A Christmas Story: The Musical

While this blog is geared toward topics like horror movies and video games, I must let you know that I am a fan of other genres as well. One of my favorite films is A Christmas Story. It is one of the few movies that capture the true feeling of being a child. You'd think that adult filmmakers would be able to do this more often, considering that we are all children for over a decade. Somewhere in the transition into adulthood, we often lose sight of what it means to be a kid. That's what makes this movie so special.

Gene Shepherd's humor provided the nostalgic basis for the film, which turned out to be a comedy classic when put into the hands of director Bob Clark. I am a fan of the stories on which the movie was based; yet I think that the tales reached a new level of genius when handled by the talented film crew and cast. That being said, I had the opportunity to watch the musical production based on the film when it came to Detroit at the Fox Theater on November 25th. In writing this review, I know I must address the issue of whether the musical could match up to the movie. Let me get it out the way and say that the musical is not nearly as good.

Don't get me wrong. The Seattle-based production was indeed wonderful. However, anyone going into the theater expecting a retelling of the story with as much magic as Clark's film will be disappointed. I had no such expectations and, thus, enjoyed it thoroughly.

Someone might watch a musical reimagining of a beloved classic film for a variety of reasons. Some may like musicals. I can understand that there is motivation in seeing what kinds of songs may be written about one of your favorite stories. I, personally, am not a fan of musicals. Musical numbers are often contrived and unpleasing to my musical tastes. The music in A Christmas Story was not bad, but I can only recall one musical number being memorable. "Ralphie to the Rescue" is certainly catchy and worth listening to again. Credit must be given for making all of the songs fit into the story.

I did not let my bias against musicals ruin my enjoyment of the show. I came to see the production for another reason: to see how things would turn out differently when performed on a stage by stage actors directed by a theater director. I was pleased with the results.

The plot pretty much followed that of the film closely. There were only a couple of changes. One plot point was omitted. Anyone familiar with the film may remember the scenario with the Little Orphan Annie decoder pin. That side plot didn't make the cut. This was surely done to shorten the run time. After sitting in uncomfortable theater seats for the length that I did, I did not mind the exclusion of a minor plot point to help pacing. The only other noticeable major change came late in the second act.

Again, this is probably only noticeable if you are familiar with the movie. A scene in which the infamous "Major Award" leg lamp is broken gets shuffled to the night before Christmas. The children of the family attempt in vain to piece the lamp back together while singing a number. I can only assume this was to provide some more human conflict to the tale end of the story. The whole scene really adds nothing and could have been omitted to help keep the length down. I'm not complaining, though, because it's a new spin on the old story. It actually does more to build the little brother Randy into a human character (which I don't care for, but hey, at least it's interesting).

Another aspect I got behind was the framing narrative. Jean Shepherd lent his trademark voice to the narration of the film. A voiceover probably wouldn't work as well on stage. The musical decided to compensate for this by changed the narrator into an onstage character. Now the audience is able to see Shepherd narrate into his radio mic as his sound effect guy provides the background noise. Shepherd is actually present in a few scenes, creating an interesting visual that never becomes a distraction.

Again, these changes aren't drastic. Only fans of the movie would notice. The plot is largely the same. The script borrows many of the same lines, and almost all the jokes are present. The narration still rattles off the classic lines. Overall, it's the same, yet I notice a little more exploration into the theme of Ralphie's disappointing odds of getting his Red Ryder BB gun. The narration does a good job of reminding the audience that the tides are against him. It's a small touch, but one I think adds to the overall story.

So the music's alright and the plot's all there. That leaves the acting. Everyone knows that the acting in the film is super. Peter Billingsley will forever be associated with the lead role of Ralphie in the original motion picture. Darren McGavin is synonymous with the old man. Ultimately, the acting on the stage recaptures the essence of the characters but lacks the nuances of the acting on the silver screen.

The 2011 production starred Clarke Hallum as Ralphie, John Bolton as the Old Man, among others. Hallum did a good job as Ralphie overall, but lacked the humorous enthusiasm in body language that Peter Billingsley and Kieran Kulkin portrayed in the same role. That's not to say it was bad. It is a stage show, and I cannot reasonably expect the acting to be the same. John Bolton portrayed the father as more of a hothead, similar to the way Charles Grodin did in It Runs in the Family (the 1994 "sequel" directed by Bob Clark using the same Shepherd source material). It wasn't bad either, just different from the perfect portrayal by McGavin.

