Elf(2010)
Opening Night: November 14, 2010
Closing: January 2, 2011
Theater: Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Much like the popular film of the same name, Elf follows the adventure of a young man named Buddy who grew up at the North Pole believing he is one of Santa’s Christmas elves. When his adoptive father reveals he is actually human, Buddy heads to New York City to find his real family.
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November 14, 2010
Early in the new musical "Elf," Sebastian Arcelus, as Buddy, a human who thinks he’s a holiday sprite, pours syrup and then whipped cream over spaghetti for breakfast. The show itself is much like this inappropriate morning meal: too sweet and a big mess. On Broadway for a limited holiday-season run, the production has been toned down and sugared up from its source material, the 2003 hit film comedy starring Will Ferrell.
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November 14, 2010
The days are growing shorter and the weather colder, and you know what that means: ‘Tis the season for fluffy, holiday-themed musicals on Broadway.
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November 14, 2010
Raiding the New Line vaults for stage musical material has so far yielded a hit in "Hairspray" and a miss in "The Wedding Singer." Where "Elf," an underpowered Broadway Christmas attraction adapted from the Will Ferrell screen comedy, falls in that commercial spectrum will depend on its holiday box-office pull. But as theatrical entertainment, it’s flavorless candy.
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November 14, 2010
For Christmas this year, the elves in Santa’s workshop ought to build us a better new musical than “Elf,” which is hardly worth adding to anyone’s holiday wish list. This stage adaptation of the 2003 Will Ferrell film observes an overgrown elf named Buddy who learns that he is actually human and then ventures to Manhattan to find his real father and reconnect with his family.
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November 14, 2010
In some remote corner of Santa’s kingdom up at the North Pole, elves are whistling show tunes as they work. Instead of sewing button eyes on dolls and fiddling with the circuitry of game consoles, a small but dedicated cadre of Santa’s tireless helpers are manufacturing splashy, peppy, sugar-sprinkled holiday entertainments destined for Broadway. The latest product to be shipped south for family consumption is “Elf,” a musical adaptation of the popular Will Ferrell movie that opened Sunday night at the Al Hirschfeld Theater.
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November 15, 2010
Santa’s helper Buddy the Elf, the title character of the blockbuster 2003 movie that starred Will Ferrell, has leapt from the screen to the stage with relative ease in the new Broadway musical Elf , now playing a limited run at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. The show, directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, is packed with some terrific performances — most notably, the lovably gawky, clarion-voiced Sebastian Arcelus, who makes for a winning hero — and plenty of holiday spirit.
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November 14, 2010
I doubt that a stage version of the 2003 movie comedy Elf was at the top of anybody’s holiday wish list, but the family-friendly new Broadway musical is a surprisingly diverting confection that’s a sleigh-length ahead of recent seasonal fare on the Great White Way (e.g., White Christmas in 2008 and 2009). Even the biggest Cotton-Headed-Ninny-Muggins is bound to leave the Al Hirschfeld Theatre with a festive glow.
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