The National Tour of "Elf: The Musical"
In the midst of "Hairspray: Live", I took in a performance of this year's national tour of "Elf: The Musical". Based on the 2003 film that starred Will Ferrell, "Elf" tells the story of an elf named Buddy who crawled into Santa's bag as baby and was taken back to the north pole and raised as one of their own. Of course, when Buddy becomes very tall, by elf standards, he learns he is human and must go back to New York city to meet his real family and most importantly, earn the affection of his father who is a New York city business man, who is on the naughty list.
If I had to use only one word to describe "Elf: The Musical", it would be "funny". "Elf" is just an overall funny show. At the start of the show, we are greeted by Santa Claus (played wonderfully by Ken Clement), who almost immediately starts cracking jokes. After Santa is finished telling us about his electronic problems, he begins telling us the story of Buddy the Elf and the opening number, "Happy All the Time" begins. The opening number of this show really tells you what kind of show this is going to be, almost overly positive and very upbeat. Then, Buddy makes his entrance and the plot takes off. Less than ten minutes into the show, Buddy realizes that he is a human and takes off to NYC. Hilarity ensues.
The role of Buddy the Elf was played perfectly by Sam Hartley. Hartley was hilarious and did a good job of keeping true the Will Ferrell type, which is what makes the original movie iconic, but he still found ways to make the role his own and he easily enamored the entire audience. Mark Epperson's performance of Water Hobbs (Buddy's father) was very good and the most memorable thing about his performance is his warm, honeylike, voice. Buddy's stepmother and 12 year old brother were played by Marie Lemon and Nicholas Canal. Lemon and Canal showed an excellent chemistry with each other, as well as with Epperson. The entire cast gave solid performances and there was not a single weak link among the cast.
I thought the book by Bob Martin and Thomas Meehan was very well put together and stayed true to the original film, but the role of Jovie (played by Mia Weinberger), Buddy's love interest, was very underdeveloped. If you took her out of the show, it wouldn't have been much different without her. I was surprised at how small the role was, considering she plays a much bigger role in the movie version. I thought that Weinberger did a decent job playing the role, but probably could have done a lot better if she was given more material to work with. The score, by Matthew Sklar (Music) and Chad Begulin (Lyrics), had a very standard musical theatre sound to it. Another issue I had within the writing of the show is that the dance numbers ran too long. There were a fair amount of dance numbers and during all of them, I paid attention for the beginning of it, but then zoned out because of their length.
For those who might want to buy tickets to this production, I have to say, although it may look like a show that children would enjoy, I really wouldn't recommend bringing young children to this show, as there is quite a bit of innuendo and some profanity scattered throughout the show. If you must bring a child to this show, I would make sure he or she is around the ages of 10 or 11. A lot of the jokes might go over a young kid's head, but I do not think that this show would hold a child's attention for very long.
I really did have a fun time at "Elf: The Musical". Despite the minor issues I had with the show, it was still a wonderfully put together production. If the "Elf" tour comes to your city, you should deinitley see it. It is a nice way to get into the holiday spirit and simply absorb a musical comedy.
For tickets and more information, visit http://www.elftour.com/
The cast of "Elf: The Musical" on tour consists of:
Buddy the Elf- SAM HARTLEY
Michael- NICHOLAS CANAL
Santa- KEN CLEMENT
Walter Hobbs- MARK EPPERSON
Emiy- MARIE LEMON
Deb- AUDRA QUALLEY
Mr. Greenway- JOEL STIGLIANO
Jovie- MIA WEINBERGER
If I had to use only one word to describe "Elf: The Musical", it would be "funny". "Elf" is just an overall funny show. At the start of the show, we are greeted by Santa Claus (played wonderfully by Ken Clement), who almost immediately starts cracking jokes. After Santa is finished telling us about his electronic problems, he begins telling us the story of Buddy the Elf and the opening number, "Happy All the Time" begins. The opening number of this show really tells you what kind of show this is going to be, almost overly positive and very upbeat. Then, Buddy makes his entrance and the plot takes off. Less than ten minutes into the show, Buddy realizes that he is a human and takes off to NYC. Hilarity ensues.
The role of Buddy the Elf was played perfectly by Sam Hartley. Hartley was hilarious and did a good job of keeping true the Will Ferrell type, which is what makes the original movie iconic, but he still found ways to make the role his own and he easily enamored the entire audience. Mark Epperson's performance of Water Hobbs (Buddy's father) was very good and the most memorable thing about his performance is his warm, honeylike, voice. Buddy's stepmother and 12 year old brother were played by Marie Lemon and Nicholas Canal. Lemon and Canal showed an excellent chemistry with each other, as well as with Epperson. The entire cast gave solid performances and there was not a single weak link among the cast.
 |
| Sam Hartley as Buddy the Elf |
I thought the book by Bob Martin and Thomas Meehan was very well put together and stayed true to the original film, but the role of Jovie (played by Mia Weinberger), Buddy's love interest, was very underdeveloped. If you took her out of the show, it wouldn't have been much different without her. I was surprised at how small the role was, considering she plays a much bigger role in the movie version. I thought that Weinberger did a decent job playing the role, but probably could have done a lot better if she was given more material to work with. The score, by Matthew Sklar (Music) and Chad Begulin (Lyrics), had a very standard musical theatre sound to it. Another issue I had within the writing of the show is that the dance numbers ran too long. There were a fair amount of dance numbers and during all of them, I paid attention for the beginning of it, but then zoned out because of their length.
For those who might want to buy tickets to this production, I have to say, although it may look like a show that children would enjoy, I really wouldn't recommend bringing young children to this show, as there is quite a bit of innuendo and some profanity scattered throughout the show. If you must bring a child to this show, I would make sure he or she is around the ages of 10 or 11. A lot of the jokes might go over a young kid's head, but I do not think that this show would hold a child's attention for very long.
I really did have a fun time at "Elf: The Musical". Despite the minor issues I had with the show, it was still a wonderfully put together production. If the "Elf" tour comes to your city, you should deinitley see it. It is a nice way to get into the holiday spirit and simply absorb a musical comedy.
 |
 |
For tickets and more information, visit http://www.elftour.com/
The cast of "Elf: The Musical" on tour consists of:
Buddy the Elf- SAM HARTLEY
Michael- NICHOLAS CANAL
Santa- KEN CLEMENT
Walter Hobbs- MARK EPPERSON
Emiy- MARIE LEMON
Deb- AUDRA QUALLEY
Mr. Greenway- JOEL STIGLIANO
Jovie- MIA WEINBERGER
Comments
Post a Comment