Before we let the cat out of the bag we must modestly confess that Kids Stop Press.com is the only source of a published review for this #Christmasplayforkids . Drum Rolls to that please!!! So if you are a regular reader and follow us on Facebook here & on our Twitter handle @kidsstoppress then you should pat your back!!!
A lot of parents have pre-booked this play as kids theatre is at a very nascent stage in India inspite of being a great medium to connect with kids. Kidz Connect entertainment made 3 right moves in their debut venture with an Elf for a Day. First chose the Puppetarians who are masters in their art(if you don’t know about them already click here), second chose Christmas as their theme which is a favourite with the kids and third a commendable amount of effort in marketing.
An Elf for a Day is a Christmas play for children that is a bit too pedantic with a lovable & relatable girl Annie, who hates to work and leaves everything for tomorrow. Her parents find it hard to get her to clean up, eat and drink healthy until one night Santa comes by to take Annie to Secret Santa World where the elves are working hard enough to ensure they are on schedule for their Christmas deliveries. An interesting set with Santa Mail where they receive hundreds of letters from children and an elf untiringly running through and scribbling something all through the play. Santas world is depicted with hardworking elves, a slider to pack gifts and a sleigh which adds as an obvious Christmas prop. Hundreds of presents are wrapped beautifully to conceal the Puppetarians, who indeed did a great job in executing the play.
Annie is enjoying her time being an Elf for a day matching the list with presents packed just when Santa appears from the audience and interacts with the kids and keeps them glued on to his interaction with Annie. On seeing Santa, Annie is elated and understands that she is in North Pole and reads on with him the innumerable letters he receives and one from Annie too. Adding to the mushiness of the play is Annie’s nanny’s son who writes a letter on her behalf to Santa asking him to make Annie more responsible for her toys and books and gathers sympathy from neither the children nor the parents.
Annie realizes her follies and goes to meet Rudolph the red nose reindeer and meets Mrs Claus. Well if you are wondering who is Mrs. Claus like us,  hmmm it is Mrs Santa Claus. That’s right we didn’t know either that Santa was married 🙂 Mrs. Claus’s maternal instincts are on an all time high as she offers some milk and cookies to the elves and makes Annie love her milk suddenly. Annie realizes that she loves milk now because she was working hard and is extremely hungry. I wish things dawned on our kids also so easily and they would continue to do what they otherwise feel so strongly about.
Santa now wishes to send Annie back to her land and as he rewards her with the Best Elf medal an elf continues to carry bundles of hay at the back making us Google if reindeers really do eat hay and in the North Pole would you get some? The reindeer carries Annie on his back through the crowds, with the snow machine giving children a feel of a season that doesn’t exist in the city, making kids go in a frenzy and chase the reindeer away by pulling his tail 🙂 Kids will be kids. The daughter and I wondered can you really ride a reindeer!
Annie returns to her land and is now a better person and promises to be a good girl. Of course we love happy endings and especially for kids where life has to be optimistic. What keeps the kids glued on and entertained are the tweaked Christmas carols that are seamlessly woven into the act. The simple language, clear and well paced speech and all things Christmas make it a great offering for kids. We love children’s acts devoid of slapstick humour. The music will get the kids humming along and the Jingle Jangle Ho ho is hard to get out of your mind even 18 hours later. How we wished we got a few singles of those songs. 🙂 I have dropped in the word so all those who are going for the coming shows don’t forget to grab your music CD’s and those lovely puppets that are being sold exclusively at the venue only . We would have all hoped for a slightly better story that does tend to make the moms go back to their phones and kids feel like it’s my strict mom on stage.
Kids will be mesmerized to see Santas secret world that gives a great holiday feel, and touch and feel the man who makes their wishes come true. Annie has already made way into those little hearts. Bruno, Pepper and Dora move on…
If you wish to buy tickets and know more about the elves behind this this show then do click here
P.S. do come back for pictures from the play
xoxo
Neha Savla
Parul Gupta
