PhotosPHOTO EXCLUSIVE: On the Road With A Christmas Story, The Musical! Star John BoltonJohn Bolton, who stars as "The Old Man," in A Christmas Story, The Musical! on tour, shares exclusive photos from the road.
By
Matthew Blank
December 08, 2011
He offers a look at the show's first stop in Hershey, tech rehearsals and opening night.
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PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: On the Road With A Christmas Story, The Musical! Star John Bolton
PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: On the Road With A Christmas Story, The Musical! Star John Bolton
A Christmas Story, The Musical!, based on the Jean Shepherd stories and the beloved 1983 film of the same name, is in the middle of a holiday mini-tour. John Bolton, who stars as "The Old Man," shares photos from the road, including the first stop in Hershey, tech rehearsals and opening night. Read the Playbill.com story.
32 PHOTOS
The view from the window of my hotel. With its Hershey Kiss street lamps and roads named Chocolate Avenue and Cocoa Way, Hershey is proud of its heritage. And yes, the air really DOES smell like chocolate.
John Bolton
Some of our kids enjoying a nutritious, eco-friendly breakfast in the hotel. They started a book club and, along with most of the adults, are enjoying "The Mysterious Benedict Society."
John Bolton
Our own George Andrew Wolff leads the kids book club in a lively discussion of "The Mysterious Benedict Society" at breakfast.
John Bolton
Fenicci's Restaurant, strategically located between our hotel and the beautiful Hershey Theatre, extended a warm welcome. We wound up there for lunch, dinner, drinks or all three almost every day we were there.
John Bolton
We spent the morning at Chocolate World, where you can make your own chocolate bar. Here, Broadway divas Kirsten Wyatt and Karen Mason manage to whip up yummy candy bars AND look fetching in their hair nets at the same time.
Some of the gang show off their personally created candy bars. Lyn Philistine, Sean Nowell, Karen Mason, Kirsten Wyatt, Steven Macarus, Andrew Cristi.
John Bolton
This is what happens when Flick (Nicholas Daniel Gonzalez), Schwartz (Jake Bennett Siegfried) and Scut Farkus (Charlie Plummer) OD on sugar. I'm not saying that's a bad thing.
John Bolton
Here I am at the Hershey Store picking up a couple of energy bars for the evening performance. Note to self for future: do not leave in back seat of hot car.
John Bolton
Our kids at the Hershey Park Lost Children's Corral. I think some of them are still there.
John Bolton
Walking from the hotel to the theatre brings you past Hershey's answer to Equity, the Chocolate Workers Local 464. Does that mean there are 463 other Locals? And, more importantly, can I use my AEA ActorCash card there?
John Bolton
The kids pose with our show poster outside the theatre before the afternoon rehearsal.
John Bolton
Outside the Hershey Theatre, costume designer Elizabeth Hope Clancy improvises a saloon girl's hat while ordering more feathers from New York City.
John Bolton
Matthew Lewis, who plays kid brother Randy in the show, with HIS kid brother Gavin at dress rehearsal.
John Bolton
Set pieces cut from the show await their fate by the loading dock.
John Bolton
Amazing stage managers Jason Hindelang and Amy Gornet brace themselves with a smile before the long day of work starts.
John Bolton
The Equity front-of-house slider board. Now you KNOW it's a real show.
John Bolton
I mean come on, how many shows have a free pink bunny suit photo op in the lobby? My lovely show-wife and partner-in-crime, the fantastic Rachel Bay Jones grabs her turn. PS: She's a great kisser.
John Bolton
The dance captain's table in the dark theatre. Caution. Geniuses at work.
John Bolton
The leg lamps await their moment of glory. And boy does choreographer Warren Carlyle give them a great one. Trust me, you haven't lived until you've been surrounded by a chorus line of kicking, glowing, Busby Berkeley-ing leg lamps.
John Bolton
Our 12-year-old star, the sensational Clarke Hallum, fends off the paparazzi. Wait 'til you hear this kid sing.
John Bolton
The divine Margeurite Willbanks. Is she lamenting her wig hair or her pointsettia corsage? My money's on the corsage.
John Bolton
The neat, well-organized dressing table of a serious professional actor. And yes, those are Grether's Blackcurrant Pastilles and they are worth every penny.
John Bolton
Santa puts on his beat. Good pal (and former Titanic castmate) Adam Pelty transforms into drunk Santa.
John Bolton
Of COURSE there's a leg lamp cake to celebrate our first performance. What else can say Merry Christmas better than a fishnet stocking?
John Bolton
Ladies and Gentlemen, the future of the American musical: astoundingly talented composer and lyricist team Justin Paul and Benj Pasek with young cast member Emily Rudolph in the lower lobby after the show.
