Broadway review by Adam Feldman
Christmas has come early to Broadway this year. Previous productions of the family-friendly comedic yuletide fable Elf The Musical, though pleasant enough, have seemed short on the very Christmas spirit—an ineffable sense of animating joy—that the musical is about. Its current revival, however, is another story entirely. To be honest, I wasn’t eager to see Elf get taken down from the shelf yet again. But my grinchiness soon vanished, to be replaced with a big wide grin. For the first time in my experience, this show is really elfin’ good.
Elf is based on the 2003 movie that starred Will Ferrell as a grown man named Buddy, raised in holly as one of Santa’s helpers at the North Pole, who belatedly learns that he’s human and travels to New York in search of his father. Adapted by the late Thomas Meehan and the same team that would later create The Prom—book writer Bob Martin, composer Matthew Sklar and lyricist Chad Beguelin—the script is faithful to David Berenbaum’s screenplay (including many of its most famous lines). But the miscast production that premiered on Broadway in 2010 seemed somehow both shiny and old; in my review, I described it as “a brightly wrapped and beribboned box with a hand-me-down sweater inside.” It had a better Buddy when it returned to Broadway in 2012, but it still didn’t jingle my bells.
Elf The Musical | Photograph: Courtesy Evan Zimmerman
Elf’s third time is the charm. The most obvious change is the bright new star at the top of the tree: Grey Henson, who has also given Broadway the giggles with his special brand of confident comic insouciance in Mean Girls and Shucked. Henson’s guileless Buddy is a creature of twinkle from his eyes down to his toes: an overgrown sweetie with a gentle heart and penchant for mild mischief. You can’t help rooting for him on his journey of elf-discovery, elf-esteem and elf-actualization, whether he’s trying to connect with his sourpuss dad (Michael Hayden)—a children’s-book publisher who has lost touch with his inner child as well as his actual one—or with his romcom love interest, the outwardly unjovial Jovie (Kayla Davion, best known for her replacement turn in Tina).
Elf The Musical | Photograph: Courtesy Evan Zimmerman
But Henson is far from the only thing that shines in this production, which has been a runaway hit in London. Directed by Philip Wm. McKinley (who wrestled Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark into presentability), this Elf earns big applause from the jump with lively and well-built production numbers choreographed by Liam Steel: As elves in the opening song, "Happy All the Time," the ensemblers—gaily appareled by Tim Goodchild, who also designed the set—amusingly dance on bended knees. But it’s a testament to the strength of the performers and the old-fashioned craftsmanship of Sklar and Beguelin’s score that the smaller-scaled numbers also connect—such as Jovie’s frustrated torch song “Never Fall In Love (With An Elf)” (“While others deck the halls / You dream of decking him”) and “There Is a Santa Claus,” an exuberant duet for Buddy’s stepmother (Ashley Brown) and half-brother (Kai Edgar). Jennifer Sanchez and Kalen Allen provide spirited comic characterizations in small roles.
Elf The Musical | Photograph: Courtesy Evan Zimmerman
The Christmas cheers culminate in a scene that features Santa Claus himself (a game if slightly undersize Sean Astin), who has crashed in Central Park on a malfunctioning sleigh—a vehicular Tinkerbell that can only fly if enough people believe. Well, count me now among the believers, at least when it comes to this show. Broadway needs a little Christmas, right this very minute, and it’s a pleasure to take off for a while on Elf’s magic ride.
Elf The Musical. Marquis Theatre (Broadway). Book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin. Music by Matthew Sklar. Lyrics by Chad Beguelin. Directed by Philip Wm. McKinley. With Grey Henson, Kayla Davion, Sean Astin, Michael Hayden, Ashley Brown, Kai Edgar, Jennifer Sanchez, Kalen Allen. Running time: 2hrs 25mins. One intermission.
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Elf The Musical | Photograph: Courtesy Evan Zimmerman
