Home Show A Christmas Story The Musical

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We're live every Sunday night, 7 Eastern, 4 Pacific, your one-stop shop for all things pop culture.
But right now, we're not live because it's time for another home show, home show, home show, home show, home show!
Number 453 for those of you playing the home game.
Welcome.
My name is Rob. I am the executive producer of the Clubhouse Podcast.
And I just love it when he's when Ralphie says, and the thing that tells time.
I find that humorous every time never gets old.
But I'm not alone for this particular episode. Joining me in the co-host chair is my co-host.
And a man who believes it's impossible to shoot your eye out.
Shoot it in. You can't shoot it out. He is Chad. Welcome sir.
This is very true.
I've never understood it. I have an ether.
Rounding out the days is the official fact checker of this show.
And a man that once told Santa Claus he wanted a football and then Santa Claus kicked him down a slide.
You may know him as Fondango. You might know him as Igboonu.
But we know him as Don Fork as his mom calls him now. We're going to call him that. What's up brother?
Okay. Do you want to hear the Santa story when I was a kid at the mall?
Can you do it in 10 seconds or less?
No.
Okay, then we don't want to.
But it'd be funny though.
We have a very limited time frame.
Okay, I'll pass on it.
But yeah, it got bad.
Maybe you talk about it on our normal show, something that I said before Pacific.
I'm your boy.
You could probably figure out what we're talking about by now.
But you might not know exactly what we're talking about.
With our friends at the AT&T Performing Arts Center and the Winspear Opera House for a very, very short time,
we got to for the second time check out the traveling company of a Christmas story, the musical.
For something?
Yes, we got things in here. Everybody at the ATT Pack the Winspear.
We love our vendors.
She's a sweetheart. We love her.
Such big fans, especially at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.
They take care of us.
They let us see stuff so we can talk to you guys about them.
Because this isn't just about the Pimmers of the Empire that are here in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
This is a traveling company, so this could be coming to a place near you.
Now, a Christmas story.
Based on the short story written by Jean Shepard called In God We Trust, all others pay cash.
Semi-autobiographical in nature.
If I'm not mistaken, should I have my right on that?
This is true, yes.
1940 Indiana, although the house is in Cleveland.
Did you know that you can rent the house?
Yes, I did.
It's actually a museum.
Somebody bought it to a museum.
And for a while there, the kid that played Randy was your tour guide.
He lived there.
Nice.
And the money they make for Christmas Eve night, the auction that night off, goes to a charity.
Yes.
So the story of Ralphie and his red rider BB gun
with the compass on the side and the thing that tells time.
Compass in the stock.
It's called a clock.
That's all I've said.
Compass is in the stock.
You are correct.
We saw this for the first time about three years ago.
Give or take somewhere in there.
Two, three years ago.
And I was worried when we went the first time because I was like...
And it says this in the description of this episode.
That the movie version is a staple to everybody on this show.
Right.
Like all of our reviews that are currently located at www.theclubhousepodcast.com.
That's our website.
All of them pretty much start the same way.
I watch the movie every day.
Whether you want to or not.
Well, why would you not want to?
Yeah, if you don't want to, then move yourself to a communist country.
Because there's nothing that's not to love about this film.
Absolutely.
This one in the Christmas Carol.
I can watch over and over and over again.
Because I love the story.
I love the message of the story.
And it's the magic of Christmas.
So turning it into a musical.
I was a little concerned.
But that night, the first time we saw it, I did get my picture with one of the actual
leg lamp shoes in the movie, which is on our social media somewhere.
So I got a picture of it too.
And I enjoyed it.
There are some liberties taken here.
Like they take all of the dream sequences and pretty much combine them into one number.
Right.
Called Ralphie to the rescue.
There's another for lack of a better term musical sequence that revolves around the leg lamp.
There is an entire song committed to you'll shoot your eye out.
I won't say that it's on the same level as the film.
Because there's a certain charm to the film that just can't be replicated.
Right.
It's something about that wide eyed innocence about that film.
I don't even know if it could be replicated.
They've tried.
They've tried with sequels.
And it's just a certain.
No, yeah.
You know, Ralphie as a brunette was a little weird to me the first time we saw it.
Yeah.
But I was able to look past it.
So was I.
So the second time around, seeing it in a different venue.
Because at one point, we couldn't remember which venue.
