EMA Review: ELF ***** Delicious

Elf to the rescue

By Paul Atreides

Author, playwright, and Theatre critic at EatMoreArtVegas.com

paul-atreides.com

Are you looking for a holiday alternative to A Christmas Carol or The Nutcracker? By the looks of it, people everywhere have been hankering for something different. Look no further. The beloved Elf is here to rescue you.

Full disclosure: I’m a Scrooge of the highest magnitude and never liked the movie. At all. If that put me on the Naughty List, so be it.

Yes, Virginia, the now-20-year-old film classic, is a stage musical. First presented on Broadway in 2010, it now plays annually all over the world, and Las Vegas Little Theatre (LVLT) has grabbed it for its 2023 December production. Elf The Musical, a book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin, music by Matthew Sklar, and lyrics by Chad Beguelin, is based on the New Line Cinema film written by David Berenbaum.

What a production!

There are a lot of changes from film to stage. But the only iconic scene you might truly notice missing—rewritten for the stage for some unknown reason—is the fight between Buddy and Miles (played in the film by Will Ferrel and Peter Dinklage, respectively). In fact, Miles's character has been completely cut.

Using a wonderful set designed by Chris Davies combined with beautiful projections by Nick Wass, the play moves from the North Pole to New York City. As staged by co-directors Walter Niejadlik and Chris Davies, the opening musical number is a hoot, and the first scene transition is glorious. Julie Horton’s costumes, combined with choreography by Hallie Lyons and April Sauline, add to the laughs.

Stephen Rinck as Santa Claus opens the show. His portrayal throughout is disparaging and funny.

Michael Kaczurak brings Buddy to life with all the child-like wonder you’d expect and, to his great credit, makes the role his own by not delivering a Ferrel imitation. Kaczurak’s timing is spot on from start to finish, and his breath control on some songs is an awe-inspiring wonder.

Playing Jovie, Buddy’s girlfriend, April Sauline is in fine form, particularly her belting vocal on “Never Fall in Love (with an elf).”

With the exception of Buddy, the script doesn’t provide smooth character transitions. Working with what he’s got script-wise, Glenn Heath, as Walter Hobbs, does a nice job delivering the over-worked, angry, and filled-with-Christmas-spirit dad. How else is Santa’s sleigh to regain its magic?

The large ensemble does a credible job supporting the whole as they change from elves to office workers to people on the street. The standout here is Jax Bigelow. He sits on a store Santa’s lap to ask for a violent video game, delivers the quintessential spoiled rotten kid, and gets the deserved response of oohs and laughs.

I begrudgingly went to the show, and a miracle happened on Schiff Drive. A production of this magnitude is an enormous undertaking. Ultimately, LVLT provides a delightful, entertaining, family-friendly alternative for the season. That may take me off the Naughty List.

During the SRO opening night, Lebutt indicated that all Sundays are sold out. Tickets for added performances are selling fast. I suggest you get yours before they’re gone.

Postscript: It’s a giving time of year, and local theatre can use your help. I’m sure an actor will get their wings somewhere with every donation you make.

What: Elf The Musical

When: 8 p.m. Friday - Saturday; 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec 17

2 p.m. Saturday, Dec 2, Dec 9

Where: Las Vegas Little Theatre - Mainstage, 3920 Schiff Drive

Tickets: $30

702-362-7996

www.lvlt.org

Grade: ***** Delicious

Producer: Las Vegas Little Theatre; Director: Chris Davies, Walter Niejadlik; Music Director: Toby McEvoy; Choreography: Hallie Lyons, April Sauline; Set Design: Chris Davies; Lighting Design: Ginny Adams; Costumes: Julie Horton; Stage Crew Chief: Dave Elliot

Review: Happy ** Still Hungry

Absurd Happy Days

By Paul Atreides

Author, playwright, and Theatre critic at EatMoreArtVegas.com

paul-atreides.com

In an effort to harken back to the origins of Vegas Theatre Company (VTC - formerly Cockroach Theatre), rising out of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas theatre program, they have once again teamed up with Nevada Conservatory Theatre (NTC) to reprise the latter’s production of Samuel Beckett’s absurd comedy Happy Days. Just as musicals aren’t for everyone, and Shakespeare isn’t for everyone, neither is the theatre of the absurd for everyone. These plays feature illogical or meaningless lives with nothing to the plot. Except, there is always something there.

Samuel Beckett’s plays certainly fit that description. One has a tendency to ask, “What the hell was that about?” For a more modern take on those themes, one need look no further than Seinfeld. When asked what the show was about, Jerry Seinfeld reportedly famously replied, “Nothing.” In reality, that came out of an episode in which Jerry and George Costanza pitch “a show about nothing” to the networks, and it stuck and took on a life of its own. But each episode was about something.

But as with all theatre, it needs to resonate with the audience. In order to understand what the “something” is, they need to feel for the character and connect with them in some way. As one patron put it, doing Beckett is like doing Shakespeare. If it is done well, you don’t need to be a Shakespearian scholar to understand and enjoy it; if it is done poorly….

Directed by NCT’s Stebos, as evidenced by the absence of more than half the audience for Act Two, this production failed to connect.

