STORY: JESSICA SCHILLING
PHOTOS: ERIC TANK
Recalling the Christmas Story
Before there was the internet there was television. Before television there was radio. Before Radio there were books. And throughout all of that there has been the Christmas Story. Based on the childhood of the story comes to life in a new and imaginative way with Grand Rapids Civic Theater’s A Christmas Story: The Musical!
Props master at work . . . how many Leg Lamps are enough?
Michael Wilson deserves much praise (props) for his role as Props Master. A Christmas Story is chock full of iconography and everyone knows the story backwards and forwards, “Everyone recalls when they first saw the Christmas Story,” Wilson shared with us recently. Even though the story takes place around the holidays, Wilson and his volunteer crew have been working diligently on set pieces since June of this year! The main time consumer – Perhaps one of the most iconic props in the history of cinema: the Leg Lamp.
For A Christmas Story: The Musical!, one leg lamp was not enough. Considering they needed to plan for lamps getting broken by accident, having the broken one as part of the story, and the fact that there is a CHORUS LINE of leg lamps, Mr. Wilson and his team had their work cut out for them! How many leg lamps is enough? They are hoping that the 21 they made will cover it!
