A stage musical based on Will Ferrell's 2003 Christmas comedy movie Elf will debut in London's West End in winter 2015. The show that was previously staged in Plymouth and Dublin in 2014 features songs by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin and direction and choreography by Morgan Young.

Will FerrellWill Ferrell starred in the best loved Christmas comedy movie Elf

Directed by Jon Favreau, the comedy movie remains one of the best loved Christmas films of all time. It starred Ferrell as Buddy, an orphan raised as an elf in the North Pole after sneaking into Santa's sack one Christmas. Buddy heads to New York to find his father (James Caan) and ends up falling in love with an employee (Zooey Deschanel) working at Santa's grotto in a department store. It grossed over $220 million at the box-office. 

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The musical opened on Broadway, at the Al Hirschfeld theatre in 2010, though received mainly middling to negative reviews from critics. Nevertheless, it returned to the same theatre two years later.

New York Times critics Charles Isherwood said it was "tinseled in synthetic sentiment, performed with a cheer that borders on mania, and instantly forgettable".

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Still, it's likely to do massive business with the Christmas shopping and tourist crowd when it opens for previews at the Dominion theatre in London on October 24, 2015. The show runs for 10 weeks and opens officially on Thursday 5, November. Casting details are yet to be announced. 

Actor Ben Forster played the role of Buddy when the show ran in Dublin, while Love/Hate's Aoibhinn McGinnity played the love interest. 

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