Elf The Musical - Dominion

Ben out for rest of Lowry run with a broken ankle
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-news/ben-forster-elf-broken-ankle-14123157

Playing the Genting Arena, Birmingham, 20-24 December.

David Essex and Martine McCutcheon to appear in it on this Christmas' arena dates

David Essex is playing Buddy's dad. Buddy is Tam Ryan.
I was a little surprised Martine is doing this, she was doing a lot of promotion for her last album (which I thought was actually quite good)
www.westendwilma.com/news-david-essex-and-martine-mccutcheon-to-star-in-elf-this-christmas/

That's no way to talk about Martine McCutcheon!

Surely you're not suggesting she's so bad there'll be fatalities, are you?

(Some of the celebrities that have been in Chicago, though...)

Arena Tour website now live with dates and booking links

14th -16th December Motorpoint Cardiff

20th – 24th December Genting Birmingham

28th – 30th December Motorpoint Nottingham

buddytheelf.co.uk/

Very excited for the going to see it in Cardiff for the fist performance will let u know my thoughts

Love the movie and hated the show, the songs are terrible and Buddy fails to be funny and is just embarassing, such a shame.

Report from the 11am performance today (I presume this isn't a matinee as that's afternoon theatre, is there an official term for morning theatre?).

I've never seen Elf before in any form, so I don't know how close this tour is to the one from previous years.

This is also the first time I've seen a musical in an arena setting.

This was the first show in Birmingham, the second week of the tour. I've never the Resort World Arena (formerly the NEC Arena and lots of other names since) so quiet when I arrived. Of course none of the bars were open. There were food places open, but perhaps unsurprisingly they weren't doing a roaring trade with lunchtime food at 10:30am in the morning.

There are very few seats on the floor, as the stage is extended and lots uses the extended stage. There are also circus trick areas used briefly at either side of the floor. I'm thinking that the premium priced floor seats would have been a horrible buy, since you'd be turning around to look at the extended stage half of the time.

I was in a front tier, about half way up. A good view for this production, although far too far back to make out people.

But I've sat further away just in normal theatres.

They did have screens where they showed the action, although annoying they just focused on tight shots of the leads. I was trying to make out the ensemble, who aren't listed online anywhere. I did make out Eddie Myles (formerly of 42nd Street). None of the ensemble even seen to be tweeting, so I don't know if they're sworn to secrecy.

There is no set to speak of. Just the screens used to show a picture of a location in the background.

Everything does seem to have been done on the cheap. A bare set, very small ensemble, small group of circus performers, prerecorded music, a little snow but less than White Christmas in Leicester, the big effect being Santa on a very high seat being wheeled around the arena floor to give the impression his sleigh was flying.

There were breaks for circus tricks, so some tightrope walking (including on skilts), trampolining and the like.

At first, it looked as though the arena would be practically deserted. The MC did announce there were delayed school parties and by the time it started, the arena looked about half full (I think it was set up for 5000). That did give half an hour to sell merchandise (got to sell the elf masks and light up sticks), get the crowd going cheering and let several acts perform, including unicycle juggling and a scary clown act. All remarkably prepared. Anyone would think they got delayed regularly.

To be fair, an 11am performance is an odd time and I suspect the evenings will do a lot better.

It is a very short show. 1 hour first half, 25 minute interval, 50 minute second half (and that was no doubt longer than usual due to a technical hitch).

Nothing overly memorable, but the songs were fun enough.

A lot of the young children were getting rather fed up with it. Lots of running around, including from young Amelia behind me (who thankfully had most of a row full) and was obviously disappointed when her mother told her it was just "half time". The same mother also said it was the worst show she'd ever been to. I wouldn't go that far, but I had a good idea what sort of show to expect in advance. I expect if you'd paid the full £75 or so for a ticket for the section, you'd be quite opinionated too.

It was also obviously a standard arena/concert style audience, rather than a theatre audience. So the usual phone checking and lots of noise from the school sections. I got rather fed up of the light up sticks which were on and waved around regularly. And the phone screens (although I'm sure you'll be able to check the performance out on YouTube before too long).

There was a technical hitch in the second half. Music and microphones went off during the song where Buddy is writing a book. Microphones came back, so Buddy tried to tell the story rather then sing it. Then the song started at a random point and the cast tried to follow along. Lots of joking around and I don't think we ever got the full scene.

There were lots of points of improvisation and local references, but as always it's hard to know how scripted they are. Mentions of Jeremy Kyle and Dudley. Various pantomime lines such as "he's behind you".

Lots of opportunities for adverts as well. Scrooge (next year's musical) in the script and mentioned in the thank yous as the end, as well as subliminally worked into the background graphics, such as being one of the shows playing in New York. Pauline Quirk's stage school advert played multiple times before the show and during the interval (I believe she also supplied the kids used in a few scenes to make this seem a larger production). They'd also filmed a video of Buddy exploring the Resorts World complex, using many of his famous lines, which was actually quite good.

I haven't commented on the acting:

Tam Ryan as Buddy. Excellent. Very warm. Great audience interaction, dancing with audience members, stealing popcorn etc.

David Essex as Walter. Has a certain presence. His singing days are a bit behind him.

Martine McCutcheon as Jovie. Perfectly fine. She's not actually in it very much.

Would I recommend you rush and get a ticket? No, it's pantomime styled and you could get a lot more for your money.

Will you enjoy it if you go? Probably, if you don't spend too much and if you realise it isn't going to attract a traditional threatre audience.

Would you spend full price for Scrooge next year on the back of having seen this? Highly unlikely.

Returning to an arena near you this Yuletide with Tam Ryan,Kym Marsh and Shaun Williamson.Joy of joys...

I saw it on Saturday as I never got the chance to see it in the theatre. It seemed very lacking in the theatre and forced in the spectacle. The staging didn't work, the side seats were definitely on sale and full(ish) when I went so if it had all been on the front stage they'd have mainly seen backs. The leaflet mentioned a cast of 100 (close if you count all the kids but still rounding up I feel) and the audience decorating a 30 ft Christmas tree (is that why we had the random tinsel?) 
I am glad I went to the Palladium Panto later as that cheered me up. If I'd seen them the other way around it would have been quite a come-down.

I'm not sure it is fair to treat this the same as the musical, it is clearly a different beast.