INSIDE INK

By John Rowell

 

WATCH OUT FOR THAT BB GUN

The family in “A Christmas Story” may be a bit dysfunctional (remember the leg lamp? And the mother’s fear of the BB gun?) but they’re on the G-rated side. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Everyone knows the early-80s movie “A Christmas Story,” and now that the annual holiday favorite is getting the stage musical treatment. This week, there will be an industry-only reading of a new musical version of the movie and Jean Shepherd’s series of short stories: In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. Among those set to participate are Beau Bridges, Gregg Edelman, Liz Larsen, Dalton Harrod, Michael D’Addario, Simon Pincus, Henry Hodges and Annie Golden. Joseph Robinette has written the book and Scott Davenport Richards the music and lyrics. Perhaps this time next year (if Santa is good to them) they might all find themselves working on a full-fledged production of the show... stay tuned.

 

Ralphie Returns: The 1983 classic "A Christmas Story" is getting the stage treatment.

 

MEET ME IN SAINT...

...Well, somewhere in the Midwest. I’m working backwards here, because I have one more show about a family at holiday time to tell you about. This one, even more G-rated than the last one (and there’s nothing wrong with that!), looks back to the turn of the last century. The cast of characters includes a curious journalist and his extremely unusual next door neighbors: a Midwestern gubernatorial candidate, his houseguest and their wide circle of friends. Hilarity — and good old fashioned turn-of-the-century charm — ensues. That’s the premise behind Beasley’s Christmas Party, a world premiere play from Keen Company based on a story by Booth Tarkington (who wrote The Magnificent Ambersons.) Adapted by CW Munger and directed by Keen Artistic Director Carl Forsman, the show plays at The Keen Company on 42nd Street through January 3. For more info, visit www.keencompany.org.

 

SHAKESPEARE FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Who needs High School Musical 1, 2 or 3 when you can see real, live and in-person high school students performing something of, um, substance, as in... Shakespeare? Just in time for the holidays, New York’s OBIE-winning Epic Theatre Ensemble, a company of Citizen-Artists who use theater to inspire dialogue about vital social, ethical, and political issues, and Epic’s After School Shakespeare Program, in conjunction with Chelsea High School and Automative High School, will present their own productions of Romeo and Juliet and The Winter’s Tale now through December 20 at East 13th Street Theater. Check out www.epictheatreensemble.org ... And there’s Shakespeare for the New Year too. After the holidays, New York Neo-Classical Ensemble will stage Twelfth Night with a live indie-rock band. It’s Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, about the lengths we go to reach those we love, but this time combined with a live band, playing a fresh indie rock score that might have been downloaded just hours before from your very own iTunes! Stephen Stout is the director, and the production opens Jan. 8 at The Kirk Theatre on Theatre Row. For more info on New York Neo-Classical Ensemble, visit the Web site at www.newyorkneo.org.

 

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE XMAS

Yes, Virginia Woolf, there is a Santa Claus, and, according to playwright Greg Kotis (of Urinetown fame), he’s got a sleigh full of... issues. What? In The Truth About Santa, Kotis’s new play with music, Santa gets revealed, warts and all, and it ain’t pretty: we’re talking mistreatment of elves here, we’re talking a George and Martha-type domestic life with the fearsome Mrs. Claus, and then there are the Claus children, who seem to have strange, apocalyptic powers. What’s going on up there at that North Pole anyway?! You’ll have to find out at The Kraine Theater (85 E. 4th St.) where the world premiere production of Truth has just opened, courtesy of Clancy Productions and directed by Obie winner John Clancy. The show stars Clay Adams, Jeff Gurner, Bill Coelius, Luisa Straus, the playwright’s wife, Ayun Holliday and their two kids, India Kotis and Milo Kotis. It may be a family affair for the Kotis clan, but the show is, may we say, not for children: adults and extremely skeptical tweens, perhaps, but not children. Performances continue through Dec. 20.