December Adventures: Elf The Musical Review

Okay this is the last big part of my adventure… and then I might do one more post just showing the merch I got from Elf and They Might Be Giants… but yeah this is kind of the last big thing from this weekend adventure I can talk about.

I’ve seen Elf on Broadway 2 times before, once on Christmas with the original Broadway cast and I believe George Wendt was Santa Clause. The second time was when it came back a few years later with Wayne Knight as Santa. This time I was excited that Sean Astin was Santa because- I’m not sure why but one day my boyfriend and I were talking about The Addams Family tv show and we learned a lot about Jon Astin and his adopted son Sean Astin… and Sean’s got quite an interesting life with a Mamma Mia type of situation that happened. We’ve both seen Lord of The Rings and we like it- but honestly Sean Astin I just kind of like and respect as a person… so I was happy to see him live.

We were also excited because we’ve seen Grey Henson before as the storyteller in Shucked- which we saw last year and it’s the funniest thing I think I’ve ever seen on Broadway. I was really excited to kind of hear his singing voice more and see him as a leading man.

Another exciting edition to the cast was Kayla Davion as Jovie- who played Tina Turner in The Tina Turner Musical- which my parents saw in previews and they absolutely loved it. They thought she was great. Jovie does not have many songs in this musical and I thought that was a little disappointing. I wish they would have added a song to this production since they had a pretty big star and such a talented singer playing Jovie. I think she only has one song on her own and there’s not enough of her in the ensemble. I really liked the actress that played Emily and the young actor playing Michael had an amazing voice for someone his age… I do kind of wish maybe they had taken out one song from them and given Jovie another song.

I was also very impressed with Sean Astin- while I loved seeing George Wendy and Wayne Knight as Santa- they didn’t really sing or dance much in the roles I think. Sean Astin also played Walter Hobb’s boss and I really liked the song that he was in.

I did also love Grey Henson as Buddy. He was a great singer and dancer and he did such a good job. Because everyone thinks Buddy is a little annoying and crazy- but he’s such a nice guy everyone loves him anyway… you get that vibe from Grey’s version of Buddy. He did a great job.

I also have to say this seemed like a higher budget version of Elf than what I’ve seen before. The set looked really great, they used projections and moving set pieces… plus all of the costumes were very colorful. The choreography for the play was really impressive too… that’s one thing I love about every production I’ve seen of this musical. This one had more effects than other productions I’ve seen. The end was very special and magical because of lighting and effects… and snow. There was a lot of snow.

My boyfriend, my sister and I all really loved the show. My young niece also had a great time, this was her first time seeing a Broadway musical and she really had a great time and wants to see it again. There were a lot of young kids in the audience that were having a fun time too… overall this is a great family treat that I think everyone will enjoy. It will make you feel like a kid again and it’s just really fun.

I hope you guys like this review! Highly recommend seeing this musical- either on Broadway or on tour wherever you are. It’s a fun production.

Bye!

-Shannon