We saw that.
I remember the first one.
Oh, I do now.
But when we first were talking about it, whenever we get this, because we,
this isn't the first time we've seen a production that's come through town more than once.
True.
And so we always like to talk about how we feel the second time through versus how we felt the first time through.
I mean, there were definitely some technical issues when we saw it.
Uh-huh.
There was, there was some mixing issues.
But I thought, first of all, let's just say the cast handled it professionally like a bunch of champs.
Oh, yeah.
Uh, you know, and we're not going to go into all the, of the, of some of the technical issues specifically,
because there's no need for that.
But there were definitely some technical issues.
I thought the orchestra was great.
Yes.
Nailed it.
But for me.
And I don't know what to be if it's because I hold this movie so close to my heart.
Like I've watched it every year.
Over 30 years now.
Because what was your, what was the movie 1983?
83, uh-huh.
So we're, we're talking 30, 35 years.
Right.
This movie's been around.
And I've watched it almost every year.
Thank you, TBS, even though I own the blue right now.
But I'll put it on there anyway.
And then, oh, it's starting again.
Of course it is.
Yeah.
You know, and you're bummed when it ends.
You're bummed when the marathon's over.
And like my niece whose eight will sit down and watch it.
Like this movie spans generations.
So I guess for me, I have such a love for the film.
That the musical automatically gets points with me.
Right.
It's like being at home in football.
You're given three because you're at home.
You're a three point favorite.
So it's not perfect.
But it's at least serviceable.
And I enjoyed it.
Yes.
And I can't say that I enjoyed it any more or less than I did the first time around.
Yeah.
Yeah, I agree with you there.
Somebody else doesn't.
We're waiting on you, sir.
Oh, that's what you cause you're not a spill.
No, no, no, no.
This is a discussion.
Yes.
Okay.
Me on this one here.
The man who plays Gene the narrator.
That would be one Chris Carsten.
Hits it out the park.
Hits it out the park in my opinion.
I want to say it's the same guy that did it the first time we saw it.
He's the kind of guy that you would like.
Can you just sit down and tell me a story?
Because he has a great presence on stage because in the stage version,
because in the film version,
Gene Shepherd does narrate the story.
Right.
In this version, it's treated more like you're listening to a radio show
as he's narrating.
So he's there.
He's the unseen entity to the people on stage.
And he talks to the crowd.
And he's talking.
Yeah.
You feel like he's talking just great to you.
It's borderline breaking the fourth wall.
The set was incredible.
It's the same one if I remember from the other one where it shows the house like
one wall is just cut out.
Yeah.
I think the set is beautiful.
The lighting is beautiful.
The music was good.
I know there was technical and stuff like that.
Here's my problem.
The actor who played Ralphie.
Which there are two in this production.
But we weren't exactly sure which one it was.
Yes.
They go back and forth between a Michael Norman and an Ian Shaw.
Okay.
Here's my problem.
The one who played him was horrible in my opinion.
I hate to use that one.
Yeah.
I read this in your review.
And I was a little shocked because I didn't see that.
Well, here was the problem I saw.
First off, he looked like squints from...
The same amount.
In my opinion.
He looked like squints.
Hey, squint has the best moment in that entire thing.
I know he does.
But when casting, would you use black china
or Carly B to play Maria in the sound of music?
Probably not.
Let's pause for a minute.
Let's step back.
Let's take a couple of steps back.
And first of all, respect the fact that Don actually referenced
Black China or Cardi B.
But he said, Carly B.
Did you say...
Well, whatever.
Carly Cardi B.
You were so close.
Just still.
Black China got right.
You did.
Okay.
But you know, by that same token,
a lot of people weren't prepared for Diana Ross
to play Dorothy in the Wiz.
But how great was that movie, though?
But again, it's the choices you make.
Every choice is a gamble.
But when you think, I think of Ralphie, he has,
which I paid my written view, www.colpasplacast.com.
That's our website.
We know Ralphie as the kid who's a little fluffy,
okay, and stature.
This guy who plays looks like squins is a toothpick.
But I think something...
And I know.
And I've seen the guy who played flick in this production,
I think looked more like Ralphie to me than the Ralphie character was.
I think he should have been Ralphie.
I think he would have picked a Ralphie tone.
This man, he wasn't everything more.
