Twenty-five years ago a low-budget, sleeper film about a young boy’s Christmas wish for a BB gun was released giving the world such classic lines as ‘You’ll shoot your eye out!? and ‘Fra-gee-lay. That must be Italian.?
The Oxford Theater Company is bringing that irreverent holiday classic ‘A Christmas Story? to the stage of the high school’s Performing Arts Center Thursday, Dec. 11 through Saturday, Dec. 13.
‘About five years ago they made it into a play,? said theater company adviser Debra Brown. ‘It’s almost identical. There are just a couple more dream sequences than there were in the movie.?
Three nightly performances of the two-act play are planned, all beginning at 7 p.m., along with one Saturday matinee scheduled for 1 p.m.
Including intermission, the production is expected to run about two hours.
Admission is $5 for adults. Oxford students (K-12), accompanied by parents or guardians, get in for free.
Set in 1940 in the fictional northern Indiana town of Hohman, ‘A Christmas Story? is the absolutely hilarious tale of 9-year-old Ralphie Parker and his tireless quest for the ultimate gift from Santa Claus ? an official Red Ryder, carbine-action, 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock.
Little Ralphie will be played by OHS freshman Zach Throne while adult Ralphie, who serves as the play’s narrator, will be portrayed by middle school teacher Jack Gray.
Can Ralphie survive run-ins with the neighborhood bully Scut Farkus (Jacob Brubaker) and his curmudgeonly father, a.k.a ‘The Old Man? (Paul Belmonte), long enough to get his precious BB gun?
Daydreaming Ralphie tries his hardest to be good, but after his use of the word ‘fudge? in front of The Old Man and a frightening encounter with a cranky department store Santa (played by OHS teacher Dave Brown), the prospects of finding a BB gun under the ol? tree look pretty bleak.
This is the first year ‘A Christmas Story? will be performed by the high school’s multi-talented drama students.
‘I saw it on-line and I really thought it would be kind of neat to do,? Brown said. ‘My original thought was to do it last year, but then when we found out this year was the 25th anniversary, we thought that would be perfect.?
Brown said her young actors are really getting into their roles and she expects a great show when the curtain goes up.
‘The kids are having a lot of fun because they’re trying to be just like the movie,? she said.