An Elf And Loving It

Buddy the Elf may like maple syrup on his spaghetti, but Harper S. Brady prefers his pasta with cheese.

And the 12-year-old is getting a lot of opportunities to partake in noodles as Michael, the youngest character in the on-stage comedy "Elf: The Musical," adapted from the 2003 film starring Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschanel.

The Broadway show is coming to the Walton Arts Center next week, helping kick off the Christmas season in Fayetteville.

"Elf: The Musical" is a tale of Buddy (Eric Williams), a young orphan who, as a child, accidentally hitches a ride in Santa's pack to the North Pole. The young boy barely remembers his move north and grows up thinking he is an elf like all the pointy-eared imps around him.

The problem is, he's kind of enormous. At least compared to the elves. And not particularly good at making toys. Once an adult, he realizes maybe he is out of his element and should find his way back home.

With permission from Santa (Ken Clement), Buddy leaves that snowy home and heads to New York City to try to find his real father.

Buddy finally finds his dad, but unfortunately, Walter Hobbs (Jesse Sharp) doesn't really believe in Christmas. His disdain for the holiday is infectious, and Buddy is concerned that Walter may be on Santa's infamous "naughty list."

And Michael may be too.

"Michael is the son of Walter and Emily Hobbs and ends up on an adventure with his older brother, Buddy," says Brady, a native of Springfield, Mo. "Michael can't really decide if he believes in Santa."

Buddy's goal is to change that. He introduces Michael to the wonders of the North Pole, including some rather unique tastes in food.

Buddy eats a lot of spaghetti covered in maple syrup, and noshes on candy canes almost non-stop. Brady doesn't seem keen try the sugary noodles, but he does freely admit he's a fan of candy canes. That's a good thing, because since March of this year, the seventh-grader been working in a role that puts him in the middle of Christmas until January.

"In March, my dad found an ad for an audition for 'Elf,'" he says. "We sent in a video, and they asked me to come out for an audition in New York (City)." The actor did audition, but he never heard back from the casting director, he says. Undeterred, he tried again, this time landing a callback.

On Aug. 26, Brady was formally cast in the roll of Michael and became one of only two minors in the show, he says. "It was amazing to be cast in this show," he says with joy.

But as young as he is, Brady isn't new to the stage -- he's been on one for nearly half of his life.

"I started singing when I was 6 and was cast in my first school play," he recalls. "I remember thinking 'I really like this,' and I just worked my way up from there."

He began taking formal lessons with Branson, Mo., vocal coach Dave Wallace and auditioning for roles around his hometown. His first large roles include the street-wise kid Gavroche in the Lyric Theatre's production "Les Miserable" in Oklahoma City and Tiny Tim in a Silver Dollar City rendition of "A Dickens' Christmas Carol."

Now fully immersed in his acting career, the home-schooler travels across the country on a bus full of goofy Christmas characters and a green-centric wardrobe, playing cards backstage, doing homework on the bus and performing on a new stage every few days.

But despite where he travels, his love of Christmas and the show make him excited to share this witty and warm family-friendly production with new audiences around the country.

"It's a really funny show," he says. "I think people are really going to like it."