John Bolton
Get out your Little Orphan Annie decoder pins. On hand for our first show was Annie herself, the always-terrific Andrea McArdle, who looked fantastic AND offered great support to both me and producer Roy Miller.
John Bolton
A Christmas Story cast members Lyn Philistine and Sean McKnight first worked together as children with the Pittsburgh CLO Mini Stars.
John Bolton
A whole lotta good lookin': Jonathan Burke, Andrew Cristi, Alex Puette and Mara Newbery celebrate our first performance.
John Bolton
The wonderful Gene Weygandt, who plays narrator Jean Shepard, and Margeurite Willbanks, sans corsage but avec sassy hat.
John Bolton
After-party at the Hotel Hershey! Here are the ladies. Leslie Henstock, Karen Mason, Kirsten Wyatt, Lyn Philistine, Mara Newbery and Margeurite Willbanks.
John Bolton
Of course when we got back to our hotel, exhausted but cheerful, the kids were STILL up, raising happy hell in the pool.
John Bolton
My own personal Bumpus hound, Roz, says goodnight from the couch in my hotel room. Come catch us on tour this season in Tampa or Chicago!
Bolton originated the role of Grady in Broadway's Curtains. He was in the original Broadway companies of Monty Python's Spamalot, Contact and Titanic. Screen work includes a role on "Gossip Girl" and guest starring appearances on "Boardwalk Empire" and "The Good Wife ."
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The stage production features a score by Edges and James and the Giant Peach songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Joseph Robinette. Tony Award winner John Rando (Urinetown) directs the five-city national tour of A Christmas Story, which will play the Hershey Theatre through Nov. 13. It has choreography by Tony Award nominee Warren Carlyle (Follies, Finian's Rainbow, Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway).
The cast is led by Clarke Hallum and John Bolton (Spamalot, Contact, Titanic) as Ralphie and The Old Man, respectively. The two originated the roles when A Christmas Story debuted at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre last year.
Based on the stories of radio humorist Shepherd, the classic holiday story concerns Ralphie Parker, whose holiday wish is a Red Ryder 200 Shot Carbine Action Air Rifle. The comedy follows Ralphie through his holiday campaign for the gift of his dreams, complete with a visit to Santa at Higbee's Department Store, a racy lamp, the family's exploding furnace, an experiment with a wet tongue on a cold lamppost and more.
The cast also features Matthew Lewis as little brother Randy, Gene Weygandt (Wicked, Big, Working in Chicago) as Jean Shepherd, Rachel Bay Jones (Women on The Verge…, Hair) as The Mother, Karen Mason (Mamma Mia!, Wonderland, Sunset Boulevard) as school teacher Miss Shields, and Adam Pelty (The Scarlet Pimpernel, Steel Pier) as Santa.
Rounding out the ensemble are John Francis Babbo, Jonathan Burke, Andrew Cristi, Sally Elting, Nick Gaswirth, Nicholas Gonzalez, Casey Gorab, Drea Gordon, Leslie Henstock, Carl Kimbrough, Sean Mcknight, Mara Newbery, Lyn Philistine, Charlie Plummer, Alex Puette, Johnny Rabe, Kayla Rea, J.D. Rodriguez, Emily Rudolph, Jake Bennett Siegfried, Marguerite Willbanks, George Andrew Wolff and Kirsten Wyatt.
A Christmas Story will continue with tour dates scheduled in Tampa, FL (Dec. 6-11 at the Straz Center) and Chicago, IL (Dec. 14-30 at the Chicago Theatre).
The show is produced by Peter Billingsley, the former child actor perhaps best known for creating the role of Ralphie Parker in the holiday film, as well as Gerald Goehring (Frankenstein: The Musical), Roy Miller (West Side Story revival, The Drowsy Chaperone), Michael F. Mitri (Frankenstein: The Musical), Pat Flicker Addiss (Promises, Promises; Spring Awakening), Mariano Tolentino, Louise H. Beard, Michael Filerman, Scott Hart, Timothy Laczynski, Bartner/Jenkins Entertainment, Angela Milonas, Bradford W. Smith.
A Christmas Story, The Musical! debuted in an earlier incarnation in 2009 at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre. That production had a score by Scott Davenport Richards. It resurfaced in 2010, with Pasek and Paul attached, for a run at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre.
The production has scenic design by Walt Spangler; costume design by Elizabeth Hope Clancy; lighting design by Tony Award winner Howell Binkley; orchestrations by 2011 Tony nominee Larry Blank; musical supervision by Ian Eisendrath; dance arrangements by Glen Kelly; casting by Stephanie Klapper.
