Elf

Elf, at Broadway's Hirschfeld Theatre
Gratuitous Violins rating: *** out of ****

I hadn't seen the movie Elf before taking in the musical version on Broadway but I was fairly certain of one thing: it would only be as good as its Buddy.

He's the baby who's accidentally transported to the North Pole after crawling into Santa's sack of gifts at an orphanage. He grows up to be Will Ferrell, a giant among elves but kind of a washout as a toymaker.

Well, Sebastian Arcelus won me over as the musical's Buddy. He's adorable - a big, overgrown kid in his green elf suit. He has a winning smile, a sweet singing voice and tons of charm.

I love a story set in New York City, and that's where Buddy goes at Christmastime when he learns that his human father is alive. I'm guessing the book, by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin, follows the 2003 movie closely but they've added some clever current references.

Composers Chad Beguelin and Matthew Sklar have written a catchy, poignant score for Elf that's just as fun as their songs for The Wedding Singer. They capture the excitement of the holiday as well as a son's yearning for his father. And as someone who loves big Broadway dance numbers, I still smile when I think about Casey Nicholaw's exuberant choreography.

I liked Mark Jacoby as Buddy's long-lost dad, Walter Hobbs. He's a busy, brusque man who works at a children's book publisher and doesn't have much time for his family. Jacoby makes him just disagreeable enough without going over the top.

Beth Leavel and Matthew Gumley are perfect together as Emily and Michael, Walter's neglected wife and young son, who welcome Buddy into their lives. They have a nice duet in "There Is A Santa Claus." Amy Spanger is cute as Buddy's love interest, Jovie, whom he meets at Macy's. And it was great to see George Wendt as Santa Claus.

There's not much - actually, there's not any - suspense in Elf. But that didn't matter. While some shows geared toward kids have left me a little bored, I was into this one all the way, right down to the final unsurprising special effect. And this lighthearted musical sends a strong message about the importance of family.

(My only complaint: the product placement for Apple that even I, as a loyal customer of more than 20 years thought went overboard.)

Elf was the final show I saw in New York City in 2010. While it wasn't life-changing, the musical ended my year of Broadway theatergoing on a very enjoyable note.

The Wedding Singer

When it comes to musicals, I definitely have a weakness for pop scores like Wicked and Hairspray. I've been listening to the Broadway cast CD of The Wedding Singer for months now, and the Tony-nominated score seemed to have some of the same quality, so I was really looking forward to seeing the show on tour. I finally had a chance last weekend.

The story pretty much parallels the 1998 movie with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. (And it's just about the only Adam Sandler movie I can stomach). Robbie Hart is the New Jersey wedding singer whose fiancee dumps him at the altar. He falls in love with a waitress named Julia Sullivan, who dreams of having her own storybook wedding, if her fiance would only pick a date. She's engaged to a hard-charging, obnoxious Wall Street type named Glen who doesn't pay enough attention to her and pretty much takes her for granted.

The musical does a good job of capturing the 1980s with a sense of humor - there's big hair and pastels, cell phones with giant battery packs. New Coke is touted as the next big thing, and the idea that anyone would pay $3 for a cup of coffee is dismissed as total lunacy.

The music, composed by Matthew Sklar, is incredibly catchy. Chad Beguelin who coauthored the book with Tim Herlihy, has written some very witty lyrics, especially in songs like "It's All About the Green" and "It's Your Wedding Day." And I loved, absolutely loved, the bar mitzvah numbers - "Today You Are A Man," and "George's Prayer."

It was great to finally see the songs performed live that I'd been listening to on my iPod for so long. I'm just sorry that one of my favorites - "Pop," didn't make it on tour. And the cast seemed to rush through some of the tunes that I remember being sung at a slightly more leisurely pace on the CD.

One thing you don't get by listening, of course, is seeing how the songs are staged. I'm not sure how much of Rob Ashford's Tony-nominated work choreographer Chris Bailey used in the tour, but it was terrific. Every song had its own distinct style, and they were all pretty exciting. "Saturday Night in the City" was suitably raunchy, and "It's All About the Green" had more of a traditional Broadway, button-down feel that you'd expect in well, a Wall Street office.

After Curtains, this is the second Rob Ashford show I've seen, and I think I'm becoming a fan. I can't wait to see what he does with Cry-Baby, which begins previews on Broadway next month. (If you count Kevin Spacey's dancing in the Bobby Darin biopic Beyond the Sea, it's actually the third).

Unfortunately, Merritt David Janes' portrayal of Robbie was a little bit of a weak link in the cast. He tried hard, and he's likable enough, but he just left me feeling kind of blah. Robbie should be charming in a goofy kind of way. But to me, Janes didn't exude much charm. It was a little hard to see why Julia, played by Erin Elizabeth Coors, was attracted to him to the point where she'd give up the comfort and security she'd have with the upwardly mobile Glen.

Robbie's bandmates, Sammy (played by Rhode Islander Justin Jutras as a rough-edged Joisy boy with "Flock of Seagulls hair") and George (John Jacob Lee, sweetly channeling Boy George) were hilarious. Coors was good as the young woman who wants so much to get married, she overlooks some of her fiance's more irritating qualities. I liked her voice, too. And Mark Raumaker as Glen was perfectly self-absorbed and arrogant.

The Wedding Singer opened on Broadway on April 27, 2006 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre and ran for 285 performances, closing on Dec. 31. It was nominated for five Tony awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Choreography and Best Actor in a Musical (Stephen Lynch as Robbie). The touring production runs through June 22.

After months of listening to the music, I think The Wedding Singer did a pretty good job of living up to my expectations. The songs are great, the choreography is wonderful, and there are some truly witty characters and moments. While it might not have the emotional depth of Wicked or Hairspray, it's a very fun show.