Like these daydream sequences, the play as a whole is entertainingly and vividly blocked all over the Rep’s house. It’s also acted with warmth, charm, and a commendably directed sense of balance — and that goes for the grown-ups all the way to the youngest actor, the eminently watchable Maximilian Kent, as Ralphie’s younger brother Randy. Aside from Mom and Dad, there are only two other adult presences in the play (the funny-harsh schoolteacher Miss Shields, and the department store Santa, whom we hear but don’t see). The majority of this cast, in other words, is kids. And they are marvelous. Director McCluggage lets them act like real kids, not a grown-up director’s idea of kids, and the young actors are impressive not just in how well they’ve internalized the blocking and other direction, but in how naturalistically they pull it off. There’s no over-the-limit hamming to be found in this Chistmas Story, even in the scenes of Randy, played by a wee blond boy who could clearly have the whole house eagerly watching him until the cows come home
And both the grown Ralph and the young Ralphie ring heartwarmingly true. Bradley’s aged Ralph transports us back to a ’50s childhood with earnest ardor and not a trace of irony, and Rothstein embodies that childhood with a fine balance of glee, terror, and wonder. Together, Ralph and Ralphie make excellent hosts into holiday shenanigans for the ages.
A Christmas Story | by Philip Grecian | Based on the motion picture by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown, and Bob Clark | Directed by John McCluggage | Produced by the Seacoast Repertory Theatre, in Portsmouth NH | through Dec 30 | 603.433.4472
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Megan Grumbling: mgrumbling@hotmail.com
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