One Direction given Broadway shout-out

One Direction were stunned to hear one of their songs recited during a Broadway performance of Elf: The Musical when the stars of the show realised the singers were in the audience.

Members of the British/Irish boy band went to see a performance of the festive show, based on Will Ferrell's 2003 comedy movie Elf, at Manhattan's Al Hirschfeld Theatre on Sunday (02Dec12).

Actor Jordan Gelber, who plays the lead role in the musical, knew the pop stars were watching, so he gave them a special treat by improvising to the band's hit track What Makes You Beautiful during the performance, according to New York Post gossip column Page Six.

One Direction's Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Liam Payne were later photographed meeting the cast backstage and posing for photographs.

Gelber shared snaps of the band's visit on his Twitter.com page, while his co-star Leslie Kritzer wrote, "Met One Direction backstage tonight (at) Elf: The Musical. Crazy fans outside. Just a Sunday night on Bdway (sic). Crazy... They were all adorable and sweet."