A Red Ryder BB gun and a major award: Playmakers opens ‘A Christmas Story’ on Friday

From left, Drew Trahan is Randy, Heath McNeese is The Old Man, Phyllis Horridge is Mother and Grayson Morgan is Ralphie in Playmakers of Baton Rouge’s production of ‘A Christmas Story: The Musical.’

STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER

Christmas will be here before you can say “fra-gil-ee,” so why not spend part of it with the Parker family?

You can share in all of their favorite Christmas traditions, including yelling at the Bumpus’ dogs, checking the mailbox for your Little Orphan Annie decoder pin and giggling at Ralphie in his pink bunny pajamas on Christmas morning.

The role of Randy has been double cast with Grayson Morgan, left, and Ethan Ly playing the role on alternate weekends.

STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER

The best part? You’ll get to celebrate Ralphie’s dad’s major award. And everyone knows what that is.

If you don’t, well, buy a couple of tickets to Playmakers of Baton Rouge’s production of “A Christmas Story: The Musical” and find out.

The musical opens Friday in the Reilly Theatre on the LSU campus and is based on the 1983 classic Christmas film.

The role of Randy has been double cast with Drew Trahan, left, and Hudson Burge playing the part on alternate weekends.

STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER

 “I think it’s that same classic story that you know and love but completely jazzed up and overhauled with some really fun dance numbers, great choreography and really, really fun musical numbers,” director Bailey Wax said.

The story, set in the 1940s in the fictional town of Hohman, Indiana, follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker and his quest for the holy grail of Christmas gifts — an official Red Ryder carbine-action, 200-shot Range Model air rifle.

Ethan Ly, left, as Ralphie impatiently watches as Mother, played by Phyllis Horridge, right, tries to dress Randy, played by Hudson Burge, in his winter gear. In this classic scene, Randy complains that he can’t put his arms down.

STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER

Ralphie calls it a BB gun for short, and his quest is rebuffed at every turn with the echoing response: “You’ll shoot your eye out.”

Ralphie is played by 14-year-old Ethan Ly and 12-year-old Grayson Morgan in alternate weekend performances. Ethan, an eighth grader at Parkview Baptist School, confessed that he never watched “A Christmas Story” before being cast as Ralphie.

“But I will be watching it after we finish the play,” he said. “I like being able to create my own version of Ralphie. I think he’s mischievous, but he’s also heartwarming in some parts.”

The Old Man, played by Heath McNeese, left, shows off his ‘major award,’ to the dismay of Mother (Phyllis Horridge) in Playmakers of Baton Rouge’s ‘A Christmas Story: The Musical.’  

STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER

Grayson, a sixth grader at University Lab School, plays Ralphie as a go-getter.

“There are so many things that knock him down, but he’s not going to let that stop him,” Grayson said. “He never gives up on his dream — he’s relentless.”

The role of Ralphie’s little brother, Randy, also has been double cast with 11-year-old Hudson Burge, a fifth grader at Denham Springs Elementary School, and 12-year-old Drew Trahan, a sixth grader at University Lab School.

Playmakers of Baton Rouge will open ‘A Christmas Story: The Musical’ on Friday, Dec. 9, in the Reilly Theatre on the LSU campus.

And as is the case in the movie, the story’s author, Jean Shepherd, will narrate. Well, make that the character of Jean Shepherd, played by Robby Wilson.

“I’m a big fan of the movie, but it actually had to grow on me, because for whatever reason when I first saw it 15 years back, I didn’t get it,” he said. “And when I saw Playmakers was doing the play, I auditioned for the narrator, because I wouldn’t have to sing or dance.”

A Christmas Story: The Musical

Playmakers of Baton Rouge’s holiday production.

7 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 18.

Reilly Theatre, Tower Drive, LSU campus.

$21, adults; $16, children.

Call (225) 578-6996 or visit playmakersbr.org.

Wilson laughed. That’s obviously a joke.

“But I also recognized that my strengths lie in my voice and being able to tell the story,” he said.

Then there are the boys’ parents with The Old Man, as dad is called, played by Heath McNeese and Mother, played by Phyllis Horridge.

Mother, portrayed by Phyllis Horridge, right, dresses Randy, played by Drew Trahan, in his winter gear before school in Playmakers of Baton Rouge’s production of ‘A Christmas Story: The Musical.’ 

STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER

“I grew up watching the movie,” Horridge said. “It was a Christmas tradition. My dad insisted that we watch it, so I’m actually quite excited to have my dad come see this show — he’s coming in from Mississippi to see it, and he hasn’t seen me on stage in years, so I’m super thrilled.”

The Old Man’s iconic moment happens when he wins a “major award.” That is, he’s won a prize from a mail-in contest, which happens to be a lamp in the form of a shapely woman’s leg in a fishnet stocking and a high-heel shoe.  

The lamp has whittled its way into the American mainstream as a traditional Christmas decoration, but in the story, it’s an embarrassment to Mother and a point of fascination for Ralphie.

A Parker family portrait, clockwise from bottom, features Drew Trahan as Randy, Heath McNeese as The Old Man, Phyllis Horridge as Mother and Grayson Morgan as Ralphie in ‘A Christmas Story: The Musical.’   

STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER

“As an adult, I think of this as Ralphie’s story, and what you don’t see about the dad is his hardships at work,” McNeese said. “You don’t see how he’s really struggling with the outside, but when he wins that lamp, it’s a physical representation of, ‘I got something that I can show people I won.’ “

Meanwhile, Ralphie does everything he can to convince his parents and Santa that he should get a Red Ryder for Christmas, even going so far to try to get an “A” on an essay making his case for the gun.

But in the end, his teacher, Miss Shields, played by Marion Mayfield, gives him a “C.”

“She’s also one of the first to tell him that he’ll shoot his eye out if he gets the gun,” Mayfield said.

“Everything that’s in the movie, you’ll see here,” Wax said. “We’re having fun with it, and I know the audience will, too.”

‘A Christmas Story: The Musical’

Playmakers of Baton Rouge’s holiday production.

7 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 18.

Reilly Theatre, Tower Drive, LSU campus.

$21, adults; $16, children.

Call (225) 578-6996 or visit playmakersbr.org.