'Christmas Story' a holiday treat for Utah families

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It's a long time since I was a kid, so I decided to take a consultant to help review "A Christmas Story," which just opened at Pioneer Theatre Company.

My young friend Thea is 11, and has attended the University of Utah's Youth Theatre the past two summers, so I thought she was well-qualified.

Thea was engrossed by the show, and when it was over, pronounced it "superbly entertaining." I agree, and the many children in the audience on opening night seemed to enjoy it, too.

Most of them, and their parents, were familiar with the story from the popular 1983 movie, as well as the Jean Shepherd stories that preceded it on the radio.

"A Christmas Story" is based on Shepherd's memories of growing up during the 1930s in Hammond, Ind., when most families were struggling with the Depression.

The story focuses on one particular Christmas, when the only thing that young Ralphie wants is a Red Ryder carbine-action, 200-shot, range-model air rifle. However, every adult to whom Ralphie confides his dream responds, "You'll shoot your eye out."

Nevertheless, Ralphie mounts a campaign to entice his parents into getting him the rifle, peppering the house and mail with ads extolling its virtues, dedicating his school composition to it in hopes that Miss Shields, his teacher, will become his ally, and enlisting help from a department-store Santa.

Shepherd laced his material with enough humor and irony to keep it from dissolving into saccharine sweetness, and the many children in the cast give this production a buoyant energy and spontaneous feel.

There's also a nice balance between the homey scenes of everyday life and Ralphie's imaginative daydreams, which director Paul Barnes skillfully pushes slightly over the top.

Thea liked all the acting, especially the narrator, Jack Koenig, as a grown-up Ralphie, who she said was "very good with words." As Ralphie's dad, Don Burroughs exudes big-kid enthusiasm. Gabra Zackman gives Ralphie's mom an unerring sense of when to speak up and when to shut up to master every family disaster.

Mason Johnson vacillates expressively between determination and bewilderment as the inventive Ralphie and Caden Maynes is slightly strange, yet endearing, as his younger brother, Randy.

Regan Thompson balances dedication and frustration as Miss Shields, the teacher obsessed with margins. All the kids are delightful. Thea said she liked the characters because they are like "real people you would know."

George Maxwell's set screen looks like a Christmas card, and the family home behind it is worn but warm. Barnes' direction is very fluid, ably assisted by Kendall Smith's nostalgic lighting, which spotlights the narrator and makes set adjustments possible. Brenda Van Der Wiel's largely rust and brown period costumes and Joe Payne's rich sound design provide a vivid sense of life in the larger world.

Thea says to tell readers the thing she liked best is the way the Christmas spirit eventually brought the family all together. Here's hoping you'll feel that way, too.