Every time I show It Runs in the Family to friends, there is a resounding disappointment with the new actors (aside from Culkin, who did an excellent job). Being that this is a stage show, the acting is bound to be different. This meant everyone was free to enjoy the differences as a new interpretation, rather than an unfortunate side effect of an inferior production.

If you are able to enjoy a beloved classic being transferred to a different medium, I recommend you see the show should you be given the opportunity. I normally hate reimaginings of my favorite things, like terrible remakes of classic horror flicks. Still, I enjoyed this, and you probably would too.

Please Don't Feed My Kaiju - Ultraman E02

Ultraman E02 - "Shoot the Invader"

Alien Baltan is incinerating the city!

We continue our kaiju madness with episode 02 of Ultraman. "Shoot the Invader" is closer to what I expected from the series than episode 01. There's a ton of kiddy comic relief. I'm not complaining. The punchline at the end of the episode even made me laugh.


This tale is narrated by the goofiest Science Patrol squad member Ito. Aliens have arrived via invisible flying saucer and are freezing everyone in sight. Japanese officials agree to let the Science Patrol send Ito and Hayata to investigate after their first man is frozen. The space creatures, known as Alien Baltan, confuse their enemies with optical illusions and then freeze them with laser beams from their claws. The Science Patrol rayguns don't have much effect on the aliens, so Hayata decides to take a diplomatic approach. The aliens, using the Patrol's own affected member as a mouthpiece, explain that they have destroyed their own planet and are here to take over earth. It turns out that the Alien Baltan brought 60 billion of their own microscopic race and they're all hovering in the sky in their invisible ship. The creature we saw earlier is their biggest member. Hayata says screw that, and all hell breaks loose. The Baltan grows to 50 meters and smashes Hayata with its giant claw (!). Soon it starts tearing apart the city. Hayata, of course, uses his capsule, transforming into Ultraman and vanquishing his foe (and the space ship).


While the pre-fight plot is certainly juvenile in tone, it's never stupid. I didn't laugh at the childish joke about Ito wearing slippers, but I didn't get offended either. I liked to use of Ito as narrator. Ultraman definitely surprised me there, showing that it's not a one man show. Other characters show up again, like the charming little boy, yet the focus is really on Ito and Hayata. This episode did a good job building a connection with the two. I really hope Ito gets some more major roles. 


The empty building full of humans frozen in mid motion was kind of neat. The episode, despite its short length, really put over  the danger of the alien invasion. There's a scene showing a deliberation of Japanese officials and Science Patrol about how to handle the menace. The Alien Baltan really seemed more serious than Bemular from episode 01. The scene on the rooftop with the aliens speaking through the frozen Space Patrol member is actually really neat. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was creepy, but a little kid might be spooked by the monster. Really though, aside from a couple of Godzilla movies, the point of kaiju isn't to be scared but to see giant monsters fight!



The fight in this movie was a lot cooler than the first episode's cheesy wrestling. Most interestingly, it takes place at night. There are more model buildings too, as the fight takes place in a city as opposed to the rural area. My favorite scene in the show is when the Alien Baltan flamethrows and entire model skyscraper. Also of note is the show where Ultraman grabs the Baltan and flies with him through the silent night sky. The battle becomes an aerial dogfight, ending with the alien kaiju going down in flames. Despite being all of four minutes, I loved it all. The only thing negative I have to say is that the monster design wasn't nearly as appealing as the first episode. I guess I like the Godzilla rip off look of Bemular more than the insect-meets-crab look of this episode's monster. Nothing looked bad, but I've seen much cooler looking Ultra Monsters.


All in all, the show was very good. I liked it better than the first episode, even if the monster wasn't as cool. Ito makes a good lead protagonist. Special effects were really nice for the time, and the kaiju fighting was top notch for a short show like this. I'll continue watching the show and hope that the next episodes are as good!

Please Don't Feed My Kaiju - Ultraman E01

The genesis of this blog happens to be coinciding with the beginning of my fascination with kaiju--that is, giant Japanese monsters. I'm certainly no stranger to the kaiju genre, having seen at least a dozen in my lifetime. This recent interest, however, is sparking in my a desire to watch and review as many kaiju movies as I can this winter.

