After a nationwide digital casting call, 11-year-old Andy Walken, from Seattle, WA, has been cast in the role of Ralphie Parker, the lead character in FOX’s live musical event, A Christmas Story Live!, airing Sunday, Dec. 17 (7:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX.
More than 350 applicants were considered for the role of Ralphie, a boy whose only dream is to get a Red Ryder Range Model Carbine Action BB Gun for Christmas.
Walken joins previously-announced cast members Emmy Award nominee Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live, Bridesmaids), who will star as Ralphie’s mother; and two-time Tony Award winner Matthew Broderick (How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, The Producers, Manchester by the Sea), who will star as the narrator.
From Warner Horizon Unscripted & Alternative Television, A Christmas Story Live! is inspired by the holiday classic feature A Christmas Story and the Tony Award-nominated Broadway production A Christmas Story: The Musical. The epic adaptation will be filmed at the historic Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.
A Christmas Story Live! will be produced by Warner Horizon Unscripted & Alternative Television. Marc Platt (Grease: Live, La La Land, Wicked) and Adam Siegel (Grease: Live) will executive-produce, with Jonathan Tolins and Robert Cary (Grease: Live, Anything but Love, Ira & Abby) serving as co-executive producers and writers. Scott Ellis (the 2016 Broadway revival of She Loves Me, Weeds) is an executive producer and will serve as the director overseeing the stage direction. Alex Rudzinski (Grease: Live, Dancing with the Stars) is an executive producer and will serve as the live television director. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land), who composed the original score to A Christmas Story: The Musical, will compose several new songs for the LIVE television event.
