Don’t be a cotton-headed ninny muggins and miss ‘Elf’

By Chris Brown on December 2, 2019.

From the North Pole to New York City, Buddy the elf had quite the adventure in the movie “Elf.” Now that journey has come to Medicine Hat.

The beloved Christmas movie “Elf” is coming to the stage in Medicine Hat this week, thanks to Medicine Hat High School drama club. The show runs Nov. 29-30, Dec, 6-7 and 13-14 at the MHHS Theatre. Show time is 7 p.m.

Director and drama teacher Richard Grafton said he’s had his eye on the show for quite a while and is always on the lookout for shows that haven’t previously been performed in Medicine Hat.

“Elf” fit that bill and also was fitting for the Hat High students.

“There’s a really strong chorus and there’s some really good opportunities for some people to shine in the ensemble,” he said, noting the audience is likely to see a narwhal going by and some other characters from the movie. “Even though there’s the main character, everybody along the way is there to support the story and we get to see kind of an expansion of some of the other characters. You know, some of the supporting people from the film might have a song or a bit of a backstory that the film didn’t go in to.”

Ensemble or not, there’s still Buddy the elf and his portrayal by Will Ferrell in the movie. Grafton isn’t worried about the chance of the original overshadowing this show’s portrayal.

“Will Ferrell did an amazing job and had a wonderful performance but when it becomes something in community theatre on stage it’s totally different how you interact with the audience and how you play the jokes differently,” he said. “It’s a real challenge and so I think our guy playing Buddy is doing a great job of that. He’s finding his own version of Buddy. I think people will be pleasantly surprised when people see it on the stage.”

As is custom at Hat High, the show is being put largely in the hands of the students, the director said.

“They’ve been working on props and costumes and sets and all the design of that and working on all the technical,” he said. “There’s a lot of new technical stuff we’re trying and doing more of the music and some projection mapping on to the stage. It’s going to be a lot of fun to see it all come together.”

A fan of Canadian content, Grafton notes the book for “Elf the Musical” is partially written by Toronto’s Bob Martin, who also wrote “The Drowsy Chaperone.”

Tickets for “Elf the Musical” are available online at tixx.ca or at the door.