Ojai ACT brings you all the “trimmin’s” for a special holiday season with an intergenerational production of “Elf The Musical” running weekends from Nov. 25 through Dec. 18.
Performance times are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Special Saturday matinees have been added to the schedule, Nov. 26 through Dec. 17.
“Elf The Musical” is directed by Gai Laing Jones, Ojai’s theater educator and inspirational speaker.
“No one likes putting together intergenerational shows more than Gai,” said Tracey Williams Sutton, Ojai ACT’s artistic director. “And no one is better at it. We’re lucky to have her here in Ojai.”
Ms. Jones has assembled a cast from “seven to 70” for this production. Andrew Eiden, recently seen as Marcellus in Ojai ACT’s production of “The Music Man,” stars as Buddy, with Marisa Miculian (also seen in “The Music Man”) as Jovie, the disenchanted Macy’s worker who captures his heart. James Baker plays Walter, Buddy’s Christmas-spiritless dad.
Based on the 2003 film, “Elf,” starring Will Ferrell, the stage musical has become a holiday staple for both professional and community theaters nationwide. “Elf” follows the story of Buddy, the happiest worker at Santa’s workshop who grew up at the North Pole raised by a community of elves.
Assuming himself to be an elf, too, he can’t understand why he’s taller and hairier than everyone around him until one day Santa breaks the news to him: Buddy is actually a human who, as a curious toddler, crawled into Santa’s sack on Christmas Eve and stowed away on the flight back to the North Pole.
Ever the optimist, Buddy heads south to find his human family in New York and unwittingly helps everyone around him discover the meaning of Christmas.
Bob Martin and Thomas Meehan adapted the book with music and lyrics by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin.
This season, for the second year in a row, the Ojai Art Center Theater is partnering with Help of Ojai to collect food for their food pantry. New this year, family tickets to see “Elf The Musical” will be included in a number of holiday food packages.
“The tradition of families seeing plays together at Christmas time is something that should be available to everyone,” Ms. Williams Sutton said. “Help of Ojai generously hands out food for the belly; we want to ensure there’s also food for the soul.”
Tickets are on sale now. General admission is $25; $20 for students, seniors and Art Center members; and $10 for children age 12 and under.
For ticket information and group sales, call 805-640-8797.
email: mmcmahon@newspress.com
