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"Ralphie was such a dreamer, so the fantasy sequences in the film have become the big musical set pieces in the show. " —PETER BILLINGSLEY LEFT: John Bolton, playing The Old Man, in a production number inspired by the infamous leg lamp. ABOVE: Jake Lucas plays Ralphie. it racked up three Tony nominations, including one for best musical. It plays at the Wang Theatre through December 8, with most of the same cast. "Our goal was to create a very special musical," says Billingsley, who is one of the show's producers. "We didn't want to just trade on the good moments in the film, but to build it out." Now a film and television producer in Hollywood, Billingsley has always shied away from any projects related to the original film. "I had resisted it because nothing seemed that creatively inspiring," he says. "But with the notion of a musical, a lightbulb went off in my head." Like the film, the musical is based upon short stories written by the late radio humorist Jean Shepherd, who also cowrote the screenplay. "We go to places the film couldn't go. You get to know the mother a little bit more, get to know the dad more," Billingsley says. And the musical numbers are surprisingly well-suited to the original story, he adds. "Ralphie was such a dreamer, so a lot of the fantasy sequences in the film have become the big musical set pieces in the show. When the dad wins the leg lamp, the cast breaks into a leg-lamp kick line!" Now 42, the one-time Ralphie says he also resisted any temptation to appear in the show. "I want to sell tickets," he jokes. "There is no reason for me to get onstage. I never had those talents." Instead, the show gets a star turn from Dan Lauria—the actor best known for playing the father on the hit ABC television series The Wonder Years. "He has such warmth to him and yet such a strength," Billingsley says. A veteran stage and screen actor, Lauria plays the narrator—a role voiced by Jean Shepard in the film. Noting that he can't sing or dance, Lauria jokes that it's the perfect role for him. But he loves the stage, citing the influence of his two mentors—actors Jack Klugman and Charles Durning, who passed away within four hours of each other last Christmas Eve while Lauria was performing A Christmas Story in New York. "Charles Durning was like a dad to me," Lauria says. "He told me that if I ever went a year without doing a play, he'd never speak to me again. And a year hasn't gone by that I haven't done a play." Lauria says he's mindful of the risks associated with adapting material that audiences hold sacred. "A lot of [audiences] come in with a chip on their shoulder, saying, 'Show me this is good, because this is my favorite Christmas movie,'" he explains. "They're going to be pleased that we didn't screw up the movie, and that we're very loyal, too." In large measure, he believes the show succeeds for some of the same reasons The Wonder Years did. "It's an old cliché… but it tells a story," he says. "And the story couldn't be older. It's father-and-son; son is looking for father's approval. It's just that simple, and if you try to add more, you take away from it." November 20 through December 8, Citi Performing Arts Center, Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont St., 617-4829393; citicenter.org BC Ralphie Recap Peter Billingsley, producer of the musical, looks back on his iconic film role. What has made the film version of A Christmas Story so popular? It feels very real. So much of the plot turns on mundane things that we deal with regularly—having issues with your neighbors and trying to get a Christmas tree—but they feel really epic. What was your Red Ryder BB gun? I wanted a metal detector when I was a kid, because I was convinced I would find buried treasure. That obviously didn't pan out. Do you watch A Christmas Story every year? Around the holidays, it seems that the television inevitably works its way to one of the channels showing the movie, so, yes—I'll watch parts. What do you remember from your role as the original Ralphie? I remember a lot because I was older than I looked when we shot it. It was done in the cold, in the winter, in the snow, on a low budget. I remember being freezing, carrying the gun, and running into a house with no heat. BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM 076-077_BC_SC_HottesTicket_Holiday_13.indd 77 77 11/1/13 11:22 AM