For the yearly fall musical the GEHS theater department put on the musical version of the beloved Christmas movie Elf. Elf: The Musical was shown on November 13, 14, and 16 after months of rehearsal. 

The plot of Elf: The Musical is that Buddy the Elf finds out he’s actually a human, so he goes to New York City to find his father, Walter Hobbs, where wacky hijinks ensue.

The props that were made for the musical were excellent. The painted props were simple, but charming and the paint job was very clean. There were even handmade streetlights that actually lit up. My personal favorite of these props was the buildings used to convey New York City.

The costumes overall were also great. Buddy’s costume looked almost identical to the 2003 movie’s costume. The elves’ costumes were colorful and looked very warm, while Santa’s costume looked warm and like something a grandpa would wear. The costumes that Walter and his crew wore were very professional with no noticeable wrinkles adding to the professionalism. Jovie’s outfits were very nice, from her Macy’s holiday uniform to her dinner date dress. Jovie’s final costume, the pink elf one, also looked almost identical to the 2003 movie’s costume.

The lighting was immaculate. The colors that were chosen for each scene set the tone excellently, while the spotlight followed the actors well and moved smoothly. The lights also transitioned from one color to the next very smoothly as well. 

The actors did a great job portraying the characters. There were no line mess ups and all the actors voiced the lines with emotion. The choreography was also great and everyone was dancing in sync.

The songs were also sung very well by the actors. They all sang on key and their tone fit the vibe of each song very well. The instrumentals by the orchestra were also beautiful, but they often overpowered the vocals.

The microphones also kept cutting off in the middle of some lines or during high notes in songs. Many of them also didn’t seem to work for some of the actors leading to me struggling to hear their lines. 

Overall, the production was amazing despite the few hiccups.