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Eleven The Musical (Dominion Theatre, London)
Rating: ****
Verdict: Slick festive fun
The Wizard of Oz (Curve, Leicester)
Rating: ****
Verdict: Fantastic fever dream
The 2003 movie Elf is an established seasonal favorite, and audiences will inevitably have Will Ferrell on their minds when they think of Santa’s hapless “little” helper Buddy.
Fortunately, in Elf The Musical, Simon Lipkin conquers all comparisons (and a terrible wig) to take a convincing lead.
The story, if you need to be reminded, is about the naive Buddy, who discovers at the age of 30 that he is not an elf at all, but a large human who crawled into Santa’s sack as a baby and was then raised by his elves. on the north Pole.
Buddy heads to New York to find his father, exhausted businessman Walter Hobbs (Tom Chambers), who is too busy for his wife Emily (Rebecca Lock), and son Michael, let alone this weird manboy who has given him the want to hug all the time. time.
The 2003 movie Elf is an established seasonal favorite, and audiences will inevitably have Will Ferrell on their minds when they think of Santa’s hapless “little” helper, Buddy.
To make matters worse, Hobbs is on the Naughty List because – oh, the horror – he doesn’t believe Santa Claus exists.
Philip McKinley’s classy revival – the scenes in Macy’s look particularly stunning in Tim Goodchild’s design – has some smashing song-and-dance numbers (the book is by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin, with songs by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, choreography by Liam Steel).
Lock and Logan Clark as Michael (the night I saw the show) are one of the showstoppers of the evening in There Is A Santa Claus, while Kim Ismay as Hobbs’ assistant Deb and Dermot Canavan as the store manager provide great comedy.
There are a few breaks and some of the jokes are for adults only – have fun on the way home by explaining to your little ones how Buddy’s ‘special hug, twice!’ for Jovie (Georgina Castle) resulted in a little Buddy – but the message that we all need to believe in the true meaning of Christmas shines through.
Under Artistic Director Nikolai Foster, Leicester’s Curve Theater has grown into a musical theater powerhouse, and his lavish new production of The Wizard Of Oz confirms that status.
Featuring music from the 1939 MGM film, with additional songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice from the 2011 version by Lloyd Webber and Jeremy Sams, the show is both a visual and musical feast, with its clever set design by Colin Richmond and lavish costumes by Rachael Canning.
As we leave the gritty tones of Kansas, everything on stage suddenly changes to surprising colors and neon sets, and impressive back projections fill parts of the story. Georgina Onuorah plays a powerful lead as a sassy Dorothy — “Nobody listens to me!” – as Jonny Fines (Scarecrow), Paul French (Tin Man) and Giovanni Spano (Lion) are her lovable companions as she tries to find her way home in her feverish dream. A delightful puppet Toto (operated by Ben Thompson) threatens to steal the show.
Paul French, Jonny Fines and Giovanni Spano in The Wizard Of Oz. Under Artistic Director Nikolai Foster, Leicester’s Curve Theater has become a musical theater powerhouse, and his lavish new production of The Wizard Of Oz confirms that status
Dorothy is thwarted at every turn off the Yellow Brick Road by the Wicked Witch of the West, who, like Imelda Marcos, must have those sparkly red shoes for herself – even if it means killing Dorothy.
The Wicked Witch (on the night I saw the show, played brilliantly by understudy Ellie Mitchell, replacing the unwilling Charlotte Jaconelli) is, well, pretty bad, while Christine Bianco as Glinda is a vision of loveliness in pink. Her duet with Dorothy, Al Thuis, is a real tearjerker.
The back projection during the headline overture and the strong Nazi atmosphere in the Wicked Witch’s castle remind us that L. Frank Baum’s allegorical story is set in Depression America leading up to World War II.
But Mr. Foster manages to satisfy both those who need a show to have a political or moral message, and those who just want to enjoy two hours of feel-good theater with lots of fun tunes.
Choose from two enchanting Scrooges
A Christmas Carol (Old Vic, London)
Rating: ****
Verdict: Dickensian feast for the eyes
A Sherlock Carol (Marylebone Theatre)
Rating: ***
Verdict: I’m not sure, Sherlock
“Marley was dead!” It’s been six Christmases since the ghost of the old financier first dragged his rattling chain the full length of the Old Vic to warn his partner. This version is now well established in London.
Scrooge from 2022 is Owen Teale from Game Of Thrones and my favorite so far: fantastic whiskers, quite gruff, convincingly furious as he resists the nagging female ghosts. Only late does he realize that he is not just a “squeezing, wringing, grabbing, scraping, grabbing, greedy old sinner,” but that he has squandered his own chances for happiness.
That modern self-pity is part of Jack Thorne’s adaptation: while wisely using Dickens’ prose in narration, he adds therapy-couch statements about Scrooge’s cruel father and his lost love.
Feeling Sullen: Owen Teale as Scrooge
There are words like “manipulative” and “you are part of my story,” and a swipe at the disaster TV era when he cringes at the ghost showing him a dying Tiny Tim – “is it wrong not to want to see that? ?’ But it’s still a glorious Victorian-Dickensian spectacle: mince pies as you enter, oranges thrown at the gallery, hand bells, lanterns, clattering cash boxes rising from the floor, Christmas carols. And a frenzied avalanche of Christmas dinner from the roof, with skydiving sprouts and a finale with Marley’s ghost in tap shoes.
Three miles north of the town of Dickens, past 221B Baker Street, the Marylebone Theater features A Sherlock Carol by Mark Shanahan, opening boldly with the words, “Moriarty was dead.”
It’s 40 years later and a depressed Holmes is visited by Dr. Cratchit: Tiny Tim is all grown up and seriously healing other kids. Scrooge is murdered after some shenanigans involving a lost will and the precious Blue Carbuncle, which may or may not have been stolen by a descendant of Scrooge’s old employer Fezziwig.
It’s a brilliant mash-up, following lines from both books. Holmes does not believe in ghosts, but on Christmas Eve, Scrooge’s ghost mockingly quotes him: “If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
I wanted to love it – and it’s only two hours long (a big plus in my books) – but the first half is finicky with subplots and horrible comedic touches that your kids might love, but not me.
And while Kammy Darweish is a wonderful Scrooge, Ben Caplan’s detective has to dial it up a bit in the first half to find the Sherlock magnetism. I know he had a hard time at the Reichenbach Falls, but that’s no excuse for being stupid.
LIBBY PURE