Tom Chambers will be playing the character Walter Hobbs, the rediscovered father of Buddy, in ELF, the smash hit musical which returns to London in a new production at the Dominion Theatre for a strictly limited 8-week season. ELF will begin previews on 14 November and open on 24 November 2022, with the season finishing on 7 January 2023. Tom Chambers’ credits include (Holby City (BBC), Waterloo Road (BBC), Father Brown (BBC), Jerry Travers in Top Hat (West End), Bob Wallis in White Christmas (West End)).
Also in the cast are Kim Ismay (Madame Morrible in Wicked (West End), Tanya in MAMMA MIA! (West End)) who will play Debs, Nicholas Pound (Old Deuteronomy in Cats, Jean Valjean in Les Miserables (UK tour), Juan Perón in Evita (UK tour)) who will play Santa and Dermot Canavan (Hairspray (London Coliseum), Lazar Wolf in Fiddler on the Roof (Menier Chocolate Factory and West End)) who will play Store Manager.
They join the previously announced Simon Lipkin and Georgina Castle as Buddy and Jovie, respectively.
Based on the beloved 2003 New Line Cinema hit starring Will Ferrell, ELF features a book by Tony Award-winners Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray) and Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone), with songs by Tony Award nominees Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin (The Wedding Singer).
The new production will be directed by Philip Wm. McKinley, with original set and costume design by Tim Goodchild, choreography by Liam Steel, lighting design by Patrick Woodroffe, sound by Gareth Owen, video design by Ian William Galloway and wig and hair design by Richard Mawbey. Casting is by Grindrod Burton Casting.
ELF is the funny and charming tale of Buddy, who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts as a baby and is transported back to the North Pole and raised as an elf! Unaware that he is actually human, Buddy’s enormous size and poor toy-making abilities finally cause him to face the truth and realise he’ll never belong in the North Pole. With Santa’s permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York to find his birth father, discover his true identity and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas.