BWW Interviews: ELF: THE MUSICAL's Jesse Sharp is Looking Forward to Appearing at Riverside's Fox Performing Arts Center

ELF: THE MUSICAL will appear at Riverside's Fox Performing Arts Center on Friday and Saturday, December 6 & 7, 2014, the 2014 tour's only Southern California stop. The show, which has played in holiday season Broadway runs and national and international tours since 2010, has already become a Christmas classic. Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin wrote the book, Matthew Sklar the music, and Chad Beguelin the lyrics. This production is directed by San Scalamoni, with choreography by Connor Gallagher.

ELF: THE MUSICAL closely follows the story line of its nonmusical parent, the 2003 hit movie starring Will Ferrell. The "elf" in the title is Buddy, who is actually an orphaned human baby whom Santa mistakenly takes to the North Pole after Buddy crawls into Santa's pack. Buddy grows to be huge compared to the other elves and shows no talent for making toys, a combination that forces him to confront the truth - he is not really an elf but a human. When Buddy discovers that his birth father may be living in New York City, he sets out to find him. Buddy is as ill-suited to New York as to the North Pole, but, during his journey, he discovers his own talent: teaching people the true meaning of Christmas.

ELF, intended for children and adults, is a family-friendly show that aims to send everyone away feeling warm and fuzzy. According to actor Jesse Sharp, who plays Walter, and who spoke to Broadway World by telephone, the special effects will "wow the audience" and surprise even those familiar with the story. He mentioned two particular effects - no, I'm not going to reveal them - that are sure to cause oohs and ahhs.

Mr. Sharp, a musical theater veteran on his fourth tour, says that ELF is enjoyable for him as a performer in part because Walter, Buddy's curmudgeonly birth father, "is fun" to play. At the beginning of the show, Walter is a workoholic who worries incessantly about deadlines - no wonder that everything in his personal world seems to be going wrong. However, "by the end ... he figures out important things about life," thanks to Buddy.

Mr. Sharp says that he prepared for his role as Walter differently from the way he approached his role as Gomez Addams in THE ADDAMS FAMILY. In the case of Gomez, he "sucked up every bit" of the Addams family television series because he realized that the audience already had strong views about how Gomez should be played. Mr. Sharp feels he has fewer constraints in interpreting Walter and decided to forego watching the ELF movie to avoid unconsciously reproducing aspects of James Caan's film performance. Mr. Sharp says, "I let the script and the other actors inform my choices" by molding his interpretation to respond to those of his castmates and by poring over the script for ideas. He views Walter's s ignorance that he has a long-lost son as a key aspect of Walter's makeup.

Mr. Sharp has a significant amount of experience playing Shakespearean roles and finds "a lot more similarities than you would think" to musical theater performances. In both genres, actors must enunciate, and must avoid speaking informally, as they often do in motion pictures, television, and contemporary plays. Also, like Shakespeare's plays, musicals require a "large theatrical performance" to accompany the broad themes. To avoid getting "swallowed by the spectacle," musical actors must attack their roles in big and bold ways.

The ELF tour is fast-paced, including several cities with only one-night stops. Because the musical tours only during the Christmas season, there are few opportunities for "sitdown" runs of a week or more. Mr. Sharp wryly notes that actors under such a hectic schedule "find ways to make coffee on a bus." Despite the tight schedule in the two-performance run at the Fox, Mr. Sharp says he enjoys being in Riverside during the Christmas season because of its downtown Christmas displays. He recommends that the audience members view the displays before or after the show.

ELF: THE MUSICAL will appear at the Fox Performing Arts Center, 3801 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501, 951-779-9804 for two performances: Friday, December 5th, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, December 6th at 11:00 a.m. (Yes, the 11 a.m. time is correct). The doors open an hour before the performance. Tickets range from $41 to $63.50, plus fees ranging from $17.00 to $18.75. The Fox PAC is located about 120 miles from San Diego, 70 miles from parts of the San Fernando Valley and West LA, 57 miles from Long Beach, 55 miles from Palm Springs, and 45 miles from Anaheim. The Web site for more information and tickets is www.riversidelive.com .

The Western states tour -- the one appearing at FoxPAC -- features Eric Williams (Buddy); Maggie Anderson (Jovie); Jesse Sharp (Walter); Lexie Dorsett (Emily);Tyler Altomari and Harper Brady (Michael); Whitney Hayes (Deb); Joel Stigliano (Mr. Greenway); Ken Clement(Santa); and Jerrial Young (Macy's Manager). Ensemble members include Mara Gabrielle, Timothy Grady, Billy D. Hart, Amanda Grace Holt, Jacob January, Erin Kei, Marie Lemon, Ryan Patrick Lingle, Tyler John Logan, Brian Padgett, Nicole Pavone, Maria Cristina Slye and Mia Weinberger.

Pictured Above in the first photo: 2010 Original Broadway Cast; Photo by Joan Marcus