‘A Christmas Story: The Musical’ is a tasty holiday treat

When adapting popular films into big Broadway spectacles, it can be tricky to avoid making it seem like a cynical cash grab. After all, if we love the movie, why do we need a stage version?

Luckily for us, the creative team behind “A Christmas Story: The Musical” have avoided the cynicism, turning out a family friendly bit of entertainment that enhances the original, rather than shamelessly copying it. In adapting the classic 1983 holiday film “A Christmas Story,” they gave their musical a whole lot of heart.

Better still, the national touring production that opened at the INB Performing Arts Center on Thursday night features an able and entertaining cast of adults, a kick-line of the famous leg lamps, lively music, good pacing, high spirits, laughs, two real bloodhounds as the nefarious Bumpus hounds, and most notably, a very talented group of child actors.

As Ralphie, Myles Moore is simply terrific. He has an appealing voice and good stage presence. You can practically feel his desperation for the Christmas gift of his dreams: A Red Ryder Carbine Action BB Gun, “with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.”

On Thursday, he headed up a group of 11 remarkable young actors. Joshua Turchin as little brother Randy is the right mix of sweet and whiny. Christian Dell’Edera as Flick plays the tongue-on-the-pole scene to maximum effect, while Johnny Marx as Schwartz is the perfect triple-dog-daring wiseguy. The bully Scut Farkus (Brandon Szep) is a hulking menace. Seth Judice, the actor who plays Farkus’ sidekick Grover Dill, has a knockout solo tap dance in the second act number, “You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out.”

Songs like “You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out,” set in a 1920s speakeasy, are meant to represent Ralphie’s active fantasy life, and they do a great job of doing just that. After the cowboy-themed “Ralphie to the Rescue,” my 11-year-old daughter leaned over to me and said, “That was awesome!” Meanwhile, the woman on my other side, a grin on her face, said “I’m exhausted!” It’s a high-energy and highly entertaining scene.

Moore, who shares the role of Ralphie with Dylan Boyd, carries a lot of the show on his shoulders, but he’s helped tremendously by Chris Carsten as Jean Shepherd, our narrator, and Christopher Swan and Susannah Jones as Ralphie’s parents.

Carsten is clearly comfortable in this role, playing narrator and representative of Ralphie’s thoughts. He’s charming and open, and fun to watch.

As for the parents, I admit I have a hard time seeing anyone other than Spokane native Darren McGavin as the Old Man. That said, Swan is delightful, with his stream of family-friendly profanity (“You sons of britches!”) and amusing attachment to a shapely piece of plastic. His joy in singing “A Major Award” is contagious.

Jones, as Mother, has a lovely voice that brings comfort to her boys in “Just Like That.” It’s a sweet moment, one of several that makes “A Christmas Story: The Musical” different than the movie. When Mother and the Old Man fight after the leg lamp is broken, the boys try to fix it - and their family - “Before the Old Man Gets Home.” It’s a moving scene, one that adds a little depth to a straight-up musical comedy.

For fans of the film, “A Christmas Story: The Musical” hits all the highlights and adds more. For those who aren’t fans, the show just might make you one.