Review: ELF THE MUSICAL, Wolverhampton Grand - Tour
Photo credit: Ady Patrick
With Christmas fast approaching, it is once again that time of year when World’s Biggest Productions send their production of Elf The Musical out on a tour of theatres and arenas across the UK.
The musical is based on the 2003 film of the same name, with the script being adapted for stage by Bob Martin and Thomas Meehan, and featuring a musical score by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin. Being titled Elf “The Musical”, many people booking their tickets will likely be expecting to see the same story as the beloved film with added musical numbers and dance routines suitable for all ages. However, this production seems to be a mixture of musical theatre and pantomime with lots of encouraged audience interaction, including a snowball fight where audience members get to throw varying sizes of snowballs at the stage. Whilst younger children seem to love this type of production, it may not be the sort of show that fans of the film were expecting or hoping to see. For a show which is advertised as family-friendly, it seems to be heavily aimed towards younger children, with a few crude jokes and innuendos thrown in, including a “funny” moment of Buddy upskirting Jovie upon their first meeting, and also a line in the show when Jovie says she’ll “try to be less bitchy” – all of which feels inappropriate for a show that is clearly more tailored to its younger audience members, and just feels like an unsuccessful attempt to appeal to adult audience members.
As a show that is touring both theatre venues and arenas, the set design needs to work for both types of spaces. We watched the tour’s opening performance on a smaller traditional theatre stage as opposed to a huge arena, and it is hard to tell whether the set design would work better in a larger venue. The set design is fairly simple, mostly consisting of a few pieces of furniture on wheels, but despite the set used in each scene being minimal, the majority of scene changes look clunky and cumbersome. One particularly distracting change of scenery happens during the first act when two giant inflatable candy canes are removed from the stage, as to begin with, all the audience can see is one of the giant candy canes starting to topple over in the background of a scene taking place downstage, at first seeming like it was accidentally falling over, but then the second one follows along with the stage management team to squash and deflate them onstage for all to see. But perhaps the most distracting part of the scenic design comes from the projection work during certain moments in the show. At times, the projection is used to enhance the storytelling and set the scene in various locations but at other times, bizarrely features cartoon dancing elves or a cartoon cartwheeling Santa, which adds nothing to the story and massively distracts from the cast onstage performing their musical numbers.
The music by Sklar and Beguelin has a wonderful mix of heartwarming love and festive joy, but it seems to go underappreciated in this production, as a result of the microphone and sound levels being not very well balanced and some performances feeling a little under energised, making it so that it is difficult to hear what lyrics are being sung a lot of the time. Another element of the production’s sound that is a shame is the apparent use of a tap track with the music in ‘Sparkle Jolly Twinkle Jingly’ as the tap sounds didn’t lineup with the choreography being danced – the ensemble members are quite clearly talented performers, particularly when it comes to the dance numbers, so feels a disservice to them that one element of the sound could slightly undermine the wonderful performance given. Vocals across the board aren’t particularly the strongest, which may have been due to opening night jitters and could strengthen as the tour goes on and the performers settle into their roles. There is one particular member of the cast who gives a standout performance however – Kelly Banlaki as Jovie gives a dynamic portrayal of the character that makes her character development all the more believable and a joy to watch, not to mention Banlaki’s stunningly poweful and gorgeous vocals.
Whilst this production of Elf The Musical may not be the typical musical adaptation that fans of the original film hope for, this tour is a great trip out for young families looking for a bit of Christmas magic where they can see a fun story with Buddy the Elf, Santa and more trying to generate some Christmas spirit. They may not be entirely successful in raising the spirits of some adult audience members, but the hard work put in by the performers in their dazzling costumes does not go unnoticed.
** Two stars
Reviewed by: Jess Dalloway