The multi talented team at Limelight Musical Theatre have continued to cast their festive spell on the audience as they have produced their annual Christmas play, this year it was the award winning musical ‘Elf’ based on the film with the same title. It’s a heartwarming, captivating and gripping story, ideal for the whole family.

Set in New York, we follow the journey of the protagonist Buddy who believes he is a real life Elf but he soon overhears that he is in fact not an Elf but a human who mistakenly got transported to the North Pole as a child as Santa tells him. Eventually, Buddy travels to the city with the intention of finding his real human family and also finds out his biological father is on Santa’s naughty list, he does everything he can to change this! Amongst the chaos, we follow the cheerful Buddy on a journey full of identity, romance, comedy and friendship. 

The limelight students danced in the ruby red stage lights as they first graced the stage with iconic songs such as ‘Happy All the Time’ and ‘World’s Greatest Dad’ and which starred characters like Santa (played by Rhys Clare), Buddy (played by Lily Doherty) and the businesswoman (played by Holly Whitworth). In between these joyful numbers was a powerful and thrilling narrative read by Santa, this progressed the storyline further, setting the scene of Buddy on his mission to fit in with his biological family whilst trying ton persuade people to believe in Santa himself. As he is doing this, he falls madly in love with Macy’s worker, Jovie (played by Amelia Whaites).   

The electric energy was infectious as the audience watched their love story unfold on a cold winter's day a few days before Christmas. During this, we get a plethora of creative set designs. From the North Pole to a romantic date night scene which is completed with a tear jerking solo from Jovie, ‘Never Fall in Love (With an Elf)’. The many set and costume changes were seamless and quick, making the play flow extremely smoothly.

As the plot progresses, there is a spellbinding mix of solos and group dances that leave the audience with a smile plastered on their faces. The music and witty one liners delivered from characters like Buddy, Jovie, the elves, Santa and the entertaining, hard working office staff continue to carry the show to the finale. 

Towards the end of the play, the atmosphere becomes exhilarating as the Christmas spirit that was once lost, is now regained as the cast sing ‘A Christmas Song’ which will automatically be on repeat in your mind. This song then encourages Santa to leave the city and go and deliver the presents and as he does this, the creative team at Limelight used a projector on the wall which showed Santa flying away in the snow as the cast pointed to the magical sight on the wall which ended the play in a touching way, especially as the whole cast glided on stage for the finale. 

To conclude, it is more than apparent that the actors involved in this play will more than certainly go far if they continue acting with the same talent and enthusiasm that they did during this superb performance. 

To find out more about Limelight's up coming performances via their Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/limelight2019