After all the Halloween candy finally cleared from the stores, many Staples students have still been enjoying autumn. While Thanksgiving may have been on the mind for many, Players dove straight into the Christmas season with their first show of the year: “Elf: the Musical.”
Players debuted their fall show, “Elf: the Musical,” on Friday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. The show was a musical adaptation of the 2003 holiday classic “Elf” about the overly cheery and childish Buddy the Elf, a human who was taken to the North Pole as a child and grows up as one of Santa’s elves. He travels to New York City to find his father and create a relationship with his family and love interest, creating chaos along the way. Players capture that nostalgic holiday joy from the original movie in their musical rendition starring Will McCrea ’26 and Seamus Brannigan ’26, who were double cast as Buddy the Elf.
“It took a while trying to figure out what my character would be like, how to act and just respond to things that weren’t really written in the script that I had to kind of just interpret myself,” Brannigan said.
The characters told the original story not just through lines, but also through musical numbers not seen in the movie such as “World’s Greatest Dad,” “Nobody Cares About Santa,” “Never Fall in Love with an Elf” and “The Story of Buddy the Elf.” The songs, acting and choreography all aided to bring humor and entertainment to the audience.
“[In] ‘The Story of Buddy the Elf,’ which is the 11 o’clock number towards the end of the show, everything comes together and the family becomes whole,” the actor of Buddy’s father, Blake Raho ’27, said. “I think it shows a lot about unity, and it really ties the entire show and its morals together.”
Players introduced new technology and techniques never seen in past productions, including projections for most of the set design and rollerblading on stage.
“There’s not as much of a big set, but there’s projections,” side manager for backstage left, Alex Lieber ’25, said. “It’s like a big computer screen projected onto the back of the wall, and [the set is] so much more specific, and it’s so cool.”
The cast and crew bonded throughout every show, and “Elf: the Musical” was no different. After months of rehearsals, the performance dates are Nov. 15, 16, 21, 22 and 23 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 16, 17 and 23 at 2 p.m., with tickets costing $20 on the Players website.
“We work so hard to put on these shows, … we love performing for the Westport community,” Gavin Jamali ’27 said. “It is so fun, and it’s so rewarding.”
