Although the stage musical, "The Happy Elf," has been performed previously, Pennsylvania Youth Theatre (PYT), with the help of its creator, singer-songwriter-actor Harry Connick, Jr., has retooled the entire production, adapting it for a much larger cast and adding new musical numbers.

PYT launches its ambitious holiday production, "The Happy Elf," 7 p.m., Nov. 30, Charles A. Brown Ice House, 57 River St., Sand Island, Bethlehem, where it continues through Dec. 16.

"The stars just lined up perfectly," explains PYT Executive Director Michael Melcher when asked about Connick's involvement with the production. "We got a hold of the script and loved it. But it was [for] a small cast, one act. We have 400 students. We can't use a show with [just] 12 kids."

"The Happy Elf," which is about Eubie, one of Santa's elves at the North Pole, is adapted from Grammy Award-winning singer Connick's 2003 Christmas song of the same name. In 2005, the song was the basis for an animated special that aired on NBC-TV and was released on DVD that same year.

Melcher was so taken with the premise of "The Happy Elf" that he decided to reach out to Connick directly to see what could be done.

"The music floored us. The music is amazing," says Melcher. "We reached out to them and said, 'We really like the show. How would you feel about us tweaking this for a large cast? Would you give us the liberty to do that?'"

That process would include writing additional roles not in the original script along with adding a second act.

"They [Connick's representatives] came back and said, 'Well, actually we've been thinking about bringing this back on the table and finalizing this for publication,'" Melcher recalls.

In April, Melcher set up a meeting in New York, so that he could present his ideas.

"Next thing you know, sitting across the table is Harry Connick Jr.," Melcher recalls during an interview this fall at The Hotel Bethlehem.

"How do you sit across the table from Harry Connick, Jr. and say, 'You've got a really great idea, but I think I can make it just a little better'?"

Connick was receptive to hear what Melcher had to present at that April meeting. He reassured Melcher, who was initially hesitant to express his ideas: "Don't worry. If it's a bad idea, I'll tell you. And if it's a good idea, I'm going to take it and use it. So you've got nothing to lose."

"We were leaving [after the meeting] and the next thing you know, Harry comes running out and he hops on the elevator with us because he wanted to finish the conversation. He was so excited about this," says Melcher.

"He said to us, 'I hope you understand. I'm really hands-on. This is a project that is really important and I'm going to want to be involved.'"

Green light

A few weeks after the meeting, Melcher followed up with an email in which he wrote, "We have an amazing group of kids that will move mountains to let you see what this is going to look like. We will be the living embodiment of your ideas. If you give us a chance, we are going to blow you away."

Melcher received a telephone call a few days later and Connick's representatives gave the project the green light.

"It's been a whirlwind since then," says Melcher. "People are calling from Philly. They want to bring buses up [for the show]. You are working in the Ice House [where PYT presents its shows] and you think nobody notices and then all of a sudden you've got this international star that says; 'Hey I like what you are doing.'"

"If I could sum the whole thing up, it is validation of these kids and their time. This is their reality. They started there [at PYT] when they were three and we send them off to college. It is an amazing group of kids and it is just as an amazing group of staff and faculty."

Connick paid his first visit to Bethlehem to meet with PYT staffers in late September. Prior to that, he was provided by PYT with a video tour of the Ice House. The video was able to give Connick a visual perspective of the space and the potential of what could be accomplished there.

"They really liked the fact that we were able to make such a conversion to that space," says Melcher. "It [the September meeting] was also our first chance to get the drafts in front of him of the set pieces.

"This piece, conceptually, is a lot like all of our productions. We like to convert the Ice House into a tactile experience. You walk into the lobby and you are going to be walking into a North Pole, a Santa's workshop type of environment. It surrounds the seats. The audience is in the experience."

While in Bethlehem, Connick spent time with "The Happy Elf" production director Bill Mutimer and Sheri Melcher, Music Director.

"It's been a fairly dramatic rewrite, compared to the script we saw back in April," explains Melcher. "There's new songs and new characters. There are whole new elements of the show.

"The flow and the plot of the show has actually evolved to match the sophistication of the music. It's not quite the same story [as the 2005 animated special]. It's evolved into its new identity."

New songs

Connick has written additional songs that will debut in "The Happy Elf" PYT production.

"They're [Connick and Sheri Melcher] going to be developing stuff right here [at the September meeting in Bethlehem]. They are changing keys and tempos for the performers.

"They've written a whole new song for this production. There's a voiceover component. They're going to be utilizing Harry in the studio to do voiceover work for the opening of the show. It's just so cool," says Melcher.

PYT has a large group of children from the Lehigh Valley enrolled in its classes.

"We had over 200 kids audition for this show," Melcher says. "It's one of the first instances where we couldn't put everyone in. That was heartbreaking for us.

