Kaleigh Gorka as Elsa and Synthia Yusuf as Anna.
If you have ever wished that you could escape your troubles and crawl inside an animated Walt Disney film then you need to go to Neptune Theatre and see the Canadian Regional Theatre Premiere of Frozen: The Broadway Musical, playing until January 5th, 2025.
Frozen was written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, and Jennifer Lee and is based on their smash hit 2013 animated film of the same name. The creators have greatly expanded on the world of the story and the characters’ development in the creation of this longer musical, and they have added more than ten new songs.
Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s 1844 fairy tale The Snow Queen, Frozen tells the story of a magical girl named Elsa who feels cursed by her ability to create ice and snow with her mind because she doesn’t know how to properly control it. When she accidentally hurts her boisterous younger sister, Anna, their parents decide the girls need to be separated until Elsa can learn how to keep her powers at bay. This separation ends up lasting until Elsa is a young adult and she becomes the Queen of their kingdom of Arendelle. When Elsa becomes exasperated by Anna on Coronation Day, she inadvertently reveals her powers to a shocked and terrified crowd of the kingdom’s subjects, and flees in shame and anger. Can Anna find a way to convince her sister that she doesn’t need to be cloistered away from everyone in an ice castle for their “own protection,” but instead that they can find the solution to her icy issues together?
I would argue that of all the Disney films that have Broadway stage versions the animated Frozen has the most iconic performances that have entered the cultural zeitgeist and are associated with performers who are, to some extent, household names: Idina Menzel’s iconic rendition of “Let it Go” that pervaded the national consciousness for years, Kristen Bell’s specific quirky portrayal of Anna, Josh Gad’s Olaf voice, and Jonathan Groff’s Jonathan Groffness as Kristoff. How does this first Canadian regional theatre cast keep the essence of these beloved performances for audiences craving the exact characters they fell in love with in the movie, without falling into a soulless imitation? The balancing act here is meticulous.
We begin with Lyla Emery and Jorja Mastrapas as young Elsa and Anna respectively, and we see the beautiful friendship the girls had with one another and their parents (Rebecca Hergett and Patrick Maubert) before Anna’s accident. Emery’s Young Elsa mirrors Kaleigh Gorka’s Elsa’s intense stoicism and self-sacrifice that is heartbreaking to see in someone so young, who has given herself absolutely no grace for making mistakes. Similarly Mastrapas’ exuberant Anna, with a penchant for bending the rules, also captures so much of the same energy Synthia Yusuf brings to the role. While there is so much that is beautifully distinctive in the ways they have brought these young sisters to life, when they sing “Do You Want to Build a Snowman” they sound just like the recording.
Patrick Maubert also plays Oaken, the trading post shopkeeper who teaches Anna and Kristoff about hygge, the Danish word for coziness, through song of course, which is a definite highlight of the show. Julius Sermonia and Katrina Phillip play Pabbie and Bulda, Kristoff’s magical parental figures, and they lead the ensemble in “Fixer-Upper,” masterfully choreographed by Genny Sermonia. Jeff Schwager plays the hilariously lecherous Duke of Weselton, who is as ‘weasely’ as his name suggests.
Andrew Prashad plays Hans, who Anna falls head over heels for during their iconic awkward meet-cute, cemented by an instantly catchy duet (“Love is An Open Door”). For me, I felt that Prashad was the one actor who was able to take some interesting liberties with his character. In the film Hans is a pastiche of the perfect Prince Charming, which exacerbates the ways in which Anna is not your typical Disney Princess. In this stage version, however, Hans is much more grounded in reality. He mirrors Anna’s moments of inelegance to set her more at ease, and he seems to have much more genuine warmth and depth of care about him. We are then even more surprised to learn that not all is at it seems with him later in the story.
The adage about not working with kids and dogs is that between how cute and unpredictable they are they tend to steal the audience’s focus, regardless of how brilliant the other actors on stage are. You could say the same thing about magical, breathtaking puppets. Sven, Kristoff’s reindeer friend, is brought to incredible life by Darren Burkett, and Olaf, the talking snowman that Elsa makes for Anna before her accident, quite literally could have wandered out of the movie and into the theatre here with a little bit of help from his friend Adam Francis Proulx. Cassie Seaboyer is the puppet designer, with Proulx listed as a consultant and builder. Dayna Tietzen is the puppetry director. What struck me so much about the puppets is that Sven is an absolute original; he has his own beautifully distinct look separate from the film. Olaf, on the other hand, with Proulx even managing to capture so much of Gad’s distinctive tone and cadence, feels not only like a real person, but like a real visiting celebrity. The tiny details are the most magnificent for both: Sven wagging his tail, the very familiar way that Olaf stands, and blinks his eyes, walks forward, dances, and his exact posture, and Sven nudging the other characters with his nose. You forget the puppeteers are there, and they’re doing such brilliant work that feels unfair, but like with the muppets, the humans melt into the background and you are just rapt and spellbound like a child.
