Elf The Musical

Elf the Musical is based on the on the 2003 American Christmas comedy film directed by Jon Favreau and directed by David Berenbaum. The musical version of the same name premiered on Broadway in 2010 and following its success opened in the London's West End in 2015. I have had the opportunity to see this musical a couple of times and I always look forward to seeing how the creative production team bring their own interpretation to this popular, festive magical musical to stage. Elf The Musical is the hilarious heartwarming tale of Buddy, a young orphan whose life is changed forever when he mistakenly crawls into Santa’s sack of toys one Christmas Eve. Raised by elves at the North Pole, Buddy’s enormous size and limited toy-making ability make him realise that he is different to the other Elves and that he is actually a human, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father, and in turn, helps the people he meets rediscover the true meaning of Christmas.

Congratulations to Director Caroline Scott and Producer Dan Brookes who demonstrated in this production their creativity in terms of bringing out the skills of their cast and generating the real meaning of Christmas. Each character provided clarity to tell their own individual story combined with plenty of energy throughout the production and the audience absolutely loved it. Congratulation also to Hannah McCann as Musical Director who ensured that the cast brought out the best in the musical score. The set was simple due to the limited intermate space, but this did not distract from bringing the story to life and Allistair Scott as set builder with Hannah and Chris McCann and Lois Vernon did a fantastic job to create an impressive set for the actors to perform on.

The choreography was well formulated by Caroline Scott and Hannah McCann who created the movement and dance routines for both the leads and ensemble, there were some interesting routines and good choreographed pieces, and I particularly enjoyed the movement by the Elves who performed their routine on their knees which was well choreographed and performed. Sound and lighting design was good thanks to Calum Priestly and Will Boddy and the costume were excellent and ensured that the characters were connected to their roles and provided great colour and helped the audience connect to the production thanks to the wardrobe department.

Well done to the whole cast, they all worked as a solid unit throughout the production, with the ensemble playing several roles providing high energy and a great unity between the cast members and it was evidence that the cast were enjoying their time on stage which cascaded out to the audience. It is not easy to solely open a show but Chris McCann as Santa Clause took to his chair to tell us the story of Buddy as well as playing the role as Leroy one of the naughty fake Santa’s and was ably assisted by Eleanor Batch as Mrs Clause as well as one of the office workers, great performances by these actors and well-cast in their iconic roles.  

The lead roles were all well cast with Dave Nisbet as the leading man playing the role of the loveable Buddy. Dave delivered a great character, good comic timing and confident stage presence and delivering his musical numbers confidently, great interaction with his fellow cast members especially Rhianne Kent as Jovie, his new girlfriend as well as one of the North Pole Elves, their chemistry on stage was both warming and funny and I really enjoyed the musical number “A Christmas Song”.

Playing the role of Buddy’s Dad, Walter Hobbs was Andy Nesbet, a good solid performance delivering the different emotions of the character, excellent stage presence, and delivered his musical numbers with confidence, Andy also delivered a good performance in the cameo role as one of the fake Santa’s. Playing his wife was Hermione Wappat, impressive performance as she struggled to encourage her husband to spend time with the family as well as dealing with arrival of Buddy. The versatile Louisa Culley not only played Mia Hobbs, Buddy sister but also had not one but two cameo roles as a fake Santa and one of the Elves, great stage presence and delivered her musical number “I'll Believe in You” with her stage mum beautifully.  I loved the character played by Cara Thorpe as Deb, Walter’s secretary great character acting and did Katie McElvaney as the Manager and one of the North Pole Elves. Lovely performances from Denise Skinn as Mrs Greenway, Walter’s Boss and one of the office workers, and Lynne Stones as Chadwick and Samantha MacDonald as Matthew and Tiara one of the North Pole Elves.

The chorus played a range of characters including Clare Williams as the policeman, a fake Santa, cameraman, and one of the North Pole Elves, Caroline Scott as an angry Child as well as Brenda, playing her mum was Joyce Binns as well as the perfume Saleswomen and an office worker, Hazel Clayson as a waitress, policeman, Office worker and Charlie one of the North Pole Elves, Suzanne Hilton as one of the fake Santa’s, and a new reporter, Chris Clayson as Dwayne, and Charlotte Dennon and David Lambert as Macy New York Elves and reporters.  

Well done to everyone involved in this exceptional funny and enjoyable production.  

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