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‘A Christmas Story'

• On stage: The Edmonds Driftwood Players present a stage play version based on the classic 1983 holiday movie about a boy and his quest for the perfect Christmas present, at the Wade James Theatre, 950 Main St., Edmonds. • Performances: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays 2 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 20. • Tickets: $23 general, $20 junior/senior/military (18 & under, 60 & over), available by calling 425-774-9600 or www.driftwoodplayers.com.

CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, News editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

‘A Christmas Story' for the rest of us

Driftwood Players launch the holiday film classic on stage

By Dale Burrows
For The Enterprise

I don't say there is nothing in this one for the rest of us. There is. But it targets grade school kids. You know, those odd, little, impulsive, secretive creatures who stand at the height of our waistlines and are always up to something; what, is anybody's guess.

It is based on Jean Shepherd's writings, first appeared more than 25 years ago, has since become a stage, film and TV classic and is titled “A Christmas Story.”

Plot wise, goings-on generate out of a 9-year-old boy's Christmas wish for an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200 shot ranged model air rifle with a compass and sun dial built into the stock; in other words, a BB gun that tells you where you are and what time it is. The boy's heart is set on one. Mom and Dad say no because he is sure to shoot his eye out.

Hohman, Indiana, 1938 or, metaphorically, white Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, middle class American family life in the Midwest at Christmastime, when the country was pulling out of the depression, defines where goings-on go on.

Mom and Dad represent the values we still hold dear, and the narrator who tells the story is the 9-year-old who wants the air rifle but as an old man looking back at his childhood. It is family sitcom set up with the accent on things kids do that grownups call cute.

Director Alan Wilkie is shooting for “sweetness without being overly sentimental.”

Eric Hartley's narrator clearly shares his caring. You can't miss the soft heartedness.

Timothy Kelly does a yeoman job as the stereotype dad, gruff on the outside, a pushover on the inside.

The mom who runs the family behind dad's back registers with Danette Meline's performance.

Janet McNeil highlights in her supporting role of finicky, straitlaced schoolteacher.

Carter Rogers anchors the kid cast as the boy who would tote the gun.

Sam Harris is the obnoxious little brother who whines to get his way. Oliver Greenleaf and Mattheus Colyn are the bosom buddies, and William McKnight, the bully.

Katerina Hufford is the puppy-love interest, and Molly Taylor her girlfriend.

This is imaginative, well-intended holiday fare for the whole family. Grade school kids can get a bang out of peers putting one over on mom and pop. Mom and pop can cozy up to the tightrope they walk getting the kids presents at Christmastime.

As for the rest of us, who can knock the spirit of giving this time of year? Not I.

Reactions? Comments? E-mail Dale Burrows at entfeatures@heraldnet.com or grayghost7@comcast.net.