NEWS: A Very Die Hard Christmas Sells Out Entire Run Before Opening

Josh Carson plays the foul-mouthed cop-in-a-tight-spot John McClane in the parody A Very Die Hard Christmas.

On December 7, 2012, a show called A Very Die Hard Christmas opened at Bryant-Lake Bowl’s theater space. The event page touted “a new holiday treat with all the trimmings: singing, dancing, and bloodshed. Don’t miss this soon-to-be yuletide tradition which proves once and for all that Die Hard is a Christmas movie: A VERY DIE HARD CHRISTMAS!” Now, six years later, the show has become something of an annual tradition – and completely sold out its 2018 run prior to opening.

Read Basil Considine’s review of the 2017 production of A Very Die Hard Christmas.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Die Hard Christmas, and a very one at that. If you planned to see the show and haven’t bought tickets, your best bet might be to date or befriend someone single who has. (Taking everyone in Bryant-Lake Bowl hostage during a Christmas party is really not a recommended way to get tickets.) Or, better yet, make a New Year’s resolution to buy tickets well in advance next year.

The 2012 production was a late-night, 5-show run billed as “from the creative minds of Mainly Me Productions and Dana’s Boys”. In an Internet comment after that year’s show closed, creator Josh Carson mused, “I think it’s safe to say that the Twin Cities may have found a new Christmas mainstay.” While the safety of Nakatomi Plaza denizens of seems perpetually in peril, the mainstay prediction has come true, even as the number of performances has grown to nine this year.

Back in 2012, the original cast of A Very Die Hard Christmas included Josh Carson, Brad Erickson, Dan Hetzel, Andy Rocco Kraft, Bailey Murphy, Anna Weggel, and John T. Zeiler as Hans Gruber. This year’s lineup includes Josh Carson, Brad Erickson, Andy Rocco Kraft, Matthew Sciple, Leslie Vincent, Anna Weggel, and Duck Washington – a net change of just two cast members since 2012, meaning that there’s almost three quarters of the original ensemble going on strong seven years later. (Most bands, like the Die Hard franchise, have a lot more turnover.)

While Bryant-Lake Bowl’s ownership may change, it looks like you can look forward to twisted Christmas action comedy parodies next to the bowling alley for many years to come.

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Amy Donahue

Amy Donahue is a staff reviewer at the Twin Cities Arts Reader. She interned with the magazine during the summer of 2017, served as a guest contributor while studying abroad in Europe that fall, and has moved up to regular old reviewing. She served as interim Editor-in-Chief in 2023.

She admits to being at least 50% terrified of contemporary German opera.