This guy who played Ralphie,
who, like, if you watch in a movie,
is kind of a passive quiet person.
But throw this to Chad, though,
because Chad, we talked about this in pre-show.
And Chad had a very interesting,
I don't want to say counterpoint.
Yeah.
But he had a very interesting piece
that he added to the y'all's conversation.
Now, I was just listening,
so I was in a part of that conversation.
But Chad, go ahead and give your part
to what Dom was talking about there.
The fact that I don't think any of us,
and I feel like we are probably,
lesser people for not doing it, are evil.
We've never really gone to the source material
of, in God, we trust all of us pay cash,
and seen in how he's portrayed in the book,
how they describe him physically in the book.
It may be closer to what we're seeing on stage,
than we've seen on screen.
We don't know.
They may be more faithful to the source material
in this musical than they were in the film.
They just went with Peter Billingsley
because he was kind of like the it kid at the time.
But not even taken that away.
Ralphie is kind of a quiet, passive guy.
He's not the leader of the group,
like on the thing with the flight pole.
He just sat back and watched.
He did a lot of stuff where he just sat back
and was very passive.
Okay?
For instance, like the thing to put the note
about, or the advertisement for the red rider.
He's too afraid to say, I want this.
I want this.
He's too afraid to say it 20 times.
He's kind of a passive person who is quiet.
He's a quiet person in nature.
This kid who we saw last night,
it looked like he drank a 12 pack of monster
and a six pack of red bull
and then took eight candy bars
and then took another six pack of red bulls.
I totally see him.
And he looked like he needed to be on red one.
He was such a high volume, high talking,
high screaming, very excitable person,
which is a total opposite of what Ralphie is known as.
But again, you're also comparing screen acting
to stage acting.
And stage acting, you kind of have to oversell
what you're doing.
And with these kids still being relatively inexperienced at this,
granted this is what they're doing for a career.
But they may not have learned that balance of,
because you got to admit, Don, almost every production
that we've gone to till the Annie,
anything that featured a really kid-heavy cast,
it's been the same thing.
It's been relatively the same thing.
The lead character, when it's a child actor,
has to really put themselves out there
because they have to project everything they're doing,
they have to overdo everything,
because they have to play to the back of the room.
They have to really enunciate,
they really have to overact
in order to look like it's normal acting.
But that's what I say, they are theater kids.
That's how they're trying.
And I see your point,
but still there's many rhythms and stuff like that,
where he doesn't act and look like in talk
and everything else, like he needs readily.
I'm just saying, there are certain mannerisms
without talking on the stage,
where he seems like he is full of sugar
and he can't calm him down,
because he's gonna translate well on the stage though.
I get what you're saying,
and I know that you may not be
as accustomed to seeing child actors,
as I'm not trying to say,
I know more than you know,
but because I've been involved in that for a long time.
I've been doing stage time.
I've been doing stage time.
Well, there's a certain,
and I see what Chad's going in.
I mean, allow me to bridge the gap a little bit here.
There is a certain level of bravado
that goes into this.
Exactly.
And on film,
it's easier to convey a subtlety
because the camera's right here.
When you're on stage,
you kind of have to overemphasize
to get to the people in the back row.
And I think that's where he's going with it,
but I understand where you're coming out.
And I see here's point two.
But here's another thing about this production.
The film is about an hour and 30.
Okay.
They could have showed the whole film
and still have another 30, 40 minutes left over.
There was stuff out of the film
that was cut out,
like a certain red-head orphan
who I don't want to give her name,
but she may be a licensing issue though, Don.
Yeah, and I thought about that too.
And that's one of my favorite parts of the film.
I mean, the movie's 35 years old.
The part with little orphan Annie.
Yeah, you don't hear a little orphan Annie once.
He's right, that might be a licensing problem.
Also, notice there was no reference to the Wizard of Oz,
either because Wizard of Oz references were sprinkled
all through the film.
But still they could have had her as the witch and stuff.
Not necessarily.
Oh, witch.
I can say I'm a witch.
I'm a witch.
You know, I have sure come as a witch.
I mean, a witch is a universal,
uncooperatable thing,
but calling the witch a witch of the west
is something different.
But still, the thing was there,
this thing was about two hours and 15 minutes,
not counting the intermission,
going straight time.
Because we left about 10 and started about 730,
since about the end of 15.
So it's at least two hours.
