Matthew Broderick Is Playing Old Ralphie In Fox’s ‘A Christmas Story’ Live Musical
By Ben Pearson/Sept. 21, 2017 3:30 pm EST
The last thing I saw Broderick in was last year’s Manchester by the Sea, in which he had a distracting role that played against the amiable characters for which he’s best known. He’s still a fine actor, and he’s a fascinating choice for this part precisely because of his history playing roles like Ferris Bueller; the audience has seen him play tons of young, stubborn characters on screen before, so there’s a meta aspect to his casting that should translate well to his narration.
I haven’t seen the Broadway version of A Christmas Story, but here’s a video of some of the highlights of the show:
And this performance from the 2013 Tony Awards gives us a better idea of Broderick’s potential involvement: he won’t be standing backstage reading off of cue cards, but he’ll be out in the middle of the action, and even by the look of this clip, dressed just like young Ralphie:
Since I haven’t seen the musical version myself, I can’t say with certainty if Old Ralphie has to do too much singing himself in the live show, but if he does, Broderick is more than capable. He’s appeared in tons of stage musicals in his career, and a veteran performer like him should be readily equipped to handle the pressure of a live televised performance.
