Buddy, a young orphan, mistakenly crawls into Santa's bag of gifts and is transported to the North Pole. The would-be elf is raised, unaware that he is actually a human, until his enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa's permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father and discover his true identity. Faced with the harsh reality that his father is on the naughty list and that his half-brother doesn't even believe in Santa.

Director's Vision Letter
When I was little, I LOVED Christmas, but not for the standard reasons. Don’t get me wrong…I loved going to candlelight service, spending time with my family, and presents. But my favorite thing? The movies! When I was a kid we didn’t have streaming or VHS, let alone cable TV. We could ONLY see Christmas movies that small window of the year. 

Christmas movies back then were often claymation, stop-motion and a few live action. My favorites?  Stop-motion movies by Rankin-Bass. They were magical.  Not only did they have adorable creatures, cute elves, and reindeer, but they snuck in some pretty awesome lessons. 
The first time I saw Elf, I was hooked!  By the opening credits I was all in.  My favorite stop-motion format mixed with live action? What?! And now here we are, I am so excited! 

Elf is a magical story that shows us the importance of family, love, and believing in the magic of Christmas. The overall theme of the story that resonates with me is JOY.  Buddy embodies pure unwavering optimism, innocence, and JOY. JOY is tricky.  The actual definition of JOY is: a feeling of great pleasure or happiness that comes from success, good fortune, or a sense of well-being.  But how do you hold on to JOY when you are NOT feeling happy?

We will be following Buddy’s journey from the North Pole where he lives with his elf family.  Although he sometimes struggles with fitting in there, he always does every task JOYfully.  Buddy’s journey takes him to the gritty reality of NYC.  Buddy holds onto the JOY in his heart while maintaining his childlike wonder as he searches for his father…a father he is SURE will welcome him with open arms and JOY.  What he does find in the end is so much more than he expects. 

Elf Jr. the musical is for all ages! We will have tap dancing elves, moody teenagers, shop clerks, and business executives, and maybe even a Narwhal (or two!). There is something for everyone. Be ready to embrace your inner child and learn all about JOY, and how to hold on to it even through the struggles of life. 
Our show verse is Romans 12:12  Be Joyful in Hope, Patient in Affliction, Faithful in Prayer.

We look forward to seeing your JOYful faces at auditions!
Carol Neill
Elf Jr Director