Elf The Musical is the hilarious and heartwarming tale of Buddy (Tony Award® nominee Grey Henson), 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 abilities make him realize he may not quite fit in! When he discovers he is actually human, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father, and in turn, helps the Big Apple and the people he meets rediscover the true meaning of Christmas.
Hailed by Time Out as “a slickly irresistible and fizzily enjoyable confection of a show” that will “whirl you up in a technicolor dream of Christmas,” this modern-day holiday classic returns home to Broadway in an acclaimed new, record-breaking production that “has the magic to send you out of the theatre smiling and singing” (The Times of London).
Any production of Elf necessarily rests on the shoulder of the fellow in the oversized elf’s costume. (As those familiar with the plot are aware, Buddy the Elf is not really an elf, if there be such a thing as a real elf; rather, he’s a human raised by elves and exiled from the North Pole to midtown Manhattan.) Unlike prior Buddys we’ve seen—drama critics who stick around long enough tend to revisit plays and musicals, like it or not—Grey Henson has the soul of one of those old-fashioned musical-comedy comedians, striving for and achieving laughter on a moment-by-moment basis.
Not to sound a little salty, but Elf The Musical (directed by Philip WM. McKinley) can overstuff itself with misfired quips upon quips, mistaking fluff for quality. Trading sincerity for schtick can deflate the humor (often nostalgic nods to the movie) when desperate to grab laughs. Although the musical is critical of the corporate grind of Christmas, a referential script can border into product placement. High-wattage star Sean Astin, as Santa Claus, finds his charms trapped in cloying references — ironically underlining how Astin himself effectively doubles as corporate antagonist Mr. Greenway.
2010 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2012 | US Tour |
NETworks National Tour US Tour |
2012 | Broadway |
Broadway Return Production Broadway |
2013 | US Tour |
NETworks National Tour US Tour |
West End |
West End West End |
|
2015 | US Tour |
2015 Holiday Tour US Tour |
2017 | Off-Broadway |
Madison Square Garden Return Engagement Off-Broadway |
2022 | US Tour |
US Holiday Tour US Tour |
2024 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
Videos