For whatever reason Holiday cheer came early to me this year. I felt compelled to get our Christmas tree before Dec. 1st, have some rum and eggnog, pop Glee Christmas into the car cd player and sing at the top of my lungs.

Naturally a visit to Neptune Theatre over the holidays was high on the priority list to keep my cheer up. For as long as I can remember, anytime that I’ve been in Nova Scotia for Christmas I’ve made it to Neptune Theatres holiday production. Beauty & The Beast remained high on my list of favourite holiday productions, but I had concerns about Elf. How were they going to take such a hilarious Christmas movie and do it any justice on the stage? I shouldn’t have doubted the amazing cast and crew at Neptune, but can you blame me for being concerned? Will Ferrell was Buddy the Elf in the movie. His humour knows no boundaries and Buddy was such a perfect role for him.

Regardless of my minor worries, we arrived at Neptune and I brought my Christmas cheer along with me. From THE MOMENT, and I really do mean the moment the play started I was in love.

The adaptation from the movie to a live musical production was seamless. Everything you loved from the movie made it into the play and it was wrapped around a catchy little song that you almost didn’t realize wasn’t in the movie. There were sets for everything imaginable and they were adorable and hilarious.

Don’t get me wrong. The entire cast of Elf – The Musical was amazing. They had great voices and were completely charming but Mark Uhre was not only the lead role in Elf, but he was truly the star. He was able to take the role of Buddy The Elf and keep it crazy and over the top without it ever feeling forced. Mark Uhre never made me feel like he was trying to be Will Ferrel, he was just being Buddy The Elf and it was perfection.

There is one scene where he plays the bells and I swear I almost fell apart with laughter.

After the play ended I was chatting with a lady who sat behind me who thought the play was amazing, and I asked if she’d ever seen the movie. She hadn’t, which solidified to me that Neptune Theatre’s Elf is really just for those of us with some Holiday Cheer that we want to sing loudly for all to hear.

Elf – The Musical is easily the best thing I’ve seen at Neptune Theatre in recent memory. Take your boyfriend, or girlfriend, husband or wife, borrow a kid, but seriously just get your butt to see Elf. If you don’t you will become a cotton headed ninny muggins. That’s just science.