Christmas movie becomes musical with a solid Hammond connection

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"A Christmas Story, The Musical!" is coming to the Chicago Theatre in December. The stage production is spun from the movie "A Christmas Story,"which sprang from the creative mind of writer Jean Shepherd, a Hammond native. | Photo provided

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Updated: July 14, 2011 11:41PM

“A Christmas Story” has become a yuletide staple.

The movie is based on memories of growing up in Northwest Indiana.

Now, the 1983 film has been transformed into “A Christmas Story, the Musical!” That’s right, it’s a stage version of the adventures of Ralphie and his dream of snaring a certain BB gun as a gift during — as Andy Williams calls it — “the most wonderful time of the year.”

“A Christmas Story, the Musical!” has a Dec. 14-to-30 engagement at the Chicago Theatre as part of a five-city national tour that begins Nov. 8 in Hershey, Pa.

Promising “a bright holiday score,” the musical seems to mimic the movie, which was the creation of writer and Hammond native Jean Shepherd, who died in 1999 at the age of 78.

Shepherd even narrated “A Christmas Story,” which is set in the mythical town of Hohman, but in actuality represents his boyhood home of Hammond. (There is a Hohman Avenue in Hammond.)

How it began

The seeds for “A Christmas Story” were planted in “Red Ryder Nails the Hammond Kid,” a Shepherd story that appeared in Playboy magazine in 1965.

In the movie, Ralphie covets a Red Ryder brand BB gun.

In a case of title embellishment, Shepherd’s piece in Playboy morphed into the short story “Duel in the Snow, or Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid.”

Playboy, by the way, published numerous short stories by Shepherd, who was a radio humorist.

But he was serious about debunking the notion that “A Christmas Story” was intended to be this warm, fuzzy remembrance about childhood days.

Instead of being a whimsical, nostalgic look at Christmas, the movie really carried an anti-gun slant.

Not only did Shepherd herald that clarification, he also stated the flick wasn’t meant to be a slobbering vehicle for touting nostalgia and his good ol’ days in Hammond.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not getting a strong anti-gun message from “A Christmas Story.”

Yep, it does have some sardonic cynicism and sports a hint of edginess.

Ralphie, for instance, gets a bar of soap jammed in his mouth for cursing.

Hey, it’s not cool for parents to do that to their kids nowadays, is it?

However, it’s hard to cull any intense message from the movie about the abnormal love affair some Americans may have with guns.

A soft side

“A Christmas Story” just may be the most popular Christmas movie of all time in the U. S., and it reached that pinnacle because it does indeed come off as a string of relatable and funny childhood episodes, told from a young boy’s perspective.

Shepherd — who co-wrote the screenplay — was the movie’s driving force, so if it’s widely misunderstood by people, that was kind of his fault. I’m guessing that “A Christmas Story, The Musical!” is going to focus on sentimentality and comedy that’s not mean-spirited when it comes to the Windy City’s Chicago Theatre on North State Street. Visit www.thechicagotheatre.com for more details.

Peter Billingsley, who played Ralphie in the movie, is a producer of the holiday-season tour of the musical.

You can expect the wacky leg lamp, the pink bunny outfit and other memorable images from the movie.

Hammond, as it should, remembers its famous native son with the Jean Shepherd Community Center.

“A Christmas Story” may not have been successful in delivering the message he wanted it to, but Shepherd, hopefully, can’t be too bothered in the great hereafter by the fact that he spun out a yuletide classic — especially when it has made so many people happy.

Bob Kostanczuk talks entertainment with Steve “The Preacher” Glover from 12:15 to 1 p.m. each Friday on WJOB-AM (1230) and online at WJOB1230.com.