"A Christmas Story" is a revered modern classic, but turning it into a musical loses a lot of its magic -- especially when the adaptation runs nearly an hour longer than its source. The memorable narration and dialogue are mostly intact, but the largely forgettable musical numbers only work when they're extensions of little Ralphie's vivid imagination.Amusing touches involving live dogs and leg-lamp choreography are worthy chuckles, but the show makes a cardinal mistake in its treatment of Ralphie's parents, depicting Dad as a buffoon and Mom as a doormat. The film was smart enough to make them a study in contrasts: a gruff father whose acquisition of that famous lamp made his obsessive descent that much funnier, and a soft-spoken mother who was actually the voice of reason and laid down the law to hold the family together. While you can't reasonably expect a carbon copy of the movie, at least you can hope for something that knows when to say when.
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