VPA goes big, joyous and funny for holiday season with ‘Elf the Musical’

WASILLA — The contrast between its fall show and the 2016 Christmas show at Valley Performing Arts couldn’t be more stark.

A cast of four, delivering an intense, adult-themed performance in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” gives way this weekend, and for the next three weekends to 39 cast members, 31 crew members, and in that mix at least nine sets of families in the Alaska debut of “Elf, the Musical.”

Collin Christiansen dons the conical cap in the role of Buddy, the Elf, made famous on the silver screen by Will Ferrell.

In the Mosaic orphan tradition, Buddy winds up in a bag of gifts, transported to the North Pole. As he grows to adulthood, he wishes to find his birth family, and leaves the North Pole for New York City, where singing, dancing, and hilarity ensues.

“If you liked the movie, you’ll love the Broadway show,” said director Garry Forrester. “There’s enough of the movie to pay homage, but there’s enough new, and with the costumes and the talent we have here, it’s worth your while to come out and see it.”

Christiansen’s positive, yet fragile energy, is balanced by Buddy’s love interest in the production, Jovie, played by Palmer High School senior Grace Ivey.

“Everyone knows the story of Buddy the Elf,” Ivey said. “I think it’s the perfect mix about Christmas — family and humanity and ups and downs and all of that, and it’s funny.”

Ivey, who’s in her fourth VPA production and plans to major in operatic vocals in college, finds herself right at home in a show so full of song and dance. She’s also gotten to know Jovie rather well, too.

“I think she’s someone, deep down, who’s vulnerable and emotional, but on the outside, she’s hardened,” Ivey said. “I think she’s had some bad experiences with relationships and it’s gotten to the point she doesn’t trust anyone anymore. Everything turns upside-down for her when she meets Buddy the Elf.”

The cozy confines at the venerable VPA theater are made so cozy by the demands of such a cast, set and wardrobes, that even the usual entrance ways into the theater have to become part of stage right, and at stage left, an 11-piece orchestra pit squeezes in, directed by longtime Valley music instructor Jennifer Dalby, who manages to conduct, and play piano all at the same time.

“To me, live music is just an important part of community theater,” said Dalby, whose long teaching career has included Cottonwood and Pioneer Peak Elementary Schools and Palmer High. “When you’re doing a musical and you have live music, you can adjust to fill lots of (preparation time between scenes). I can transpose the music to fit with the voice of a soloist if they’re too high or too low, which you can’t do with canned music.”

Dalby said Elf differs from most she’s directed over the years at VPA in that it’s more jazzy, versus the likes of Beauty and the Beats, Oliver, The Wizard of Oz and South Pacific, which are more orchestral.

“It’s big band,” she said. “We’ve got a trombone sliding around, a trumpet improvising and I’m on the piano trying to hold us all together.”

Just prior to Tuesday night’s soft-opening performance, 66-year-old Steve O’Brien, who plays Chadwick, a publisher by trade, sat next to 9-year-old Jennah Beard, one of the Christmas-time elves. O’Brien said the live music makes all the difference, and said Dalby’s band reminds him of the sound of the Andrews Sisters.

“It’s a great family show and perfect for the Christmas season,” he said. “It’s a great theme, it’s very entertainment and it’s one of the great things about VPA, in my opinion, is the age separation between the cast. Here I am sitting next to a 9-year-old chatting away — it’s great inter-generational activity.”

For Jennah, it’s her first of probably many VPA performances.

“I’ve always had a dream for acting,” she said. “I’m a little nervous because I’m a klutz — I could fall at any time.”

O’Brien said Jennah was being too modest; that he hadn’t seen her fall once in nearly 3 months or rehearsals.

“They’re gonna like it,” Jennah said. “All the dancing and the singing and the costumes — it’s going to be a great show!”