Gerald Goehring learned long ago how to stretch a dollar. </p><p>When he blew into New York City a couple of decades ago with a theater degree from Wichita State University, he quickly discovered that his calling card into the world of professional theater would not be his artistic aspirations but his carpentry skills. </p><p>&ldquo;I did a lot of shop work when I first got to New York,&rdquo; Goehring recalled on one of his frequent visits to Kansas City in recent months. &ldquo;I waited tables and bartended, but I got my foot in the door, meeting people, by volunteering to build sets for nonprofit off-Broadway companies.</p><p>&ldquo;As soon as they could find somebody who could swing a hammer and was honest, by the second show they basically said, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re in charge of everything. Here&rsquo;s a thousand bucks. You get a week in the theater. Anything you save, that&rsquo;s your pay.&rsquo;&ensp;&rdquo;</p><p>From those early days of schlepping lumber on the subway to a steady ascension through the professional ranks as a general manager and finally producer, Goehring now finds himself on the brink of what could be a life-changing event: the world premiere of &ldquo;A Christmas Story, the Musical!&rdquo; at Kansas City Repertory Theatre. </p><p>Goehring and his New York producing partners have put up $800,000 from investors for the Kansas City premiere, making it the most expensive show in the Rep&rsquo;s history. The show is based on the writings of humorist Jean Shepherd and director Bob Clark&rsquo;s still-popular 1983 film of the same name about a boy in 1940s Indiana who yearns for a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. </p><p>The Rep&rsquo;s artistic director, Eric Rosen, is directing the piece with a big cast of local and out-of-town actors. The book is by Joseph Robinette, with music and lyrics by Scott Davenport Richards.</p><p>If all goes according to plan, &ldquo;A Christmas Story&rdquo; will debut on Broadway a year from now. Because it&rsquo;s a seasonal, the run would not be open-ended. But it would mark Goehring&rsquo;s Broadway debut, and the Rep would be forever billed as the originating theater. </p><p>For Goehring, who minored in business at Wichita State, opening the show at the Rep is sweet. It&rsquo;s a bit like coming home. </p><p>&ldquo;For me, I must admit, it&rsquo;s pretty exciting, being a Kansas boy,&rdquo; said Goehring, who goes by Jerry. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve worked my way up through the ranks, and to be able to say that my first potential Broadway show is going to be done at a place I used to come to in college and admired. &hellip; There&rsquo;s something emotionally satisfying for me.</p><p>&ldquo;To be honest, when I first came to New York they said, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re from where? You went where to college? Wichita State?&rsquo; You know, it wasn&rsquo;t Juilliard. This might prove to people that there&rsquo;s good work everywhere.&rdquo;</p><p>Goehring expects representatives of at least two major New York theater owners &mdash; the Shuberts and the Nederlanders &mdash; to see the show here, as well as people from Broadway Across America, the company that books touring shows into the Music Hall and scores of other cities.</p><p>&ldquo;I think everybody is interested because all of a sudden on their radar is this new partner in the commercial world called Kansas City Rep,&rdquo; Goehring said. &ldquo;Kansas City Rep has been on their radar screens for the last couple of years. And they&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;What the hell is going on at Kansas City Rep?&rsquo; They haven&rsquo;t actually said that to me, but that&rsquo;s the reaction I get. I think they&rsquo;re very curious to see a show here and see why I decided to come out here and work with Eric.&rdquo;