Elf The Musical

Christmas has come early with this light-hearted show which gave everyone a much needed escape with its entertaining antics. The story line of a human baby accidentally landing in Santa’s sack and then being brought up by elves at The North Pole before being sent back to find his father is ripe for misunderstandings and fun aplenty. Eric Brown in fine voice as Santa Claus opens the show reading a story. He is a sympathetic character but a bit bewildered by modern gadgets and folks lacking the Christmas spirit. David Hastie who plays Buddy Hobbs the Elf dominates in stature and song and gives us a larger than life character whom he imbues with endearing childlike qualities to comedic effect. Gregor Preston as his father Walter Hobbs sings with passion and effectively portrays a character consumed by his story telling job at the expense of his family life, at first scathing and disbelieving about Buddy being his son. His wife Emily Hobbs is played as more compassionate by Rebecca Holmes who gives Buddy a bed then a home. She tries to create a good Christmas for their daughter Mabel, in fact her real life daughter Izzy Holmes, who makes this an assertive role and together they sing a memorable and heartfelt duet. Charmain Leitch engages the audience with the role of Jovie, a love interest for Buddy and a kind of PA for the firm, successfully creating her as efficient and cheery on the outside but with a lack of trust in people and deep feelings of loneliness on the inside. Hitting the mark are Garry Withnell as the wonderfully curmudgeonly boss, Mr Greenway and Karine Stalker as singer and mover Debs. These principals are supported by Sandy Queenan as the stressed Chadwick, Neil Gordon as Manager, Les Fulton as Matthews and Lindsey Campbell as Mrs Claus. The cast had a good blend of young, as elves, and more experienced members as workers and crowds. The singing was wholehearted and heart-warming. Movement was well rehearsed and effortless with the highlight for me being the skating dance where the mannerisms and imitations of skating on ice were well executed. Colourful costumes and scenery added to the ambience not to mention the realistic snow. This was a well grounded and rounded production that brought pleasure to us all. Well done.

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