The musical, starring Grey Henson, has gotten Buddy delightfully, entirely right. But he is trapped inside a creaky adaptation.

Elf The Musical, the cheery – very, very cheery – revival opening tonight for a limited holiday run on Broadway, is an entirely suitable gift from a hard-working cast for fans of the well-liked 2003 Will Ferrell Christmas perennial.

Elf: The Musical (Marquis Theatre, to Jan. 4) passes an important test of a seasonal Broadway show. It passes the wide smile/slightly moistened eyes/ridiculous amount of falling snow test, and—more significantly—passes the far more difficult actually-not-annoying-for-kids-and-adults test.