Review: Elf The Musical
It’s April, so let’s have a Christmas show!
Elf should have been The CTC Christmas show but due to COVID restrictions it was postponed until Easter week, which meant as we walked into the Apex at Bury St Edmunds we were greeted with Christmas trees and sparkly lights. But let’s face it we can do with some Christmas magic at any time of the year!
This is a musical version of the movie Elf that starred Will Farrell.
Buddy, a young orphan, accidentally 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 cause 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 realities that his father is on the naughty list and his half-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.
The CTC are a local young people’s theatre company, but don’t think this is a theatre school where the performances are put on for the benefit of adoring parents. Every single production that I have seen by this amazing company is worthy of any stage in the land. Much of the quality of the productions is down to the leadership of Principal Bridie Horne and her team.
As always a brilliant group of performers, who all are perfectly cast. Tom Scoggins excels as Buddy, a very demanding role.
Former CTC pupil and the company’s Assistant Director, Madeline Mears, returned to the stage in the role of Emily due to the previously cast Connie Lamb having to bow out as she was offered a professional role on a cruise ship, (that’s the standard of performers the company turns out!).
It’s a great cast, as always and there are several musical and dance numbers that include almost the whole cast on stage at the same time, a feat in itself!
Mention must be made of the sterling work by the orchestra, not seen but very much heard!
Stand-out vocal performance for me was Leah Head in the role of Jovie who has an amazing voice and another one to watch out for in the future.
That said the whole cast are excellent and as always I’d highly-recommend anyone to book to see any show put on by The CTC. Therefore book now for their next production which is The Sound of Music, 7-10th July at the New Wolsey Theatre, Tickets from www.wolseytheatre.co.uk or by phone 01473 295900.
Review: Mark Keable, Ipswich24 Magazine