Beth Leavel, Mark Jacoby and George Wendt to Star in Elf – The Musical on Broadway | Playbill

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News Beth Leavel, Mark Jacoby and George Wendt to Star in Elf – The Musical on Broadway Tony Award-winning actress Beth Leavel, Tony Award nominee Mark Jacoby and Emmy winner George Wendt have been cast in the holiday engagement of the Broadway musical Elf, which will begin performances Nov. 2 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.
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Beth Leavel

Leavel (The Drowsy Chaperone, Mamma Mia!) will play Emily opposite Jacoby (Sweeney Todd, Show Boat) as Walter and Wendt ("Cheers," Hairspray) as Santa. The principal cast will also feature Matthew Gumley (Addams Family) as Michael, Valerie Wright (Steel Pier) as Deb, Michael McCormick (Curtains) as Mr. Greenway and Michael Mandell (Big River) as the Store Manager.

The central roles of the orphaned "elf" Buddy (originally played by Will Ferrell in the 2003 film) and his love interest Jovie have not been announced.

The Elf ensemble will include Timothy J. Alex, Callie Carter, Cara Cooper, Lisa Gadja, Asmeret Ghebremichael, Blake Hammond, Emily Hsu, Jenny Hill, Nancy Johnston, Marc Kessler, Matt Loehr, Lee Wilkins and Kirsten Wyatt.

As previously reported, Tony Award nominee Casey Nicholaw will direct and choreograph the musical that will officially open Nov. 14 and continue through Jan. 2, 2011. Elf – The Musical has a book by Tony Award winners Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone) and Thomas Meehan (Annie, Hairspray, The Producers). Wedding Singer songwriters Matthew Sklar (music) and Chad Beguelin (lyrics) penned the score.

Designing Elf will be Tony winners David Rockwell (scenic design), Gregg Barnes (costume design) and Natasha Katz (lighting design), and Tony nominee Peter Hylenski (sound design). Tony winner Doug Besterman will provide orchestrations. According to producers, "Elf is the hilarious tale of Buddy, a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts and is transported back to the North Pole. Buddy 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 his step-brother doesn’t even believe in Santa, Buddy is determined to win over his new family and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas. This modern day Christmas classic is sure to make everyone embrace their inner Elf."

An on-sale ticket date has not been announced.

 
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