We see a lot more of Kristoff’s heart in the stage version and David Light does a nuanced and lovely job of giving Anna unsolicited but sage advice about not rushing into marriage without sounding like he’s being condescending or mansplain-y. The chemistry between Light’s Kristoff and Yusuf’s Anna is immediate, but both are oblivious to this fact in their own sweet ways. It’s even easier for everyone, I think, to fall in love with Kristoff than in the film.
I’m struck by the way that the creators have placed Anna and Elsa almost in completely different shows to highlight the vastness between their life experiences and disparate worlds. Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, Hans when he is with Anna, Sven, and the ensemble are very clearly in a Broadway musical, where Julius Sermonia, David Light, and Andrew Prashad especially show off their vibrant dance skills, and Yusuf’s million watt smile lights up the stage as she sings pop- infused production numbers, and Olaf gives his own nod to the Golden Age of musicals with his more jazzy rendition of “In Summer.” Yusuf doesn’t copy Kristen Bell’s Anna, but she is as skilled as her at capturing such a crisp transition between Anna behaving as one would expect of a Princess, and then saying or doing something unexpected or off-kilter, and then shifting back again: seamless and within seconds. For the children who don’t know who Kristen Bell is, they only know Anna, I wouldn’t be surprised if they assume Yusuf IS her, especially when she sings. Elsa and Hans, in contrast, are more often in a play of Shakespearean-level stakes. When Kaleigh Gorka belts the powerhouse “Let it Go,” and also the equally show stopping “Monster,” she isn’t just showing off her huge emotion-filled voice, Elsa is screaming out all her very real frustrations with herself, her isolation, and her fears about needing to be the monarch Arendelle deserves, the sister she wants to be for Anna, and honouring her parents’ fears and wishes, but she feels like an inadequate fraud. Gorka brings so much depth to Elsa’s journey and her battle against her own repression and anxiety. Elsa too is not the quintessential Disney Princess; she is much more like a genuine, grounded, real person, who is in over her head and feels like asking for help is hopeless.
The musical is directed by Jeremy Webb and choreographed by Genny Sermonia and they make a terrific team together, as they both bring in very similar comedic sensibilities, which really makes the musical flow so seamlessly from speaking scenes to dancing ones. Brian Dudkiewicz has created a mammoth set, with beautiful use of a revolve onstage, that layers the castle at Arendelle, with the snowy woods, Elsa’s ice castle, Oaken’s trading post, and Olaf’s dream summer sequence, and every little moment in between in a way that captures the sprit of the film. Leigh Ann Vardy and Helena Marriott work together with the lighting and the costume design respectively to create lots of magical moments. Shout out as well to June Zinck the stage manager for calling all those cues.
Not to get too political, but in the finale the entire cast sings the words, “Goodbye to dark and fear… let’s fill this world with light and love. We’re never going back, the past is in the past. Let it go. Let it go. Then we’ll rise like the break of dawn. Let it go, let it go. The fear and cold are gone.” At a time when it very literally feels like we are going back, and the past is also the future, and that we are consumed every waking moment with darkness and fear, what a message to send to all of us, that we too can find some way to fill the world with light and love. Tonight I heard these lyrics differently than I normally would have. I heard them as a defiant cry: “We are never going back. The past is in the past.” There are no red flags or barricades, but it felt like that kind of moment for me at the theatre tonight. Frozen is a story about two young women, two sisters, who are powerful and strong and smart, who are leaders, and who are imperfect, yet still heroes. They face down the men who dismiss them as lesser than, and those who try to manipulate them for their own ends. All that made this film feel like such an exciting breath of fresh air in 2013 is just as present (or more so) in 2024.
It seems like the right time to channel our collective inner Elsa.
“Let the storm rage on. The cold never bothered me anyway.”
Frozen runs at Neptune Theatre’s Fountain Hall stage (1593 Argyle Street, Halifax) until January 5th, 2025 Tuesdays to Saturdays at 7:30pm with 2:00pm matinees on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets range in price from $40.00 to $120.00 based on seating. Tickets for most shows are already limited. Tickets are available here, by calling the Box Office at 902.429.7070, or in person at 1593 Argyle Street.
This show is intended for audiences 6 and up. All guests require a ticket, regardless of age.
Disney’s Frozen is approximately 2.5 hours with an intermission.
Please Note: This production features loud noises, pyrotechnics, theatrical fog and haze.
Babes in arms and children under four (4) years of age are not permitted to attend live theatre productions. Please consider this rule when purchasing. Due to factors, like run time, our productions are not designed for very young children. As all patrons must occupy their own seats during a show, young theatregoers can best experience live theatre at age four (4) and older. Additionally, children under 14 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Industry Night
Tuesday, December 3 – 7:30 PM
Talkback
Thursday, December 5 – 7:30 PM
Masked Performance
Sunday, November 24 – 2:00 PM
Relaxed Performance
Saturday, December 7 – 2:00 PM
Audio Described Performance
Thursday, December 12 – 7:30 PM
Sing-A-Long Show!
Sunday, December 29 – 7:30 PM
Neptune Theatre is fully accessible for wheelchair users. For more Accessibility Information Click Here.
