With the holiday season in full swing and every student in the festive spirit, the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) Drama department decided to grace the stage with their rendition of “Elf the Musical” from Dec.13 – 15, 2023.
“Elf the Musical” is based on the 2003 class Christmas movie “Elf.” The movie follows the journey of the main character, Buddy the Elf, as he discovers he’s not actually an elf, but a human. The story takes place mainly in New York City as Buddy discovers who he really is and the meaning of Christmas.
Scarlett Palmieri ‘27, who played Buddy in the production, gave her thanks to the cast and crew, showing her appreciation saying, “It feels like a big honor to be taking on such a big and iconic role, and performing the shows makes me happy beyond belief.”
The musical opens with Santa, played by Sarah O’Neil ‘24, greeting the audience,and giving a narration of what the musical is about, telling the story as if it was being read to the audience like a children’s book.
The musical then shifts to its first song, introducing the elves in the North Pole as well as Buddy. The elves and Santa complain about Buddy being so happy all the time, as Buddy just merrily sings anyways.
Buddy’s world is then completely shattered as he soon finds out that he was actually never an elf, despite being raised in the North Pole for the last 30 years.
Santa then encourages Buddy to go to New York City to find his biological father, Walter Hobbs, played by Eliel “Leo” Suarez ‘24, who doesn’t know Buddy exists. Santa gifts Buddy a snow globe of New York City and sends him off.
Buddy fantasizes about what his dad will be like, but when he gets to New York and finds Walter, he is greeted with disdain and disgust. Still, Buddy manages to stay in high spirits, even though he gets kicked out of Walter’s office.
Office security takes Buddy to the mall where he encourages everyone to sing and dance about getting into the Christmas spirit, and the entire ensemble breaks into song and a lengthy dance break utilizing props and unique choreography.
Buddy then meets Jovie, played by Samantha Hill ‘25, as she is one of the staff members dressed as an elf at the mall. Enamored by her beauty, Buddy asks her out on a date, to which she hesitantly accepts.
At the Hobbs’ household, children Emily and Micheal Hobbs mope around, not in the Christmas mood, when a police officer shows up at their door with Buddy, who was just arrested for attempting to assault a mall Santa. Buddy then convinces them to write a letter to Santa, in which the only thing they list is for Walter to be home with them more.
At work, Walter is greeted with his boss Mr. Greenway, who threatens to fire Walter unless he can get a well thought out childrens’ book pitch to him the next day, as Walter’s previous book had proven to be a failure.
On Jovie and Buddy’s date, Jovie opens up to Buddy about not liking Christmas and the fact that she has never seen snow before in her life. To cheer her up, Buddy tries to get her to sing,to which she initially refuses profusely, but she eventually gives in.
At the end of Act One, Walter completely blows up at Buddy for accidentally shredding his only copy of a manuscript of a famous deceased children’s novelist. He tells Buddy to get out of New York and that he never wants to see Buddy again.
At intermission, audience member Nicola Hammond ‘24 stated, “[Elf] has been really funny and charming … so far it’s been a really enjoyable performance!”
Santa opens Act Two again with the same narration style, starting where Act One left off,with Buddy moping around until he realizes he completely forgot about his date with Jovie.
Jovie laments about her decision to go along with Buddy and sings about her regrets with her love life. Buddy arrives late and tries to apologize, and even gives Jovie his snow globe of New York to hopefully cheer her up, but she blows him off.
Buddy goes to Walter’s office one last time to say goodbye when Mr. Greenway comes marching in. When Walter fumbles when trying to pitch a story, Buddy comes in and saves him by pitching his very own life story as a children’s book. Mr. Greenway loves the idea, but has many changes and ends up insulting the Hobbs’ family, which drives Walter to quit his job. The tumultuous relationship between Buddy and Walker is settled, as they make up.
Emily and Micheal inform Buddy that due to a lack of faith, Santa’s sleigh is no longer running. Buddy runs off to go save Santa, getting many people off the streets of New York to try and sing, trying to make the Christmas magic work.
When nobody sings, Jovie steps up and helps Buddy, allowing them to reconcile. Eventually the rest of the block joins in and Santa’s sleigh is able to fly again.
As the cast sang out the final song, bowing for the cheering crowd, the lights went down on Drama’s first play of the year, embracing the holidays and setting a precedent for the year to come.
