In just over 7 weeks, Christmas will come early to the Aldwych Theatre when Joel Montague, Carrie Hope Fletcher and Aled Jones MBE will star in the smash hit musical ELF as Buddy, Jovie and Walter Hobbs respectively. Along with these lead roles, the full cast is now announced for ELF’s highly anticipated return to the West End in a strictly limited, 10-week Christmas season, running from 28 October 2025 to 3 January 2026.
Joining them will be Rosanna Hyland (West End: Disruption, Back to the Future The Musical) as Emily Hobbs, Martyn Ellis (West End: Wicked, The Lion King,) as Santa/Mr Greenway, Lucinda Lawrence (9 to 5, West End; Hairspray, UK Tour) as Deb and Dermot Canavan (West End: Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof) as Store Manager with Mollie Cleere (MAMMA MIA! The Party, The O2), Farirayi Garaba (MAMMA MIA!, International tour), Sophie Pourret (The Great Gatsby, West End), Lucy Rice (Clueless, West End), Biancha Szynal (Bring It On, Southbank Centre), Kyle Cox (& Juliet, UK Tour), Zack Guest (Moulin Rouge! The Music, West End), Ryan Jupp (Crazy For You, West End), Dominic Lamb (Guys & Dolls, Bridge Theatre), Danny Nattrass (Brigadoon, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre). The cast is completed by Sophie Camble (Cinderella The Musical, West End) as Swing, Amy Punter (TINA – The Tina Turner Musical, West End) as Swing, Samuel John Humphreys (The Great Gatsby, West End) as Swing and Michael Tyler (MAMMA MIA!, West End) as Swing.
The role of Michael Hobbs will be played by Ayrton English, Max Garlick, Harry Georgiou and Samuel Sturge.
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).
ELF is the funny and charming tale of Buddy, who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag as a baby and was raised as an elf! Way too tall and not so great at his job, Buddy is the North Pole’s biggest misfit… and knows he’ll never belong. When Santa tells him the truth, Buddy heads to New York City to find his birth father (who turns out to be quite high on the naughty list). After causing some merry mayhem in Manhattan, Buddy finally discovers the gift of family and falls in love. And when Santa’s sleigh crashes in Central Park, it’s Buddy who finds a way to save Christmas forever!
After two sold-out runs at the Dominion Theatre and a record-breaking holiday run at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway, ELF will bring holiday cheer to London with a brand-new set, adapted for the dimensions of the Aldwych Theatre by Tim Goodchild. This production of ELF will once again be directed by Philip Wm. McKinley, with choreography by Liam Steel, set and costumes by Tim Goodchild, lighting by Patrick Woodroffe, sound by Gareth Owen, video by Ian William Galloway and casting by Grindrod Burton Casting.
First staged at the Dominion Theatre in 2022, this production became the fastest selling show in the venue’s history, going on to break its own box office records during the subsequent 2023 run at the same house. When this production ran at the Marquis Theatre in 2024, it marked the musical’s first return to Broadway in over a decade and went on to break the venue’s box office’s record for weekly grosses in two consecutive weeks.
