Liz McClarnon and Louis Emerick join the cast of Elf: The Musical for its Christmas 2017 season

Further casting has been confirmed for Elf: The Musical which heads to Theatre Royal Plymouth and The Lowry, Salford for a limited run this winter.

Liverpudlian chart topper Liz McClarnon will star in the production as 'Jovie' and much loved British TV actor Louis Emerick will take on the role of ‘Santa Claus’. They will appear alongside previously announced Ben Forster as 'Buddy', Joe McGann as 'Walter' and Jessica Martin as 'Emily Hobbs', who all reprise their roles from the record-breaking 2015 Christmas run in the West End.

Liz McClarnon is well-known for being one third of British chart topping girl group Atomic Kitten. As part of the group Liz accumulated countless awards and a multitude of chart topping hits including “The Tide is High”, “Eternal Flame” and “Whole Again”. Atomic Kitten’s number one hit “Whole Again” spent four weeks in the UK charts as well as topping the charts in seventeen countries.

Liz has starred in an array of theatre productions including Legally Blonde, War Of The Worlds and more recently in the hit musical SHOUT.  She is also a regular on both TV and radio including Celebrity Masterchef (2008 champion), Hotter Than My Daughter (BBC 3) and Heart North West Breakfast.

Louis Emerick is best known for his portrayal of Mick Johnson in the
soap opera Brookside and for his recurring role of PC Walsh in Last of the Summer Wine. Numerous television and film credits also include Cold Feet, The Bill, Holby City, Doctors and Layer Cake (alongside Daniel Craig).

Alongside his numerous screen credits, Louis has proven himself as a highly accomplished and critically acclaimed stage actor. Notable theatre credits include; The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui alongside Mark Rylance (Contact Theatre, Manchester); On the Ledge (Royal Court, Liverpool), Basil and Beattie (Royal Exchange), the National Tour of Soap Opera, Bouncers (The Royal Court, Liverpool) and most recently the role of Horse in the National Tour of The Full Monty.

Elf: The Musical returns to Theatre Royal Plymouth for one week only, from Sat 11 – Sat 18 November before heading to The Lowry, Salford. The Salford venue will host the show's first Christmas season outside of London from Fri 24 November 2017 until Sun 14 January 2018.

Based on the beloved 2003 New Line Cinema hit starring Will Ferrell, Elf is the hilarious tale of Buddy, a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts and is transported back to the North Pole. Unaware that he is actually human, Buddy’s enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa’s permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father, discover his true identity, and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas.
Michael Rose in association with the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin present the Theatre Royal Plymouth production of Elf at The Lowry.

Elf: The Musical features a book by Tony Award winners Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray) and Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone), with songs by Tony Award nominees Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin (The Wedding Singer).

The production will feature direction and choreography by Morgan Young (Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), set design and costumes by Olivier Award winner Tim Goodchild, lighting design by Olivier Award winner Tim Lutkin, orchestrations by Doug Besterman, video design by Ian William Galloway and sound design by Avgoustos Psillas & Terry Jardine for Autograph.  Musical supervision will be by Stuart Morley.