Many people know the storyline of the 2003 movie “Elf”, where Buddy the Elf embarks on a journey through New York City and has many adventures along the way, so students were excited to learn that this year’s winter production at LSE would be “Elf the Musical, Jr”.
The story starts out with Buddy the Elf finding out that he is human after being raised by elves in the North Pole. Buddy makes his way to New York City to meet his father, Walter. At first his father and family aren’t excited to see him, and they don’t believe that he is Walter’s son. However, he grows on them and ends up bringing the family together and making a lot of friends while he is there.
The show was very successful, with record numbers of both adults and children in attendance. According to the theater director Tyler Lambley, so many people wanted to come to the show that they had to open up the balcony for two out of the three shows, something that they have not done for almost seven years.
Levi Baker, who played Buddy the Elf, did an outstanding job of imitating the high energy spirit of his character. The character of Buddy the Elf is very friendly and social, and he spreads this to everyone he meets. While some characters in the show don’t appreciate this at first, they end up realizing that they should join in with the spirit
Bella McCown also stood out in the show with her portrayal of Jovie, who is an unenthusiastic employee at the Macy’s department store. She has lost her Christmas spirit and secretly loves to sing, but doesn’t like to share her talents with others. As the show progresses, Buddy convinces her that “the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear”, and she gets over her fear by singing in public.
Other standouts were Tristin McGill as Walter Hobbs, Olivia Nelson as Emily Hobbs, and Hanchan Ang as Michael Hobbs. McGill convincingly acts as a father who works too much and doesn’t spend enough time with his family, while Nelson and Ang were really able to convey to the audience the hope they had for their family.
Although there is usually only a musical in the spring, this year was a little different with an extra musical.
“Elf had kind of been on my radar for a while and I just knew with this year’s senior class, that they would like it. We have very talented seniors who can sing and I said I want to make sure that they have a couple opportunities,” Lambley said.
Lambley says that he likes to push actors out of their comfort zones and give them roles that they might not normally try out for, such as the many silly characters in this show. The goal of the show was to give families a chance for a new way to get into the holiday spirit, and they definitely succeeded.
“I think that our theater department is really good at putting on a super fun and chaotic show,” Baker said. “We’re really good at executing something like that really well, where there’s just so much going on, but it ends up being really beautiful.”
The drama club hosts a fundraiser every year, and it follows the theme of the production they are doing. This year’s fundraiser was “Candy Cane Break-A-Legs” that people could buy for $1, to write a note for their favorite actor or actress. The fundraiser went very well and raised about $200.
The Drama Club officers decided that the money they raised would be used to grant the wishes of children on the Salvation Army tree, which they will be going to do within the next few weeks.
“We’re trying to recognize the people who are less fortunate during this season, and so, along with having a super fun show, we want to have something that’s a little more meaningful,” Baker said.
