiday advertisement convinced me to put that blond-haired dancing doll on my most-wanted list.

Ralphie didn't have television, but he had radio, and magazine ads, which he plastered all over the house to help his cause.

Since the media center in the old Cary Elementary School is not set up as an auditorium, the production crew had to get creative with the space. The result is a theater-going experience like none I have had before. It was more like being a fly on the wall than watching actors on stage.

Those familiar with the 1983 movie version of "A Christmas Story" will see most of the same characters: bully Scut, the bothersome Bumpus hounds, Ralph's father (and his colorful vocabulary), and his mother, his teacher and Santa Claus -- all of whom exclaim in response to Ralphie's BB gun request: "You'll shoot your eye out!"

Even if you happen to like meat loaf and red cabbage, eating it will never be quite the same again.

Check it out

"A Christmas Story," co-produced by the Cary Players adult theater group and Applause! Cary Youth Theatre, continues Dec. 17-19 at the old Cary Elementary School at the end of South Academy Street downtown. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $14 for adults and $8 for children 12 and younger. Available at the town's administrative offices and at the Herb Young Community Center, or at the door. Call 469-4061