Let me preface this all by saying that I really love Heisei era Godzilla. Always have. My favorite kaiju movie so far is Godzilla 1985 (or more accurately, The Return of Godzilla version). My favorite colossal beast is Gamera. I think it will be interesting to see how this changes by the end of this project.

My first kaiju review for Please Don't Feed is not going to be a movie but rather an episode of the classic tokusatsu series Ultraman. Ultraman is a cool choice for this feature because each episode has a new kaiju for Ultraman to fight and there's only 39 half-hour episodes, making it a very light time commitment. The original Ultraman series is available super cheap on DVD. I ordered the entire series released by Mill Creek on four discs for less than $8 shipped. Without further ado, let's review Ultraman episode one!

Ultraman E01 - "Ultra Operation No. 1"

Bemular and Ultraman are about to tango!

I watched this episode earlier today with English dubbing turned on. Generally speaking, I prefer neither subs nor dubs and greatly enjoy both. The Mill Creek DVDs I own contain both English and Japanese audio tracks with English subtitles. The subtitles are translations of the Japanese dialogue and thus differ substantially (enough to distract) from the English dubbing. You may still find yourself turning them on occasionally, however, as there is footage that never received dubbing that is included even when you have English audio turned on.

This episodes plot involves Science Patrol team member Shin Hayata chance encounter with a UFO orb. Hayata crashes his ship into a floating ball, taking him to the verge of death. The other party in the crash happens to be Ultraman. To make up for nearly killing poor Hayata, Ultraman decides to merge their two beings together. Hayata can now morph into Ultraman for a limited time using the beta capsule. Prior to the crash, Ultraman was in pursuit of the 50 meter tall dino kaiju Bemular. Bemular lands in a lake and decides to re-emerge the next day. Hayata and the Science Patrol immediately attack Bemular with no negotiation. Their lasers and missiles have little effect. The giant lizard bites Hayata's submarine and attacks the others with heat breath. Hayata uses the capsule to become Ultraman and makes easy work of Bemular. The monster tries to escape in its pod but is blown out of the sky.

The first episode was a lot better than I expected. I was surprised at the tone of the show. I expected something much more juvenile. Don't get me wrong--the show is quite kid friendly, but not to the point where it becomes a distraction. The episode does manage to maintain a semi-serious science fiction tone throughout. Once Bemular appears, things start to resemble the action shots of the 1958 film Varan the Unbelievable. It very well could have been Varan stepping out of that lake and being bombarded with missiles (and boy, did he get hit with a TON of missiles).

The special effects were fairly decent. Ultraman obviously didn't have the big budget that a feature film like Godzilla did, yet nothing looked too silly. Bemular didn't look too scary, mostly because it was shot in full lighting. On the other hand, it sure did look like a monster that could squash you handily. The miniature models were present in small doses although I would have liked to have seen more. The models are limited to a few cabins being crushed as Ultraman and Bemular tussled about.

The most disappointing thing about the episode is Ultraman's super sloppy stuntwork. I have seen clips of the show before, so I knew to expect. That didn't stop me from frowning seeing the amateur, unchoreographed wrestling between our hero and his foe. Whoever played Ultraman looked like a hyperactive 5 year old in that suit. One particularly embarrassing moment saw Ultraman deliver a horrid elbow drop/body splash to the downed Bemular. Honestly, the kaiju fighting is worse than the cheesiest scenes I've witnessed in the Godzilla and Power Rangers/Super Sentai franchises.

Your mileage may vary. I normally don't like retro shows from the 60s or 70s, but Ultraman was pretty decent in that regard. Despite my displeasure with the suit fighting, I really liked the visual look of the kaiju. The Ultra Monsters have some of the best kaiju design available. If you're a kaiju fan wondering whether you should pick Ultraman, I say go for it. The entire original series is available for under $10. It cost me all of $0.20 to see the first episode of Ultraman, and I think it was totally worth it.

Check it out!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. The name's Will. I'm a 20-something math teacher located in the Metro Detroit area. I like all sorts of stuff, ranging from horror movies to pro wrestling to punk music to retro video gaming to . . . You get the idea.


So if you aren't already burned out on reading nerds on the internet talk about nerdy things, then stick around and have a read. You might discover something cool.