This has another 30 minutes longer than the movie,
and there's still stuff from the movie that was cut out,
and they added all this extra song stuff.
And they had took a lot of liberties,
which I didn't like.
There was one scene I did not like.
There was some sense I did like.
How they went back with the bullies and all that stuff.
The flagpole, of course, classic.
And I really love that.
I love the narrator.
But there was a scene where there's the conflict
after the lamp is broken.
And that's totally different than from what we know,
where they basically brought it out and have a fight.
There was no conflict between the parents,
in a way that we know it.
This one, this was a major conflict.
They both had to leave.
The kids are like, oh my god, what's wrong with mom and dad?
This is a horrible situation.
That's totally out of what field for me.
Well, but again, this could have been something
that was in the original story that they took out.
I wrote a film because of when the film was made.
And it was more geared as a kid's movie.
And we don't know, because why would we do research?
But, but I see where you're going.
These are things that weren't in the film version up,
and we're welcoming the newest member of the cast
as Jackson Monroe Irvin is exploring the studio.
I just, I enjoyed this for what it was.
It's not perfect by any stretch,
but let me tell you something.
And I do want to give a shout out that we haven't talked about yet.
And this would be one why it was.
If you were going to say it, I was.
He plays Scott Furcus,
but he also has other roles within it.
Two words.
Three words.
Tap dance and fool this guy.
Wow!
What absolute talent in this kid?
There was a give and take with him and Miss Shields.
During what I think was incredible.
Yeah, I think it was the high point of the entire production.
Let's make sure we get first.
Miss Shields played by Lauren Kent.
She was really good.
She was good, but this wide Oswald can go.
I mean, I was blown away by this kid.
Absolutely blown away.
I mean, not so much as this performance of Scott Furcus,
because I'm sure that he got to sink his teeth
into a really fun role to play,
but when this kid puts his tap dance and she was on, good God.
And I don't care who plays.
I can't remember the sidekick's name.
Dill.
Grover Dill.
Braden Brickner.
I don't care who plays that role.
It's always Titus' brother to me.
I don't care.
No.
He was Scott Furcus.
Was he Scott Furcus?
Yeah.
That's right.
Yeah, Scott Furcus.
I'll always see Titus' brother.
Yeah.
Yeah, so will I.
Anything else we want to talk about before we get to the final analysis?
No, I think we have encapsulated it a bit.
Yeah.
The way we do the final analysis on this show,
we're not going to give you thumbs up, thumbs down,
letters, numbers, leg lamps, anything like that.
Two up to two questions.
Question number one is what we see this production again.
If the answer's no, then we're done here.
But if the answer's yes, since this is a stage production,
it's a little bit different.
This question becomes, where would you pay to sit?
Because, of course, the closer you get, the more expensive it gets,
and the more investments you have.
Shall I start with you?
Would you see a Christmas Carol in musical again?
Oh, I'm sure I would.
Where are you sitting?
Like behind the mixing board would be fine.
So not much farther back from where we were.
Because we had pretty good seats in this.
Yeah, we did.
We were at four or five rows in front of the board.
Don?
I've got to sound things.
Oh, yeah, I'm sorry.
I've got to ding it in this.
And then we'll give that one.
That's still pretty expensive.
Don, would you see this again?
Uh, yeah.
Where are you sitting?
Third balcony.
Oh, jeez.
Yeah.
So you're right.
You're right there on the others.
Yeah.
You're right there on this side of yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I would.
I agree with Chad.
I just need to farther away you are from this thing.
It's going to be tough to see all the nuance of it.
Right.
I didn't say fourth balcony, but third.
Right.
Yeah.
I mean, still the narration was great.
The scent was beautiful.
I just thought this kid is real.
It is the musical touring company.
See it when it comes to your town.
Of a Christmas story.
Boy in the soul thing.
Yes.
We got things in here.
Made an ATT back in the wind spare.
We love our vendors.
They take care of us.
They let us do cool stuff.
Like see plays and musicals.
So we can talk to you guys about them.
Thank you guys so much.
That being said, let's do the plugs.
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Also email me.
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So until next time.
For Don.
For Chad and the Empire.
I'm Rob.
Clubhouse is closed.
And Pretty Palmer.
You have it right there.
It should be one of the elves for the Santa scene.
I'm just saying.
I'm just saying.