‘Elf on a Shelf ’ goes from store shelf to musical stage
Georgia company takes “tradition” to Palace Wednesday
Carol Aebersol had a little Christmas elf named Fisbee, whom her mother told her would tell Santa Claus whether she was naughty or nice. She shared the same story with her own children, Chanda and Christa, and they decided that this was a tradition that needed to be shared with the world. In 2005, the Lumistella
Company was born and brought with it the Elf on the Shelf.
According to Christa Pitts, co-founder and co-CEO of Lumistella, the
Elf on the Shelf rules are the same as they were for her and her sister Chanda when they were growing up.
“Rules like, ‘You're not allowed to touch the elf for it might lose its magic,’” she said. Those rules are intact.
Over the years, the Atlanta-based Lumistella has grown beyond the diminutive elves themselves to include many products and productions associated with Santa and Christmas. According to Pitts, the company employees are “Santa’s human helpers.” Finding success in the retail marketplace, these elves are now set on conquering the theater; they are coming to the Capital Region with the stage production of “The Elf on The Shelf: A Christmas Musical.”
“It was time to allow families to take it to the next level,” said Pitts. “There's nothing more personal than taking your family, taking your friends to see a live show. Anything can happen at any moment. And you can become part of this experience that is bigger and broader and shared with people of all ages unlike any other format.
"And for us, it was the perfect translation of a beloved tradition,” she added.
The elf in question in this story is a Scout Elf who must help his human family remember the joy of Christmas. It talks about how he and some of his friends from the North Pole help the family realize that.
Talent involved in the production include writer and lyricist Sara Wordsworth, who has worked on Broadway’s “In Transit”
This story is about finding the light after a very dark period of time.”
— Sara Wordsworth
and Disney’s “Frozen JR”; composer Russ Kaplan from Broadway’s “In Transit” and “Dear Albert Einstein”; and director Sam Scalamoni, who has also directed “Elf the Musical,” Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” and Nickelodeon’s “StoryTime Live.”
According to Wordsworth, it was raising her 8-year-old daughter that inspired the story. The Elf on the Shelf is a Christmas tradition in her own home, and she wanted to write about a family that experienced love and loss and felt the magic of Christmas.
“This story is about finding the light after a very dark period of time,” Wordsworth said. “And I feel like now more than ever, it will be meaningful for families to see themselves reflected in a story about coming back after loss, how you reclaim traditions, how you build new ones.”
After last year’s hiatus, Pitts said she is excited to bring holiday cheer back to its full strength.
“To me, Christmas means hope,” said Pitts. “Giving, magic, wonder. There's so much that's wrapped up in that season. It's that sense of giving in to the nostalgia and wonderment that I think makes it such a special and unique time of year.”