Last Updated on 13 November 2024 by Colette
This post features a gifted experience & affiliate links
Elf The Musical UK Tour Arena Spectacular comes to Manchester from Tuesday 12th November to Sunday 17th November 2024
“Elf The Musical is a heart-warming stage adaptation of the family-favourite holiday film, following Buddy, a human raised as an Elf, on his journey from the North Pole to New York City in search of his true identity and the spirit of Christmas. With catchy songs, lively choreography, and a touching story about love and friendship, it’s a feel-good experience that will leave you with a smile on your face and the joy of the holiday season in your heart.”
I’m typically quite keen to keep Christmas excitement to December which means that whilst all the planning and stuff happens before that, I like save Christmas movies and songs for December to keep them that bit more special – the kids think I’m just grumpy and would probably start watching Christmas films in October if I’d let them get away with it.
With that in mind, they were all super excited to make an early start to our festive fun with a mid-week trip to The Palace Theatre to watch Elf The Musical. Now I had wondered whether Ben might swerve it – you can never quite tell which things he’s going to want to go to and what he’s just not going to be bothered about it but, mostly, if it’s Christmas, he’s all in. What I had failed to mention to him was that it is a musical – and Ben doesn’t like musicals . . .
When I say Ben doesn’t like musicals, he quite stubbornly doesn’t like musicals (except The Book of Mormon but that’s in a league of it’s own!). I had worried that there might be a bit of huffing and eye rolling when he realised but during the interval I asked how he was finding it and he said that he didn’t mind the singing and that this was different. PHEW. Elf The Musical is a fabulously festive mix of songs and silliness with plenty of talking and cheeky adult humour to break up the singing making it more accessible for my musical hating teen!
Elf The Musical is definitely not just for kids – it’s fast paced and there’s plenty of adult humour (all three of my kids were really tickled by the suggestion of “a special hug”) to keep the grown ups and older kids amused. There’s also plenty of audience interaction so you don’t need to worry about your kids struggling to sit still or be quiet – there’s opportunities to shout out and there’s even a snow ball fight to join in with (though I think this is probably only really fun if you’re in the stalls, otherwise you feel a bit left out!)
Both girls were wowed by the aerial gymnastics which took place at several points during the show – Amy said she was so entranced she couldn’t look anywhere else when the silks, straps or hoop were being used (whereas I did actually have to look somewhere else during one particularly spectacular roller skating trick which just made me too nervous to even watch!)
Like me, Chloe always likes it when something goes a little bit wrong on stage and the actors get the giggles and have to improvise – we had one or two moments like that tonight which had us all in stitches. I just love the way they handle it with humour and get the show back on track.
I asked the kids to text me their favourite bits as we were driving home so that I could make sure I included their thoughts – Ben said that (as well as the adult humour and general silliness) he really enjoyed the magic of Santa’s Sleigh – I knew even as we were watching it that his brain was whirring and trying to work out what was going on behind the scenes which led to an interesting conversation on the way home with neither of us quite being able to agree what had happened!
Ben also said he thought the characters had been well cast, especially Kelly Banlaki as Joive who he said “looked how she acted” and I totally understood what he meant in that she really suited that character she was playing. The girls also really loved her Christmas Eve outfit, and I did too if I’m honest!
I asked the kids how well they thought the story in Elf The Musical stuck to the film we all know and love – Chloe said she couldn’t remember having only watched it for the first time last year (terrible parenting I know) and Ben said he thought pretty well – what I can tell you is that I didn’t feel there was anything huge missing and all the bits of dialogue that are synonymous with the film and that you’d expect to hear, are there; “Sannna, I KNOW HIM!”
Book tickets for Elf The Musical – No children under the age of 3 will be permitted entry to this performance.
Elf The Musical was a whole lot of fun and I definitely recommend popping down to see if it you get chance before it moves on at the end of this week!
If you’re looking for parking near the Palace Theatre, you’ll find that here and this list of places to eat near the Palace Theatre might be useful too.
Have a read of these posts next:
Theatre and Pantomime in Manchester this Christmas
Where to see Father Christmas in Manchester this year
Christmas things to do in Manchester
What to do with teens in Manchester this Christmas
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