Christmas present from London stage

Elf part of 13-14 Grand Theatre lineup
By Mark Schadenberg
Since Will Ferrell is busy filming Anchorman 2 I'm sure you won't see him in London before next Christmas.
However, an adaptation of his movie Elf will be part of the 2013-14 season at The Grand Theatre (www.grandtheatre.com) in Downtown London.
It will be a difficult task of casting the role of Elf as in the movie Ferrell thinks he's a real elf from the Santa Claus workshop. Elf -- in my opinion -- is already a holiday family classic and it was released in 2003 with James Caan, Bob Newhart, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Andy Richter, and Ed Asner as Santa.
The Grand Theatre will stage the story, Nov. 20 - Jan. 4.
In the movie, Buddy the Elf arrives in New York City to find his real Dad. Much of the humour revolves around food as Buddy declares: "We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup." 
Two more very recognizable names from the large screen are on the Grand Theatre schedule with the high school production announced as Legally Blonde (Sept. 17-28 and sponsored by Canadian Tire) and the music revue show is Ring Of Fire: The Music Of Johnny Cash (Oct 15 - Nov. 2).  The 'man in black' show is slated to include 38 songs and tell (or sing) the biography of Cash. 
The 2014 calendar will begin with a touch of Wingfield farm comedy as Doug and Rod Beattie present The Passion of Narcisse Mondoux (Jan 21 - Feb 8).
Pulitizer Prize finalist
Other Desert Cities takes over the stage next (Feb.  18 - March 8). The play by Jon Robin Baitz, premiered Off-Broadway in January 2011 and transferred to Broadway in November 2011. It was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The storyline revolves around a family member writing a book that reveals a family secret. 
The season wraps up with The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee (March 18 - April 12), and finally Robert Chafe's Oil And Water (April 22 - May 10), which is based in Newfoundland in 1942. 
For more details on ticket packages for the season, call (519) 672-8800 or visit the box office at the theatre at 471 Richmond St in London. Ticket packages include discounts for larger groups.
Don't forget this year
By the way, the 2012-13 season is still underway, continuing with Mom's The Word: For Crying Out Loud (March 19 - April 6) and Dance Legends (April 16 - May 18). 
In Mom's The Word, the web site bills the production as: "outrageously funny, poignant and true vignettes of motherhood".
Dance Legends takes you back to the moves of Ginger Rogers and Gene Kelly, plus Cyd Charisse, Fred Astaire and Sammy Davis Jr, along with stars of this generation like Michael Jackson. 
If you like Shakespeare, the spring high school show is The Taming Of The Shrew (April 23-27) at McManus Studio.

Opening in 1901 as a concert hall, the Grand Theatre has not always been used for concerts and plays as it was a first-run movie theatre until about 1945, and then re-established for live performing arts.
Twitter: @thegrandlondon