mark.waltz
After a rather inappropriate rap opening (with impossible to understand lyrics), this takes off with gusto in recreating all the classic moments from the 1983 cult favorite film adapted for the stage as a touring production and coming to Broadway in 2012. Having seen that production (right after visiting the other Christmas musical, "Elf!"), I was completely enchanted. Revisiting it the following year in the cavernous Madison Square Garden, I was too far away to regain that delight, but in anticipation of this TV special, prayed that all my favorite parts would be included. A few alterations didn't make much of a difference, although one major obvious blooper instantly got my attention, involving the infamous leg of lamp.Headlining the cast as the narrator and older version of the hopeful kid wanting the Red Ryder bee bee gun is the understated Matthew Broderick, perhaps not my first choice, but gray haired enough to be age appropriate. Chris Diamantopoulos and Maya Rudolph are perfect casting as the beleagured parents of the nearly angelic boys Ralphie and Randy (Andy Walken and Tyler Wladis) who bellow their lines a bit but do a fine job otherwise. Jane Krakowski youthens teacher Miss Shields, but seems very 1940's like in her singing and dancing. My favorite part of the Broadway production was Caroline O'Connor as the slightly older version (still younger than the 1983 version) who seems very 1940's and can be seen in the 2013's Tony Awards clip.A good majority of the Broadway score is present, and lovingly recreated. Certain changes are obviously p.c. based, but what matters is the joy that you can find if you open your hearts. Complaints about this being a musical were overwhelming to read, but it was never promoted as anything else. The important details are kept in place, especially the 1940's atmosphere. A little bit of Hannukah is added to diversify the holiday, and that's ok too. I just wish the continuity people noticed that there was another leg in the crate which made no sense for the burial of the entire lamp in that scene.
up_the_racket
I loved this. I have never seen the musical, only the movie but I really enjoyed it and it made me feel very festive. I see from the reviews people giving it 1 star because it should not be a musical. Not sure how you can give it one star, it was really entertaining. If you love Christmas and you love the original then you should love this. Just know its the musical and not just a live version of the movie. Loved the songs and jokes. The acting was great, even better when you think it was all done live.A new must watch for me and my family every year. I hope they do another live version of something next year.
vchimpanzee
In 2009, the switch to digital TV made it necessary for me to get cable. An antenna might have worked but a cheap cable package made it possible for me to get a dependable signal on nearly all those channels I used to watch with an antenna. And I received a couple of channels I wasn't supposed to. For the first time i was able to watch the Peter Billingsley movie I had heard so many great things about. Well, sort of. Since they weren't actually in my package, the signal quality was no better than some of the channels I had watched in the analog era, so I may have missed some details. Plus it wasn't in color. I don't remember a lot from eight years ago, but it was a pretty good movie and I remember some obvious details.Now for this production. It begins with a pointless number with what passes for music in 2017. The dancers are talented, but with auto-tune, I have no reason to evaluate talent of vocalists. The lead singer has lots of enthusiasm. And the same mess accompanies the cast members bowing at the end. Why? The production is supposed to be set in an era when music is music. And not long after that, we do see the cars and sets from the 1940s--or earlier. I know how old those great-looking cars are by listening to what I believe is Andy Walken giving us all sorts of interesting trivia at the beginning of commercial breaks. Whether you will see this or not I can't say, but it was fun.I mentioned talented dancers in the opening number. The kids in the main production are amazing. I assume they can sing as well as dance, but their dancing is flawless. They can even tap!I enjoyed watching Matthew Broderick as adult Ralphie narrating and being a part of the scenes he was in. For some strange reason he hands his mother dirty dishes and opens the car door for his younger self, but this production has so many fantasy scenes that it just seems natural.Andy Walken does a competent job as Ralphie. He seems more talented when he explains the movie during breaks. Tyler Wladis is good enough as the little brother.
Maya Rudolph is a frustrated but loving mother. She has one really good scene where she shows Ralphie how much she cares. Chris Diamantopoulos makes a suitably grumpy father who works hard (do we ever learn what he does?) and dislikes paying bills or having to fix this and that or having kids cause him problems. He can curse a blue streak, we are told, but we don't actually hear real curse words. Just nonsense. He also shows a loving side at times, and he can get excited, such as when he wins a prize for the game he was playing by mail. Yes, I remembered the leg lamp, and wait until you hear what they did with it. It is truly weird, however, to hear this typical 1940s father singing and dancing Broadway-style with all the joy and enthusiasm it calls for.Ana Gasteyer was so wonderful in the live "Grease!" production and, while she has a small role, mostly celebrating Hanukkah in song, she does quite well here too.It was nice to see Ken Jeong as the quirky and pushy Christmas tree salesman and again in a restaurant later. I've missed him since his show was cancelled and he delivers his usual performance. Nothing classic like "The Hangover", but enjoyable.Before I ever saw the movie, I was aware of the quote "You'll shoot your eye out" spoken by numerous characters. So what happens here? You guessed it. It seems overdone to have a song with those words, but it is a fantastic musical number overall. Most of it is done without words, and Jane Krakowski and those kids do a fantastic job.Fantasy sequences are a big part of the production, such as Broderick acting as a game show host. Sets are changed in real time without a hitch.The leg lamp is good for laughs, as it is seen by the world from the outside, as Ralphie';s parents disagree on whether to leave it on. And even the leg lamp has a musical number! A group of women wearing lampshade dresses, which of course are not proportional to the lampshade on the actual leg lamp, as they have to cover a lot more than the lampshade does. Another amazing musical number, if quite silly. Even an overhead shot that recalls Esther Williams.
This production makes an effort to be racially diverse. It's probably not realistic for the era, but black people are part of the production most of the time, in the classroom, on the playground and in the department store (I'm not counting Maya Rudolph, who appears to be white; perhaps her character his Southern European or Middle Eastern heritage). Asians are limited to Jeong in the tree lot, and Jeong again with the amazing singers in the restaurant. Only two African-American actors have significant roles, JJ Batteast is the boy who gets stuck to the pole, and he is so funny, mainly after he is freed. Interesting that he is free from the ploe in its accompanying musical number. And David Alan Grier does a fine job as one of the nastiest Santas you have ever seen. Would there have been black Santas in 1940 outside of a black neighborhood? Who cares? He's great.And Fred Armisen is quite enjoyable as a very unpleasant elf in the Santa scene.If something is live, things can go wrong. I saw very minor glitches in dialogue and one dancing child make a slight stumble, but you blink and you miss these. Ralphie's parents had one very funny scene involving the turkey that may have been a blooper where they couldn't stop laughing. But it could have been written that way. Is this family-friendly? Close enough. There are a few bad words which probably aren't all that shocking any more. The real curse words are not actually heard, such as when Ralphie says, "Fudge." This is done very effectively, by the way. Some young kids maybe shouldn't see this. Certainly not that Santa.I didn't sleep well the night before and my leg was hurting. An hour into this I was dreading having to sit through yet another two hours. But I was rewarded. The best of this was still to come.Did I enjoy it? Well, the best way to answer that is to look at this as a lot of great components put together into one unit. And that doesn't quite work. So let's just say I enjoyed the components individually and separately. Whether they fit together, I can't really say.