"Even though Harry is here, our mission hasn't changed. It's still about the experience the kids have. It was a growing experience for us to say, 'Not yet. This isn't going to be the one for you.'"

However, 150 children will have an opportunity to be in the PYT production of "The Happy Elf."

The show is double-cast and will be the largest cast ever in a PYT production. Adult principals will be consistent, but the ensembles, elf roles and other smaller roles will alternate each performance.

"That's going to be a tribute to Monica Johnson, the stage manager," says Melcher. "She's coordinating the needs and intricacies of engaging two casts that are bigger than most single casts.

"If there's ever a season to find out what PYT is all about, this is the one. The day I interviewed for the job [as Executive Director], the board of directors told me that one of their trials is that PYT is the best kept secret in the Lehigh Valley," Melcher says. "If I get anything out of this year, that's the thing that's going to change."

'Best idea wins'

During Connick's September visit to Bethlehem, he sat down for roundtable interviews with reporters from Lehigh Valley media, including a writer-photographer and editor for the Lehigh Valley Press Focus section. Connick's enthusiasm and passion for the project was obvious.

Connick started by explaining what his day involved up to that point. "I met with Bill [Mutimer] and Mike [Melcher] and our musical director over at the Ice House and we started the process today of going through the script," Connick says.

"They asked me, 'How specific do you want to go?' and I said, 'Let's go. Let's write a show.' We started talking about what the overture was going to be, whether there was going to be an overture, the actual length of it. It really got specific. That's what I like to do.

"We are still tweaking it [the play]. This kind of workshop process from my experience has always gone up to basically opening night and sometimes a little bit thereafter," Connick explains.

"There's so many elements to it with regard to dialogue, set changes, when a song starts, underscoring. It's just endless.

"There are really, really good people in really key positions [at PYT] that have smart things to say and smart questions to ask. We came up with some ideas we hadn't even discussed. This show's been floating around for awhile and it's nice to hear some fresh, really good ideas."

Versions of "The Happy Elf" were performed previously, including at The Parilla Performing Arts Center, Rockville, Md., in 2010.

Connick, who has won three Grammy and two Emmy awards, has enjoyed working with PYT on the jazz-based score of "The Happy Elf."

"I like to be in control when I do my [concert] show. I know exactly what I'm going to do. I feel very comfortable being at the helm, directing it.

"There's also a great sense of freedom, I think, and it's very sort of liberating to not be that person and to be in a collaborative space where there are four or five other key people that are as or more important than I am. When those people have really smart things to say, you walk out of there smiling.

"The best idea wins. It's not about ego at all. As soon as you come to the table saying, 'This is what's going to happen and this is how we are going to do it,' you're going to upset a lot of people. It doesn't work like that. I've tried it like that, and it just doesn't work.

"Regardless of who's at the table, if they're there, they are there for a reason. Mike [Melcher] was coming up with ideas today, but he was kind of putting up his hands saying, 'I don't know if I should be suggesting this,'" Connick recalls.

"I said, 'Hell, yes, suggest it. If it's a stupid idea, we'll never do it,'" he laughs.

Connick says that few elements from the 2005 claymation TV special have been retained. "We got away from it on the first few workshops," Connick says. "We're using some elements like the narration part."

"Elf" evolution

The original song, "The Happy Elf," was on Connick's his 2003 album, "Harry for the Holidays." Of the evolution of 'The Happy Elf' from song to animated special to stage production, Connick says:

"I had written the song and my agent at the time said, 'This would be a cool story about this over-enthusiastic elf who works at the [Santa's] workshop.'

"I thought it was a great idea but being a songwriter, I wasn't the person to flesh that out," Connick says. "So, we hired a writer and he wrote a script based on the song and that's what turned into the NBC animated special. Then we said this is kind of a cool idea for a children's Christmas show."

The book (storyline) for the musical was written by Lauren Gunderson and Andrew Fishman.

Turning a TV special based upon a single song into a live performance involved Connick creating additional songs.

"You have to write a lot more songs and that is really at the heart of what I do. So, when the director or the writer says to me, 'We need a song here,' I love to write responsively like that. I feel very comfortable in that world."

Connick and a team of writers, arrangers and composers returned to Bethlehem Nov. 16 to work with the PYT students on final details for the production of "The Happy Elf."

Connick also attended PYT's Nov. 17 preview of the show and gala at Foy Hall, Moravian College, Bethlehem. Moravian College Music Department student musicians, led by Neil Wetzel, Moravian College associate professor, performed for the preview production.

PYT approached Moravian College's Music Department to supply the musicians. "All of the Moravian College students playing in the pit orchestra are music majors and are pursuing careers in music education, music performance, and music business," says Wetzel.

There's also a picture book, "The Happy Elf," copies of which Connick will sign, along with DVD copies of the NBC-TV special, 2 - 4 p.m. Nov. 30, Moravian Book Shop, 428 Main St., Bethlehem.