“A Christmas Story” — the tale of a Depression-era Christmas, and a boy yearning for a BB gun — is a pop culture classic.
It’s on TV every year. There are “Christmas Story” ties and underwear.
Now it’s on a 5-city tour. The ultimate goal: Broadway.
Director John Rando (“Urinetown”) and choreographer Warren Carlyle (“Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway”) are behind the show.
Justin Paul
So is co-composer Justin Paul, the 2003 Staples graduate still revered for his theatrical and musical accomplishments there.
Justin worked on “A Christmas Story” with his longtime creative partner Benj Pasek (they met as freshmen at the University of Michigan).
The score, according to today’s New York Times, is “1940s but through the lens of Benj and Justin 2011.”
The Times story added:
Several songs interpret famous scenes from the film, including “A Major Award,” which features a leg-lamp kick line, and “You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out,” which sets the movie’s most famous warning to music. As with any adaptation, the creators faced the problem of how to stay loyal to the film without regurgitating it.
The piece concludes:
While Mr. Pasek and Mr. Paul expressed enthusiasm about the possibility of the show’s being their Broadway debut, they are busy with other projects, including musical adaptations of Roald Dahl’s “James and the Giant Peach” and the 1991 indie film “Dogfight,” which is having a reading in New York next week.
“Thankfully, the decision is not in the hands of two neurotic 26-year-olds,” Mr. Paul said. “It’s up to people with a lot more power and money than we have.”
