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Elf intv with Max Chernin NC THEATER · The Erica Show

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  Hey, it's Erga DeLong here with iHeartRadio for Behind the Curtain in the North
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  Carolina Theater is presenting Elf the Musical at Martin Marrietta Center for the Performing Arts.
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  It's gonna be your December ninth through the seventeenth in the Fletcher Theater.
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  Tickets on sale right now, so grab those tickets inctheater dot com. I'm
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  so honored to sit down with Max Chernan, who plays the amazing role of
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  Buddy, which we all know and love. And I was looking at your
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  resume. You've done all kinds of stuff, including in Vincent Anna, which
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  I loved on Netflix. Yes, a great show. Yeah, but Elf?
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  How did you get involved with Elf? This is actually my second time
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  doing ELF. I think I got involved with it because I'm six' two
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  and I have red hair, so it's I think it's always been in the
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  in the works for me to do, so I'm excited to revisit it again
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  and to play an iconic role such as Buddy. You've just recently moved to
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  Denver, and so you've made your way to Raleigh, which we're glad to
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  have you here. Are you a big fan of Christmas? You kind of
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  have to be right. I love Christmas. It's the best time of year
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  because you get to see your family. You get to see all the lights
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  and all the decorations, and eat all the food and all the candy.
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  All the good things come with Christmas. So as far as keeping your enthusiasm
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  up, because you do this night after night. Once you fly in,
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  you practice and then you have shows every day, how do you keep that
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  energy going? I think I stay very chill for like the whole day leading
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  up to it, and then I kind of let all the energy out at
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  once, and it's like the role itself is infectious. So once I start
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  doing it, you like hop on a train and that train keeps going and
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  all that energy is like supported by all the people around me. And then
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  after the show, I pass out. Yeah, exactly. Okay, so
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  when you're here, you come here and it's like Gamebusters, Like you get
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  here, you rehearsh, you do your thing show after show. Yeah.
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  Do you have a chance to visit things in the city while you're here?
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  Yeah? Once we open, we have our days free, so I'll roam
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  around a little bit and hang out. I mean, I love downtown Raleigh.
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  I was actually here in twenty seventeen doing a show for Theater Raleigh.
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  Okay, it's so cute. I love cute. Yeah, yeah, well
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  see you were in New York City, so you're like, it's cute.
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  See that's what people say. My husband's from Boston. He's like, it's
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  so cute. But it is very cute point and it has a little bit
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  of everything. What is something that you would say is your favorite part in
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  the show or your favorite scene. I think my favorite scene in the show
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  is when he calls out the fake Sanna in the mall, when he reveals
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  that he's not a real Sanna, and like there's all the kids around and
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  all this chaos and they end up fighting. It's it's amazing because everything that
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  Buddy says is so grounded in truth. But his truth is that Santa Claus
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  is real, and it's just so fun to play that around the real world.
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  Now, how many times do you get asked to dress up as an
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  elf at family functions? Sometimes? Yeah, only a few. You know.
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  The last time I did it, they actually took a picture of me
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  and made a cardboard cutout. Really now exists in Salt Lake City at another
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  theater and anytime I have a friend that works there. I get a picture
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  next to my cardboard cutout, and everyone's like, I found Buddy, I
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  found that I love. Is it the actual six foot size or do they
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  get a minature version it's like five to seven. Yeah, it was a
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  little shorter than me. I'm yeah, you know, I don't know.
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  The FI five seven still lifelike. You know, they have the four foot
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  ones that you can get at a discounts. That enough they try to make
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  you shorter. Yeah, yeah, okay, So what would you say that
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  when people come to see the show, of course based off the two thousand
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  and three movie, what would you say would be unexpecting that they're going to
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  see that they're going to love when they come to see the show. There's
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  something so special about this show because, like I said, Buddy's carrying that
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  Christmas spirit with him. You see him affect everyone around him, even in
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  small ways. So like even when he meets a security guard at the mall,
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  by the time they're done talking, the security guard is a changed person.
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  And then there's there's the bigger stuff, like his father but and like
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  and their whole relationship. But it's so wonderful to see kind of the humanity
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  behind this kind of crazy fun story come through. So I think there'll be
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  a lot of like touching, sweet moments for people to walk away with.
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  You really are the perfect buddy because your positivity and like his spirit is so
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  infectious. I love that. What a perfect role for you. So great.
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  Hey, holiday traditions. Is there something that you do every year with
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  your family? Oh? Yeah, I mean the best thing my family does
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  is we were from Cleveland, Ohio, so I'll be there. But we
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  visit a new brewery every Christmas Eve. We hop around and we do a
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  beer tasting together and it's so fun. You know, one of those things
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  like you start doing when you're twenty one and you're like, wow, we're
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  adults now. But it is really sweet to, you know, sit there
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  with my mom and just share all these memories together. It's really it's beautiful.
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  So we do hide the pickle when people think I'm trying to be weird
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  about that, but it's actually a real tradition where you hide the pickle on
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  the tree and it brings good luck to it, refines it. So maybe
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  as you drink at the brewery, you can hide the pickle with somebody find
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  it. Oh my gosh, Oh well that makes sense. We have a
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  pickle ornament. Yeah, and you're supposed to hide it and it brings good
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  luck. Oh okay, it's from Germany originally. Good to know. Inctheater
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  dot Com get those tickets today December ninth through the seventeenth. We are sitting
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  down right now with Max Chernin who plays Buddy. And Max, what else
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  can we expect from Elf? You should be ready to just smile and then
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  have the best time with your family, with your loved ones. It's such
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  a wonderful way to get out and get out of the house and do something
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  during the Christmas season that can really light you up. Now this is your
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  second time doing it, So how did you prepare for the role this time?
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  I cracked up in the script and at first I was like, I
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  don't know if I'm gonna remember these things, and then it all came rushing
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  back to me. Yeah. I love it. Yeah, Yeah, I'm
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  very grateful. I've these lines have been in my brain before. Yeah.
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  Max is wonderful. Y'all go see him as buddyinctheater dot Com for Elf sounds good.