Most Sacramento families know ELF the movie by heart. Every year Buddy the Elf shows up on living room screens, and every year someone gets voluntold to watch it with someone who hasn’t seen it in at least an hour. This November, the story moves off the couch and onto a real stage—a touring production of ELF The Musical based on the 2024 Broadway production lands at the Harris Center for the Arts in Folsom for five days beginning November 4.
It is the kind of show that works better in a theater than you might expect. Buddy’s arrival in New York City, the escalating chaos at the North Pole, the scene where he covers his dad’s office in Christmas decorations—these land differently with a live orchestra, a full cast, and a few hundred other people laughing alongside you. The Harris Center has run professional touring productions for years and seats roughly 1,100, so even the further seats feel connected to the stage.
What the Show Is
ELF The Musical is based on the 2003 film starring Will Ferrell. In the stage version, Buddy—a human orphan who crawled into Santa’s sack as an infant and was raised by elves at the North Pole—discovers the truth about his origins and travels to New York City to find his birth father, Walter Hobbs, a children’s book publisher who appears firmly on Santa’s naughty list. What follows is equal parts absurdist comedy and earnest holiday sentiment.
The music and lyrics are by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, and the book is by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin. The show ran on Broadway from 2010 to 2012 and returned in a major 2024 revival—this touring production is built from that updated version. The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Daily Beast all praised the revival, with The Daily Beast calling it “a gift for kids and adults.” The show runs about two hours with one intermission, though the Harris Center has not published an exact runtime for this tour.
Harris Center’s programming leans toward professional touring and high-caliber regional work—it sits on the Folsom Lake College campus and serves the broader eastern Sacramento corridor. This isn’t a school play or a community production. It is a full touring show with professional staging.
Seven Performances Across Five Days
The run opens Wednesday, November 4, and closes Sunday, November 8. There are seven performances in total, including two on both Friday and Saturday and a Sunday morning matinee that works well for families with younger children who fade after noon.
- Wednesday, November 4: 7:30 PM
- Thursday, November 5: 7:30 PM
- Friday, November 6: 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM
- Saturday, November 7: 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM
- Sunday, November 8: 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM
The Friday and Saturday matinees at 2:00 PM are ideal for families who want to make a day of it in Folsom—Historic Folsom’s shops and restaurants on Sutter Street are a ten-minute drive from the Harris Center, and the Saturday matinee leaves plenty of afternoon left.
Tickets and Parking
Tickets are available at harriscenter.net or through the Harris Center Box Office at (916) 608-6888. The box office does not list ticket prices on the event page; check the website or call for current pricing and availability. For holiday shows, earlier purchases tend to get better seats.
Parking at the Harris Center is paid and priced per vehicle rather than per person, which means carpooling is the smart move. Passes can be added to your order when purchasing tickets online—that is the easiest option and skips any day-of line. Passes are also sold at the on-campus kiosk (with a $2 service fee) or at the Box Office. The venue is at 10 College Parkway, Folsom, CA 95630, on the Folsom Lake College campus. From Sacramento, take US-50 East to the Folsom Boulevard exit and follow signs toward Folsom Lake College.
The Details
- Show: ELF The Musical (all-new tour based on the 2024 Broadway production)
- Venue: Harris Center for the Arts, 10 College Parkway, Folsom, CA 95630
- Dates: November 4–8, 2026
- Showtimes: Wed–Thu 7:30 PM; Fri–Sat 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM; Sun 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM
- Tickets: harriscenter.net or (916) 608-6888
- Parking: Paid, per vehicle; purchase with tickets online or at campus kiosk ($2 fee) or Box Office
- Box Office hours: Call (916) 608-6888 to confirm
- Running time: Not published; plan for approximately two hours with intermission
What Else Is Coming This Holiday Season
If ELF sparks the holiday mood, there is a lot more on the calendar. A Christmas Carol opens at UC Davis Health Pavilion on December 11—that one is a Broadway On Tour production at the bigger downtown venue. For something free and walkable, Historic Folsom’s Christmas Tree Lighting is a few minutes from the Harris Center and a natural add-on if you’re already making the drive out to Folsom for the show. And the roundup of the best Sacramento Christmas events in 2026 has the full picture for the season.
Bottom Line
ELF The Musical at the Harris Center is a low-stress, high-payoff holiday outing. It is a professional touring production, not a recital—the staging and production values are built for a 1,100-seat venue, and the material plays well to both kids who love the movie and adults who just want to laugh at something uncomplicated for two hours in early November. The Sunday 10:00 AM performance in particular is a sleeper pick for families: the drive is short, the matinee wraps before lunch, and you can be back in Sacramento by early afternoon. Buy tickets at harriscenter.net before the holiday rush narrows your options.