Happy Days should be as relevant to today’s situation as it premiered in 1961 with the nuclear threat escalation with Russia. Things are bleak for poor Winnie (Kymberly Mellen). Her marriage to Willie (Martin Hackett) is no longer exciting; she feels stuck among the detritus of life, yet each morning, she has determined she faces “a happy day.”

At the opening, it should seem as if Winnie is talking to herself when speaking to an unseen, nonresponsive Willie with very few lines. Here, it came across as if she broke the fourth wall. It is a challenging role, to be sure; it’s a rolling two-act monologue, but Mellen’s performance felt stilted and mechanical. Much of the comedy didn’t land; the double-entendres didn’t land.

The set by Dana Moran Williams is well done. The earthen mound during Act 1 becomes the landfill of Act 2, nicely representing the ever-encroaching quagmire in which Winnie feels she is living. The lighting that sets so much mood in the first act turns stark amid abrupt changes in the second.

Savie N. Moore’s costumes are brilliant, though. The perfectly coiffed, perfect make-up and unsoiled dress bring an “all is well” effect even as we see Winnie buried up to the waist, then the neck.

If theatre of the absurd is your thing, and you are familiar with Happy Days and its “something,” you’ll likely enjoy this production.

What: Happy Days

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 5 p.m. Sundays through Nov 26

No performance on Nov. 24

2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25

Where: 1025 S. 1st St., Suite 110

Tickets: $25 - $38 (www.theatre.vegas)

Grade: ** Still Hungry

Producer: Vegas Theatre Company, Nevada Conservatory Theatre; Artistic Directors: Daz Weller (VTC), Stebos (NTC); Director: Stebos; Lighting Design: Jordyn Cozart; Scenic Design: Dana Moran Williams; Costume Design: Savie N. Moore; Sound & Special Effects Design: Stuart Beck; Stage Manager: Jinay Reitze

Review: Fools ** Still Hungry

Frantic Fools

By Paul Atreides

Author, playwright, and Theatre critic at EatMoreArtVegas.com

paul-atreides.com

Neil Simon is the most prolific playwright of modern times. From 1961’s Come Blow Your Horn to Rose’s Dilemma in 2003, he wrote 29 plays and four musicals for the stage. If you add on plays he contributed to, like A Chorus Line, that number jumps to 49. Some were wildly successful (The Odd Couple, Biloxi Blues) some were total bombs (The Goodbye Girl, Rose’s Dilemma), some were award winners (Odd Couple, Biloxi Blues, Lost in Yonkers (which also earned him the Pulitzer Prize), most were solidly in between.

Fools closed after four weeks and is therefore considered by many to sit in the flop category. It’s an over-the-top comedy. So much so that one might even consider this a farce without the slamming doors. The story, about a poor schoolteacher in 19th Century Ukraine attempting to lift a curse that has left the entire population “stupid,” is certainly farcical enough to qualify.

With silly material such as this, the more it is played straight, as normal and real people, the funnier it is. Produced by Speeding Theatre – Over 55 and directed by Rip Pellaton, it is far too far over the top.

The pace is frantic instead of frenetic; the actor steps out of the scene to the edge of the stage, delivering them directly to the audience and then returning to the scene, delivering asides. That brings the flow to a screeching halt. As does the final “what happened after” scene as we wait for the character to saunter out from backstage. Much of the dialogue is delivered by yelling the lines as if fools must be hard of hearing. Many times, actors deliver lines facing the audience rather than to the other actor.

Case in point, Leon (Rick Cabrera) is instructing Sophia (Summer Sinclair) and says, “Let me show you this math book.” Then proceeds to walk to the edge of the stage, leaving her sitting on the bench. He asks her father, “Is she spoken for?” and delivers the line to the audience.

The actors who bring the most believability to their roles are Jack Stroud as Slovitch the butcher, Blanche Rever as Yenchna the vendor and Nancy Marcellus as Mishkin, the mail carrier. Their timing and delivery bring simple realism, and as a result, they get laughs when delivering punchlines.

The Fischer Black Box stage has been used cleverly. With only a bench, a few crates and barrels, the various town locations come to life. Dianne Pellaton’s costumes meet the period and are wonderful, especially the gowns worn by Sinclair. The other production values, such as lighting and sound, help build place, time, and mood.

Despite this critic’s opinion of this production, the sheer fact that Speeding Theatre exists is to be applauded and celebrated. There is far too little material for older actors except to play the likes of an aged aunt or grandmother or a doddering or grouchy grandpa. This company grabs that niche and provides the opportunity for older actors in the community to take part. I urge you to support them.

What: Fools

When: 7 p.m. Friday - Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday - Sunday through Nov 19

Where: Las Vegas Little Theatre, Fischer Black Box, 3920 Schiff Drive

Tickets: $22

702-332-9246

www.onthestage.tickets

Grade: ** Still Hungry

Producer: Speeding Theatre – Over 55; Director: Rip Pellaton; Set Design: Dianne Pellaton; Lighting Design: Uncredited; Sound Design: Uncredited; Costumes: Dianne Pellaton; Stage Manager: Pat Scarsella