8, stays loyal to the film without simply regurgitating it. I thought it’d be the same for “A Christmas Story.” But Pasek and Paul’s (“Dear Evan Hansen,” “La La Land”) Tony-nominated musical, which runs at the Eccles Theater through Dec. It’s a comparison as inevitable as every classic Christmas story turning into a musical. It’s hard to imagine anyone watching the musical “It’s a Wonderful Life” without wistfully thinking of Stewart’s performance. It gets people in the theaters, but those people are entering with preconceived notions.

Why ‘A Christmas Story’ has endured all these yearsįamiliarity can be a double-edged sword, though.

These are stories that don’t get old - for 22 years, the 24-hour marathon of “ A Christmas Story” has reached millions of viewers, after all. These are stories people return to every year, stories that have become family traditions. It’s no surprise songwriters are capitalizing on known quantities. Two years later, it took a full-on tap routine for Miss Shields to tell Ralphie he’d shoot his eye out if he got that Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. Buddy the Elf went from singing in a store to singing on Broadway in 2010. Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch became musical stars in 1994.

“Miracle on 34th Street” - which was released not long after “It’s a Wonderful Life” - had a quicker journey to becoming a musical, thanks to “Music Man” composer Meredith Willson.

And earlier this year, Paul McCartney announced he’s got his sights on Broadway with yet another musical rendition of the beloved Christmas tale that teaches us that “no man is a failure who has friends.”Įvery time a bell rings, a musical gets made. And then the film became a musical for the second time in 1998. Let’s start with “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Forty years after the Jimmy Stewart tearjerker premiered, Bedford Falls became a small town big on song and dance. SALT LAKE CITY - It’s inevitable: For better or worse, every classic Christmas story will get turned into a musical.

Jean shepherd in a christmas story