Save this article to read it later.

Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.

McKinley has stripped things down to their most basic, though not in any avant-garde fashion.

Grey Henson and Sean Astin in ‘Elf.’

The same goes for the cast members, who are generally working hard and making little headway.

I guess I respect the m.o.

But they also add a bunch of material thats well-crafted filler.

Thats a thin bough on which to hang a lot of better-than-necessary tinsel.

If it achieves a sense of spectacle, its only by way of brute force.

I had to wipe a lot of crud off my glasses frames.

Elfis at the Marquis Theatre.

Tags: