Musical sleighs!

Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre presented a capacity crowd with a big, beautiful early Christmas gift wrapped in a splashy showbiz bow as it launched its holiday production, Elf: The Musical, on Thursday.

Based on the 2003 film Elf, the stage adaptation, which premièred on Broadway in 2010, features a book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin. An entire Santa sack full of electrifying musical numbers added by composer Matthew Sklar are interwoven throughout the narrative, featuring razor-sharp, often astute lyrics by Chad Beguelin.

Elf: The Musical adds its own twists to the original screenplay, with its story-within-a-story now told from the perspective of a crotchety, TV channel-surfing Santa Claus (Daniel Bogart in his RMTC debut; also playing Grinchy publisher Mr. Greenway as an intriguing flipside) in lieu of the film’s original Papa Elf.

Santa gets the ball rolling as he reads a pop-up storybook about Buddy the elf that serves as a handy plot-framing device.

In a nutshell, the now-30-year old Buddy, raised by North Pole elves after crawling into Santa’s sack as a baby orphan on Christmas Eve, is shocked to discover he is human.

He embarks on a madcap journey to New York City to search for his birth father, Walter Hobbs (the always rock solid Kevin McIntyre), a children’s book publisher. His rendition of World’s Greatest Dad is a quest for identity, familial roots and a sense of belonging.

The nearly 180-minute production (including one intermission), directed by Julie Tomaino, is turbo-charged by Toronto-based actor Ryan Brown, marking his RMTC debut, whose irrepressible Buddy boasts more energy than an entire team of reindeer.

Brown effectively crafts his character as a sweetly innocent dreamer whose sense of childlike wonder embodies the spirit of Christmas.

His gregarious, syrup-swilling portrayal never veers into cookie-cutter caricature, nor is it derivative of Will Ferrell’s iconic portrayal in the film, as he fleshes out his role and navigates the show’s broader strokes.

That includes falling head over heels with Jovie, an ever-practical Macy’s seasonal employee, with Jade Repeta infusing her character with bah-humbug before blossoming under the warmth of Buddy’s affections.

Brown further flexes his acting muscles, showing us Buddy’s real pain after being rejected by his father during his ironic reprise of World’s Greatest Dad right before intermission.

The script also counterbalances any potential syrupiness with naughtier bits for the grown-ups, with a few racy jokes thrown in for good measure.

In addition to Brown’s compelling performance, seeing local favourite Rochelle Kives as Walter’s long-suffering wife, Emily, and up-and-comer Alex Schaeffer as son Michael (sharing the role with Xaiden Garcia during Elf’s extended 38-performance run) is another treat, especially when the multi-generational dynamos blend their voices together during their Act II duet, I’ll Believe in You.

Then there are the show’s dance numbers, choreographed by the award-winning Tomaino, whose own career as a former Radio City Music Hall Rockette infuses her movement lexicon with razzle-dazzle worthy of an A-list Broadway musical.

The tight-as-a-drum ensemble brings to life her intricate choreography, which includes nifty kick lines, jazz hands and lifts, and even a scene with performers spinning about the stage on roller blade “skates.”

Several highlights — and there are many — include Act I’s Sparklejollytwinklejingley, when Buddy and Jovie are joined by Macy’s generically monikered Manager (the charismatic Joseph Sevillo), and In the Way, after Walter, pressured to come up with a hit children’s book, declares to his staff: “Christmas always gets in the way.”

And tap dancing is always welcome — especially when eight now-unemplyed “fake” Santas, kvetching (over Chinese food) about the lack of respect for their chosen profession on Christmas Eve, burst into white-hot tap during Nobody Cares About Santa at the top of Act II.

Winnipeg-based music director/keyboardist Joseph Tritt leads a crackerjack pit band throughout the show’s 18 songs and dances, with the production rounded out by Jessica Osstergo’s eye-popping costumes and Chris Coyne’s multi-dimensional sets whisking viewers from the snowy North Pole to NYC.

Local designer Hugh Conacher creates magic once again with a full spectrum of special lighting effects, and video projections that add further visual punch.

The stronger first half is long, clocking in at over an hour, although it whizzes by faster than you can say sugarplum, thanks to Tomaino’s slick pacing and the cast’s high-octane energy.

A few pivotal scenes are merely glossed over, such as when Buddy gaily makes “snow” after shredding the sole copy of a famous author’s manuscript that would ultimately save Walter’s job. Another that feels slightly gratuitous is when Santa’s crashed sleigh is re-powered by “Christmas cheer.”

After Act II neatly sews up all the narrative loose ends, we return to Santa in his armchair, now joined by Mrs. Claus (Jillian Wellems), leading to a final Hollywood ending as icing on the cake.

Many believe a certain kingdom inhabited by a famous mouse is the happiest place on Earth. For the next month, however, RMTC dares to prove them wrong with this snow globe of Christmas cheer bringing unabashed joy to our own little frozen corner of the world.

winnipegfreepress.com/hollyharris