‘A Christmas Story Live!’ shoots its own eye out
Oh, fudge. Fox’s A Christmas Story Live! is the latest addition to the live TV musical canon, and the network’s second attempt Grease Live! after in January 2016. And while Grease was a smooth and cheery Christmas egEE) ride, ( never quite took off, from an odd popmusic prologue to its sentimental conclusion. While the actors and crew made a strong effort, ultimately the musical version of the cult holiday film just wasn’t the right choice for a live TV event. Like the 1983 movie, the musical follows young Ralphie Parker (Andy Walken) and his adventures leading up to Christmas: He wants a Red Ryder BB gun more than anything else. All the classic lines and gags show up, including Ralphie’s big swear word, the leg lamp, his friend Flick’s tongue stuck to the flagpole, and, of course, “you’ll shoot your eye out.” The adult cast was led by Maya Rudolph and Chris Diamantopoulos as the unhappy Parker parents, Jane Krakowski as Ralphie’s teacher, Ana Gasteyer as a friend’s mom and Matthew Broderick as the adult Ralphie, skulking through the scenes with pithy commentary and a bowtie. (Ken Jeong, Fred Armisen and David Alan Grier pop up in cameos.) Although the cast was quite appealing and the show well staged (with hardly a hiccup or blooper), it couldn’t liven up the flat material. A three-hour runtime made it a slog, and the musical was overstuffed with songs, some added from the 2009 Broadway musical adaptation. Jokes were too far apart and never seemed to land. (And strangely, an unseen audience applauded for songs but didn’t laugh at punchlines.) The added songs were too sugary sweet for the irreverent story, and as a whole package, it felt tonally dissonant and a little dull. The production tried to gloss over some of the more dated aspects of the narrative, set in the 1940s, with awkward results. The musical was at its best when it let one of its veteran adult actors take a solo number and run with it, as when Gasteyer sang a (random but fun) Hanukkah interlude or Krakowski belted a Chicago- inspired solo. Rudolph did her best in a one-dimensional role, and Broderick was more distracting than helpful, haunting the scenes and randomly interacting with characters. Child actors were sweet and talented but overused, bordering on grating. Part of the joy of these musicals, from the much-maligned Sound of Music Live! to The Wiz Grease, to is nostalgia and the chance to sing along to old favorites. The film hits the nostalgia button (just see how many times it runs on cable during the holiday season), but the musical version hasn’t had a largeenough audience to permeate the culture, and Fox’s telecast couldn’t make a meaningful connection with viewers. It’s a problem not even dancing leg lamps can fix, but it certainly tried.