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<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Seeing <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">A Christmas Story</I> for the first and
final time<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">This
review appeared in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald
</I>12/18/09</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Like the resolute few
who refused to become pods in the sci-fi film <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Invasion of the Body Snatchers</I>, there
are those of us who have yet to join in the holiday ritual of seeing <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">A Christmas Story</I> at the Cleveland Play
House.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">It’s nothing personal
or intentional.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Things have been
busy around the holidays… for the past five years.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">For remnant <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">A Christmas Story</I> neophytes, this
weekend is the last opportunity to see this cult classic for the first
time.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There are but five more
performances, after which the theater’s brain-trust has decided to move forward
and find the next holiday staple for this coveted slot in the schedule.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">After giving in and
finally seeing this production last weekend, here is a podcast of what the
remaining handful of holdouts have been missing.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Philip Grecian’s <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">A Christmas Story</I> is not unlike Charles
Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol” in that the audience experiences a warm and
fuzzy feeling by visiting a Christmas past with the main character. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In this case, he is an amiable fellow in
his 30s, played wonderfully by Christopher Burns, who serves as the show’s
narrator.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That is where the
similarities stop.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">With a grown up Ralph
as our guide, we go back to the Indiana suburb of his youth, to December of
1938.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Here we find a nine-year-old
Ralphie who wants an official Red Ryder 200-shot Carbine Action Range Model Air
Rifle for Christmas.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We witness
Ralphie’s assorted schemes to get the BB gun and, in doing so, are introduced to
his quirky family, his mildly dysfunctional friends and a model of
middle-America during a simpler time. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">A Christmas
Story</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> is not unlike a
Charles Schultz “Peanuts” TV special, where the world is seen through the
romanticized eyes of a cartoon child as written by an adult.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In fact, this play is very much a
live-action cartoon and director Seth Gordon accentuates everything that is
remotely cartoonish in this production.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The cartoon humor in
this production is broad, predictable and repetitive.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There are numerous running jokes.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There are sight gags.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Each time that Ralphie’s father—the Old
Man—comes home from work, he bolts through the front door after being attacked
by the neighbor’s vicious dogs. It’s hard not to envision Fred coming home from
work and being tossed out of his front door by a saber toothed house pet at the
start of every episode of <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The
Flintstones</I>. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Charles Kartali, as
the Old Man, is a Fred Flintstone—a loud, boisterous and endearingly harmless
guy.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His fellow performers also
deliver caricatures.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Elizabeth Ann
Townsend, as the Mom, is Jessica Rabbit in a housedress.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Joey Stefanko, who plays Ralphie,
channels Charlie Brown’s grief and Elroy Jetson’s misguided ingenuity.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His friends include the
equivalents of a know-it-all Lucy, a Pigpen and a Little Redheaded Girl played
by Courtney Nelson as Helen, Kole Selznick Hoffman as Schwartz and Olivia Doria
as Esther Jane, respectively. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Even the various set
pieces that simultaneously share the stage closely resemble animation cels.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Beautifully designed by Michael Ganio,
they offer slightly exaggerated representations of a living room, a school room,
a street lamp and the Higbee’s showroom that are so richly saturated with light
and color that they appear cartoonish.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">A Christmas
Story</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> is not unlike the
1983 film on which it is based, written by Jean Shepherd and shot largely in
Cleveland.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Knowledgeable audience
members react with nodding approval upon the delivery of a familiar line, a
recognized catchphrase or the occurrence of a specific moment in the play that
resembles a comparable moment in the film. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">There is comfort in
familiarity, and <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">A Christmas Story</I>
covers very familiar territory in its nostalgic venture into the past, its
cartoon characteristics and its celluloid heritage.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Is it great theater?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>No, but it moves fast and it is
delivered well.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Have the unwashed
few been missing a culturally significant something over the last five
years?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Not
really.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Nonetheless, this
holiday tradition will be sorely missed by those multitudes who have claimed it
as their own.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There are but five
more performances to see <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">A Christmas
Story</I> <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>for the first or final
time.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">A
Christmas Story</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
continues through December 20 in The Cleveland Play House’s Bolton Theatre.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which range from $23 to
$64, call </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">216-795-7000 or visit
<A href=""><FONT color=#0000ff>www.clevelandplayhouse.com</FONT></A><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">.<o:p></o:p></I></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>