Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Making their mark, again: TEETH is more biting than ever and ELF THE MUSICAL returns with an extra spring in its step

• By drediman
• December 6, 2024
• No Comments

This fall/winter theater season, a pair of musicals based on movies have returned to New York in productions that improve upon their previous incarnation(s). As usual, read on below for my thoughts.

TEETH
New World Stages
Open run

First up at New World Stages is Teeth (RECOMMENDED), which has returned to New York for a commercial Off-Broadway run after a successful, sold out run at Playwrights Horizons earlier this year. Based on the cult 2007 film of the same name, the musical tells the story of Dawn, a religious teenage girl burdened with a disquieting sexual curse, and what begins as a hilariously pointed satire on the pitfalls of religion eventually ends up morphing into an apocalyptic revenge parable. Written by Anna K. Jacobs (music, book) and Michael R. Jackson (lyrics, book), the musical smartly updates the material for our times as it embraces the underlying movie’s subversiveness inherent shock value. Since the run at Playwrights Horizons, Teeth has only gotten sharper and broader, and its camp and absurdity levels have been unabashedly dialed up. The performances remain pitch perfect, particularly Alyse Alan Louis’s sensational turn as Dawn; her transformation is one of the most ferocious sights to be had currently in New York theater. The notable new addition to the company is Tony nominee Andy Karl (replacing Steven Pasquale), who giddily takes on the role of a righteous preacher, as well as a skeezy doctor — both repellent specimens of toxic masculinity. Sarah Benson’s staging is as tight as I remember. In fact, her production has been slightly expanded to fit New World Stage’s larger stage, and she’s even added some heightened interactive elements (no spoilers here!) to enhance the immersiveness of the experience.

ELF THE MUSICAL
Marquis Theatre
Through January 4

This holiday season, the musical adaptation of the 2003 film Elf (RECOMMENDED) — starring Will Ferrell as Buddy, an elf who finds out that he is actually human — has returned to the Great White Way for a limited engagement. Elf The Musical has graced Broadway twice before — first in 2010, then two years later in 2012 — both times under the direction of Casey Nicholaw. For the show’s return to Broadway, the production has been restaged by director Philip Wm. McKinley (The Boy from Oz starring Hugh Jackman, the retooled version of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark), who gives the material room to play things a bit more fast and loose. To be sure, the adaptation is solid musical theater and Christmastime fare — the book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin is sturdy if a tad creaky, and the buoyant score by Matthew Sklar (music) and Chad Beguelin (lyrics) is never less than accomplished. The current iteration is led by Grey Henson, who is just about perfectly cast as Buddy. Thankfully, he brings the same joy and distinctive silliness that imbued pedestrian musicals like Mean Girls and Shucked with much needed character. He’s joined by two stage veterans — the sterling-voiced Ashley Brown and a terrifically grumpy Michael Hayden as Buddy’s long lost human parents — as well as film star Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings, The Goonies) as Santa et. al. and Kayla Davion as the musical’s hesitant love interest. Together, they put a own stamp on Elf The Musical, distinguishing the genuinely cheerful and charming production as one of the headliners of this year’s crop of holiday offerings.