Buddy the Elf is back from the North Pole and he’s spreading Christmas cheer on Broadway in a brand new musical, “Elf.”

The live adaptation of this holiday story is based on the 2003 film starring funny-man Will Ferrell. Ferrell does not play Buddy in the musical, as he is occupied with other gigs in Hollywood such as doing the voice-over for the main character in the recent animated film, “Megamind.” However, actor Sebastian Arcelus does the part justice and holds the comedy and lovability of the character. He maintained a contagious smile throughout the show, even while singing. Arcelus is no stranger to the stage as he has been in other large Broadway shows such as “Jersey Boys” and “Wicked.”

“Elf” is the story of a human called Buddy, who is raised as an elf in the North Pole. After discovering that he really isn’t an elf, Buddy goes to New York City to find his real father. Throughout his adventure, Buddy brings out the Christmas spirit in everyone he encounters, even the most Scrooge-like characters.

The play brought out the Christmas spirit of the audience members as well even though it’s still a little early.  Theatergoers made sure to buy their elf-eared souvenir hats before and after seeing the holiday spectacle. The audience clapped along to certain numbers and danced in their seats to the catchy show tunes. The show featured a lot of original music which catered to the story. There were no classic holiday songs, but they still held onto the jingly feel of the season with songs such as “Sparklejollytwinklejingley” and “A Christmas Song.”

The show stayed as close to the original movie as possible, but there were a few changes made in order to make it come alive on stage. The part of Papa Elf who narrated the film in the movie is replaced by Santa Claus himself, played by George Wendt, famous for his part on the television show “Cheers.”  The play also has some modern references as they joked about Charlie Sheen’s meltdown and Santa having an iPad. Many favorite lines from the movie were included such as when Buddy asks “what’s your favorite color?”

The play was catered to all ages and anyone could find it enjoyable. The little kids in the audience giggled throughout the whole thing. There were some subtle lines thrown out catered to older audience members and some were even found to be inappropriate. At one point, the character of Deb, who is Buddy’s father’s secretary, makes a joke about bulimia, which wasn’t too funny, or even politically correct.  The character of Jovie, who is Buddy’s love interest comes off as self-loathing and even labels herself as “bitchy,” which also came off a bit inappropriate for a show with a large number of kids in the audience. Despite these minor flaws, the show as a whole carried a cheery tone.

One of the best parts of the musical was the ending. There is a surprise for audience members at the end which is in typical Broadway fashion…magical.

“Elf” is only on Broadway temporarily. It is only being performed at the Al Hirschfield Theatre on 45th St for nine weeks throughout the season and comes to a close on January 2nd. Tickets for many weekend performances are already selling out.  Don’t miss out on this wonderful piece of Broadway holiday magic.