A Christmas Story The Musical: Chicago Locals in the Cast Including Gene Weygandt and 3 Eleven Year Olds!

ChiIL Mama was elated to get to chat with Chicago locals in A Christmas Story The Musical.   We had a great interview with three 11 year olds and renowned Chi-Town actor and dad, Gene Weygandt.    He was a familiar face as we'd just seen him in Working and Wicked.    He was also a prime candidate for our ongoing series of interview questions on "How Creatives Parent and How Parents Create", since he has a 13 year old son at home. (*Apologies for the background noise.   All 3 of my regular sound guys and back ups were on other shoots, so I had to run with the camera mic, and the press can be a chatty crowd!)

When we interviewed these Chicago natives, they were just 2 weeks into the rehearsal process, here in town, and about to embark on a whirlwind adventure of a tour.    Now, they've been living their parts since just before Halloween, a full two months before Christmas, and they're coming back home again to bring us into the holiday home stretch.   A Christmas Story The Musical opens tomorrow at The Chicago Theatre, for a two week run, through Dec. 30th.   Enjoy!

A Christmas Story The Musical: Ralphie to the Rescue Song & Interview With Ralphie & His Brother

Ralphie to the Rescue is one of our favorite songs in the whole show.  Our kids are already enthusiastically singing it, and we can't wait to see it on the big stage at The Chicago Theatre.  ChiIL Mama caught a rehearsal of A Christmas Story the musical in Chicago, exactly 2 months before Christmas and two weeks into the rehearsal process.  The rest of the country was counting down to Halloween, but the cast was in their own dual holiday version of A Nightmare Before Christmas, with A Christmas Story by day and Halloween decor by night. 
  
Since then, they've been on a 6 city tour and have come full circle, back to Chicago again.   A Christmas Story the musical is set to open at The Chicago Theatre tomorrow night!  It was such fun to catch a sneak peek, early in the production and interview Ralphie and his brother, a number of Chicago kids, Gene who plays Jean/the narrator, who is also a Chicago native, and the Tony Award winning director.

We'll be airing all of those interviews and another big song and dance number (hint:  it involves leg lamps!) today, as we count down to opening night 12/14/11!    We'll have a full review after tomorrow, but based on our sneak peek and reviews from the run so far, we're super stoked to see the show, and highly recommend getting your tickets before they sell out.

Check out our interview with two talented kids from Seattle who play brothers in the show.   This is the first touring show for both of them, and word is they're not only holding their own, but thoroughly entertaining and impressing audiences!

Interview With Ralphie-Clarke Hallum & his little brother-Matthew Lewis