Erik Gratton will lead the company of the new production of Elf at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, taking on the central role of Buddy. He will be joined by Broadway alum Veronica J. Kuehn as love interest Jovie. The duo will appear alongside the previously announced George Wendt as Santa in the mounting scheduled to run from December 13 through 29. Elf will feature direction by Sam Scalamoni and choreography by Connor Gallagher.
Erik Gratton has been seen on the New York stage in As You Like It, The Devil and Tom Walker and Scapin. His regional theater credits include The Foreigner and Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play. Veronica J. Kuehn returns to the role of Jovie after having appeared in the 2015 Elf national touring production. She has been seen on Broadway in Mamma Mia! and off-Broadway in Avenue Q and Clinton The Musical.
Also newly announced to appear in Elf are Bernard Dotson as the Store Manager, Cynthia Ferrer as Emily, Trey Middleton as Michael, Ruth Pferdehirt as Deb, Christopher M. Russo as Walter and Danny Rutigliano as Mr. Greenway. The cast also includes Darren Biggart, Allyson Carr, Ken Clement, Allyson Kaye Daniel, Paul Ianniello, Eric Anthony Johnson, Chandon Jones, Drew King, Andrew Kruep, Emily Larger, Eric Jon Mahlum, Frankie Paparone, Emily Jeanne Phillips, Shaun Repetto, Wyatt Rogers, Morgan Rose and Emily Grace Tucker.
Elf features a book by Bob Martin and the late Thomas Meehan and an original score by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin. Based on the beloved 2003 film, Elf is the hilarious tale of Buddy (Gratton), a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts and is transported back to the North Pole. Unaware that he is actually human, Buddy’s enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa’s permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father, discover his true identity and help New York remember its inner Elf.