"Elf The Musical"

Blind Eye Productions.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

Ah yes! Christmas is on the horizon and one of the most beloved of Christmas films comes to Long Eaton in the form of the musical version.

Buddy, a young orphan "elf" mistakenly crawls into Santa's bag of gifts and is transported to the North Pole. The would-be elf is raised unaware that he is actually a human, until his enormous size and poor toy-making abilities causes him to face the truth. With Santa's permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father and discover his true identity. Faced with the harsh reality that his Father is on the naughty list, and his step-brother doesn't even believe in Santa, Buddy is determined to win over his new family and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Buddy is played by JJ McCormack in a role that I am sure JJ is absolutely relishing because JJ has an inner child trying to break out, and has had, possibly for as long as I have known him. That child-like fun bursts forth as Buddy matures, only slightly, before our eyes on stage, and that "immaturity" just makes you feel like recessing back to being a kid without the feelings of guilt. Another positive of JJ's inner child is the energy that Buddy has is a complete natural ability of JJ. Brilliant fun to watch JJ cavorting, and you can see and hear the reaction from the packed audience as they audibly express their feelings at the more sad moments.

Gill Cook is Mrs Claus, only a cameo part but Gill looks exactly as I would like Mrs Santa Claus to look like. There's also another cameo part for Gill as the lady who carries the bells, allowing Buddy to display his campanologist skills.

Paul Duffy is Santa Claus, and if you're a very good boy or girl, you may even get to say "hello" to Santa before the show as I bumped into Santa in the theatre foyer before the show. This svelte Santa also looks just how you'd expect Santa to look in modern society. Still with the red costume but the usual ermine fur shows the toils of going up and down dirty chimneys, as does the beard. Paul plays a very modern Santa with a tablet and, due to emails or DMs from PETA, the sledge is no longer pulled by reindeer. 

Jovie, Buddy's love interest, is played by Eloise Lowe. It doesn't take Buddy long to break down the dating barriers erected by Jovie, and proving that it is fun to fall in love with an Elf. We have to wait a while before we get to hear Eloise's gorgeous voice, but it's well worth the wait, especially in "A Christmas Song".

Kevin Jones plays Walter Hobbs, the grumpy, work obsessed writer at Greenway Press, and  natural Father to Buddy. Even Walter can only keep up the grumpiness for so long, and with a little help from Walter's family, he gets to almost win over his boss, Mr Greenway. 

Beccy Burgess plays the long suffering wife, Emily Hobbs, who just wants to have some Christmas time with her husband and son, Michael. Beccy has a gorgeous voice and there's a lovely duet between Michael and Emily called "I'll Believe In You" and then in the second act called "There Is A Santa Claus", highlighting just how smooth their voices mix. Beccy is also the Musical Director, so no wonder those duets sound so good!

Sharing the role of Michael Hobbs, Walter and Emily's son, are Seth Burgess and William Curtis; it was William I saw on Thursday night. I've seen Seth in previous productions and can guarantee that whoever you see in this role, you won't be disappointed both acting and singing wise.

The boss with no Christmas spirit, Mr Greenway, is played by Ben Bradley. Love the accent and nice to hear Ben singing.  How Ben keeps such a straight face while acting next to JJ and the others beats me. Ben also doubles as one of the depressed Santas at the Chinese eating establishment for Santas that Buddy finds after being kicked out by Mr Hobbs.

Walter's secretary Deb is played by Andrea Caulfield-Smith.

Emme Gunn is the Manager of the store, Macy's, where Buddy is sent to help out by his Father.

Gabriella Tilley and Carys Windibank are the Store Elves.

Tilly Ebanks plays Tiara the Elf, Roman Nicol and Emily Radliffe share the role of Charlie the Elf.

James Rodgers is the Store Santa, who is revealed as not being THE Santa by Buddy, as well as the role of Jim.

Caitlin Rodgers, Lucie-Mae Wright, Lacey Bramley, Alex Michael, Orla Gunn and Lily O' Toole as Santa's Elves

Danielle Rodgers plays Charlotte Dennon and Ann Colgan plays the Saleswoman, plus several other roles.

Isobel Munden plays a woman and Steve Webb and Alex Wright are the New Yorkers.

Emily Hudson plays the Office Queen Bee.

Harriet Shaw-Browne is one of the several ice skaters.

Greenway Press Office staff members Jim, Sam & Sara are played by James Rodgers, Jackie Cooper and Lindsey Hemingway.

Alexandra Sjoberg-Weekes and Emma Nicol play Chadwick and Matthews.

Directed by Adam Chapman, assisted by Beth Duffy, this production really brings a feel of the film and all of the magical festivities to the stage, and as I told Adam after the show, it made me feel like breaking out my Michael Buble Christmas CD out and fetching the Christmas Tree down from the loft.... well maybe at the weekend!

Choreographed by Ashleigh Wilkinson, there are some real fun  dance numbers in this show, as well as a big tap number later in the show.

Kirsty  Smith is the Stage Manager and Deputy Stage Manager is Izzy Tilley, keeping the scene change timings down to the minimum.

Sound Designer and Operator is Nick Elliott. On a personal note, I would have liked the music backing track just a little louder, but that's my personal preference; apart from that, I found no real issues apart from a few missed mic cues.

Lighting Design is by Manda Joyce with Associate Lighting Design by Nick Elliott and Operation by Alan Betton.

Costumes are by JJ McCormack and Adam Chapman. When you take a look at the size of this cast, you can see the amount of hard work that JJ and Adam have put into these costumes

Set Design is by JJ McCormack which looked so good with the Projection Design by Paul Duffy.

Plenty of props for this show, managed by Kirsty Smith and Lisa Wilde.

You'll feel in the Christmas spirit even before you get into the theatre because the whole of the theatre box office area and foyer is like walking into  Santa's grotto with the decorations and Christmas trees. It makes you feel warm inside, even though the weather outside is frightful, so if you have no place to go.......

"Elf The Musical" is at the Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton until Saturday 22 November, but you may have to check just in case any tickets have been returned because at the last check, there were no tickets available. Let's face it, who in their right mind would not want a ticket for this Sparklejollytwinklejingley show.

Blind Eye are raising monies for their chosen charities this Christmas of "When You Wish Upon A Star" and Hayward House, so please get those raffle tickets and support these two amazing causes this Christmas.