‘Elf The Musical’ Returning To Broadway For Holiday Engagement With Grey Henson Starring

Greg Evans
·3-min read

Elf The Musical is returning to Broadway for a limited holiday engagement this November, with Tony nominee Grey Henson (Mean Girls) in the lead role.

Producers Temple Live Entertainment and Crossroads Live North America announced the engagement today. The musical, which originally opened on Broadway in 2010, will begin previews at The Marquis Theatre on Saturday, November 9, with an official opening night on Sunday, November 17. The engagement will run through Saturday, January 4, 2025.

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Philip Wm. McKinley (Boy From Oz, Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark) will direct.

“I cannot wait to play Buddy the Elf eight times a week, in this hilarious and joyful musical, during the most magical time of the year on Broadway,” said Henson in a statement. “Elf has always been required yearly viewing for me, and I am so honored and excited to be fulfilling a lifelong dream of wearing tights on Broadway.”

In addition to his Tony-nominated turn in Mean Girls, Henson most recently starred on Broadway in the 2023 musical Shucked.

Further casting will be announced at a later date.

The Broadway return follows two record-breaking holiday seasons in London’s West End in 2022 and 2023. Elf, based on the 2003 film starring Will Ferrell, features a book by Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray) and Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone, Smash, Boop! The Musical), with songs by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin (The Prom, The Wedding Singer).

Following the 2010-2011 original Broadway engagement, the musical returned for a 2012-2013 holiday run with a revised book. Casey Nicholaw directed both engagements.

The upcoming Broadway production was first staged at the Dominion Theatre in London’s West End in 2022 and became the venue’s fastest-selling show in nearly a century, according to producers. The production returned the following season and broke its own box office records set during the previous year’s run.

The production features choreography by Liam Steel, set and costume design by Tim Goodchild, lighting design by Patrick Woodroffe, sound design by Gareth Owen, and video design by Ian William Galloway. Music supervision is by Alan Williams.

The official synopsis: Elf The Musical is the “tale of Buddy, a young orphan child whose life is changed forever when he mistakenly crawls into Santa’s sack of toys one Christmas Eve. Raised by elves in the North Pole, Buddy’s enormous size and poor toy-making abilities make him realize he doesn’t quite fit in. When he discovers he is human, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father, and in turn, helps the Big Apple rediscover the true meaning of Christmas.”

The 2003 New Line Cinema film, which in addition to Ferrell starred Zooey Deschanel and James Caan, grossed over $250 million dollars globally and has since become a holiday viewing staple.

Elf The Musical is produced on Broadway by Temple Live Entertainment and Crossroads Live North America. General Management is by Wagner Johnson Productions. Mark Kaufman serves as Creative Consultant for Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures.

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