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A Christmas Story Live! (1 Viewer)

Matt Hough

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Another gargantuan live Fox musical production. Like Grease Live!, this was HUGE in every respect from a large cast to multiple outdoor and indoor sets, and also like its predecessor, they cleverly maneuvered costume and set changes out of camera's eye to make it quite magical.

I was not impressed with the score in the early numbers, but the later songs were really good, and most of the movie's highlights were there (no Little Orphan Annie/decoder pin sequence) abetted with songs. The couple of vast departures from the story (the numbers for Miss Shields and Mrs. Schwartz) felt a little like padding even though they were among the strongest musical moments of the evening.

Having played the Narrator/Mysterious Man in Into the Woods on stage, I can tell you Matthew Broderick's Narrator had the herculean task of the evening, even more of the show on his shoulders than on Ralphie's with ALL that dialogue and seguing difficultly between scenes. It's a thankless but very necessary role.

I wish Maya Rudolph had a stronger singing voice. Someone like Laura Benanti might have gotten more dramatic meat out of the Mother's numbers though Maya acted them just fine. All of the other principals were excellent. Impressed with the trained dogs rising to the occasion on their every cue.
 

Mike Frezon

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There were things to like about the production...but not enough to ever make me want to see it again or listen to the music again.

Huge fail for me.

I'm a big fan of La La Land, so I was really hoping that the music was going to be great. But that wasn't the case for me. And, Jean Shepherd holds a special place in my heart and is one of the reasons I am so attracted to the movie. So I missed him here.

Jean Krakowski seemed miscast (although I'm not sure I can put my finger on "why:). In fact, none of the individuals in the cast really wowed me. although I'd say Ana Gasteyer was a highlight. But they sure keep the kids busy singing and dancing throughout this show!
 

GlennF

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It was certainly technically proficient, and everyone was fine, but can't say I was wowed. It was overlong and I don't think I could hum a tune today. I felt it started out strong and then just sort of ran out of gas and I kept thinking..."I need to watch the blu of the movie". It will be interesting to see how it does ratings wise.
 

sleroi

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I had wanted to watch this but forgot it was on until an hour in. I turned it on just in time to catch the "major award" number, and really enjoyed it.

After that dance, however, nothing really worked for me. The tire changing scene, for example. The usually very funny Maya Rudolphs reaction to what Ralphie said was wooden and fake and insincere. And Matthew Brodericks narration I thought was also weak. He lacked the giddiness and emotions that rang so true with Jean Sheperd.

And the nightmare song after eating the soap wasn't very impressive either.

I kept it on in the background while I cooked dinner, but honestly didn't pay much more attention to it. My son kept saying, "we just need to watch the real movie, Dad."
 

RobertR

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I didn't care for it either. None of the songs were memorable, and the whole thing felt very padded. A large part of the charm of the movie is the nostalgic feel, the sense that you really are in a certain place at a certain time. That feel was absent. It felt very 2017ish. Also absent was the feel of what it was like to be a nine year old boy. No Little Orphan Annie segment, no "soap poisoning" segment. I also was annoyed that in the "Ralphie as hero" daydream, he wasn't using the gun, which was supposed to be the whole point of his fantasies. That felt very PC. A pointless exercise for me.
 

Malcolm R

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Ratings were well behind Grease Live!, but compared to the rest of the night's programming were merely OK. It came in third for the night behind NFL football and 60 Minutes. I'd think FOX was hoping for more.

Honestly, I forgot it was even on.
 
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Matt Hough

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It had slightly higher ratings on average for the night than Fox's usual Sunday slate, but when you're spending $10 million on an evening's worth of programming, I suspect Fox expected more bang for their buck.

It was the lowest rated of all the live musicals done in the last few years on NBC and Fox.

I think you need a really famous stage musical title and some star names to sell for a large audience, and this really didn't have either.

Still, while I didn't find it memorable, I enjoyed myself for the 2+ hours it took me to watch it (I DVRed it and I started watching at 8 p.m., an hour after it began. I finished around 10:10.)
 

Greg.K

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I had wanted to watch this but forgot it was on until an hour in. I turned it on just in time to catch the "major award" number, and really enjoyed it.

After that dance, however, nothing really worked for me. The tire changing scene, for example. The usually very funny Maya Rudolphs reaction to what Ralphie said was wooden and fake and insincere. And Matthew Brodericks narration I thought was also weak. He lacked the giddiness and emotions that rang so true with Jean Sheperd.

And the nightmare song after eating the soap wasn't very impressive either.

"Major Award" number? Nightmare after eating soap? Maya Rudolph and Matthew Broderick???? This sounds astoundingly bad. What were they thinking?
 
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Paul D G

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Was this a musical prior to this or were the musical numbers written for this broadcast? We weren't able to watch it due to other commitments but we've recorded it. I didn't know this was a musical, my family isn't aware this is a musical and I'm sure they'll all be screaming sacrilege as soon as the singing starts.

FOX scored a win from me for Grease, and a fail for Rocky Horror. I fear this will be another fail.
 

Mike Frezon

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It was on Broadway as a musical, Paul.

90


Kinda like Groundhog Day, too.

90
 

Matt Hough

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It was a Broadway and regional musical, but several new numbers were added to the score for the television broadcast.
 

Johnny Angell

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I saw the play last year at our local repatory theater. I liked the play, I couldn’t get thru the musical. Thumbs down for me.
 

Mike Frezon

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This just crossed my mind.

But did anyone else notice how out-of-breath Matthew Broderick was at the very end of the show? He must've had to sprint from one street location to another because he sure was breathing heavy during his final monologue before the bows.
 

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