Elf is one of (if not THEE) most loved Christmas film (and can you believe it came out in 2003!) of all time - personally my fave is The Greatest Store in the World - and when I was invited to see the musical on the 28th November, I could think of nothing more perfect to start my Christmas!
Based on the Cinema hit starring Will Ferrell, Elf is the hilarious tale of Buddy, a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts and is transported back to the North Pole. Unaware that he is actually human, Buddy’s enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa’s permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father, discover his true identity, and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas.
West End star and ITV ‘Superstar’ winner Ben Forster will reprise the key role of Buddy the Elf, a role which he originated in the UK premiere in 2014 in Plymouth and continued to perform throughout the record-breaking 2015 Christmas run in the West End.
There were a few differences in storyline to the movie, but only to make sense for the stage, for example Buddy doesn't have one Elf Father, he's just raised by all the elves. And the whole story is told by Santa as a narrator. Of course the musical was full of laughs, brilliant songs -one was called SparkleJollyTwinkleJingley- and finding Christmas spirit! One added storyline is that Michael and Emily don't believe in Santa and they slowly start to believe.
I have to say I was really pleasantly surprised by the musical, the first act with Santa starting to tell the story (and making a cliche Trump Joke - which I feel was very unneeded) had me a little on the edge of my seat as to whether or not I would enjoy the show but I quickly relaxed and the laughs flowed. It is a really easy watch with tons of laughs, songs and dances which definitely put me into the Christmas mood. I also thought the set was incredible, so many props and they all really set the scene of the moment. The set for the department store was amazing! So many decorations and the throne was magnificent!
