David Essex and Martine McCutcheon have been cast in Elf, a musical based on the Hollywood film, which will tour the UK in December 2018.
Essex will play Buddy the Elf’s father and McCutcheon will be Buddy’s girlfriend, Jovie. Buddy the Elf will be played by Tam Ryan and Louise English will play Buddy’s stepmother. The cast also features 70 performers including children from Pauline Quirke Academy stage schools.
Essex said, “I’m really looking forward to taking Elf on tour. The big special effects that we have lined-up are incredible, including a giant sleigh which will fly across the arena, an indoor snow blizzard and lots of skating which all adds to this perfect Christmas story.”
McCutcheon added, “Elf is without doubt one of the all-time great Christmas movies, so I hope audiences will love this production as much as the film.”
The production will feature a book by Bob Martin and Thomas Meehan and an original score. The original staging will be enhanced with giant screens, showing both computer graphic backdrops and live action close-ups. The 5,000-seat arena layout will have a 70-foot wide stage and a 60-foot long thrust stage, with some scenes taking place around and above the audience.
Elf tours to the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff from 14 until 16 December, Genting Arena, Birmingham from 20 until 24 December and the Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham from 28 until 30 December.