June 7,
2000
I was contacted by Philip Grecian
who had seen this website and was anxious to spread the news that he
had just completed writing a play based on Jean Shepherd's "A
Christmas Story".
The play, which is published by
Dramatic Publishing takes everyone's favorite Christmas movie
and brings it to the stage. Drawing upon the original movie and the
stories in the book "In God We Trust, All Others Pay
Cash" author Philip Grecian has written a play which is sure
to be a hit.
Philip wrote about the play:
| "It
took me and Dramatic Publishing eight months to get all the
contracts signed with Jean's people and MGM's people, but it
was worth it. Jean died only days after the contracts were
signed. I desperately wanted him to read this adaptation.
I've been a fan of his since the early 1970's."
"The
play is clearly based on the movie...but there were some
things in the stories that didn't get into the movie that I
liked...so they made it into the play."
"The Shep narrating character is actually a character,
much like the stage manager in OUR TOWN. He initially comes
down the aisle of the theatre talking about his hometown.
He is generally invisible to the characters onstage, but
occasionally, in plain view of the audience, dons extra
costume elements to take part in the story. He
becomes, for instance, the Christmas tree salesman, among
other characters."
"The
structure is similar to the movie, though I draw heavily on
the four stories as well...and the sequence is not identical
to the movie. I have been careful to be as faithful to
Shep as possible."
|
He
mentions some of the problems involved with making a play from a
movie:
| "In
the film, Shep could narrate. Unseen narration in a
play is considered amateurish...but one thing Shep insisted
upon was that we keep the narration, because it carries so
much of the flavor."
"This
was actually easy, though. I could make the narrating
character an actual character in the play. He opens the play
by wandering down the aisle in the audience and he sets
up scenes. The characters don't see him, but the audience
does."
"But
then I could piggyback on that concept and solve another
problem, too, by having the narrating "Shep"
character ("Ralph" in the script, as opposed to
"Ralphie," the younger self) play several of the
other characters as well."
:"So
the Shep character talks to the audience, but puts on a hat
and coat at one point to become the Christmas tree lot
salesman. At another point he is the voice of the
neighbor offstage, talking to The Old Man about the leg
lamp. I use him this way for a couple of other
characters, too."
"I've
beefed up two of the little girl roles a bit. It helps
to sell a play to various groups if you try to balance the
sexes a bit. I also strengthened a running gag about
Flick's "sore arm" as a result of encounters with
Farkas.
I did everything I could to make the play "producer
friendly." The set isn't easy...but it isn't as
complex as it COULD be. The cast balance is good, but
the cast isn't too big. The special effects are all
carefully explained."
"People love the film, of course, and, frankly, there
aren't a lot of good Christmas plays or musicals.
Theatre groups have been hungry for more. Once you've done A
CHRISTMAS CAROL and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, there isn't much
else out there."
"Shep's story will fill that vacuum...and be done by
theatres (high school, community and professional) for a
long, long time..." |
Having
read and seen the play, it is safe to say that Philip has indeed
remained faithful to Shep's way of telling a story.
By
the way... Philip sports a Red
Ryder 200 shot carbine action BB gun on his wall, sent to him, by
his editor, in a box marked "Fra-jee-lee" on the outside.
| Philip
Grecian is also the author of The Dragon of Nitt, Lion and the
Lyre, The Velveteen Rabbit, two stage versions of
"DRACULA", a version of "CHRISTMAS CAROL"
and a version of "IN HIS STEPS", and perhaps a dozen other
plays. |
|
