Snow Much Fun at FROZEN

Cole Bugiel as Hans (left) and Melody Marks as Anna (right) in Disney’s Frozen at First Stage. Photo credit: Paul Ruffolo.

A review of Disney's Frozen

by Ellory Woodford, age 12

On Saturday, May 11th, I attended First Stage’s production of Disney's Frozen at the Todd Wehr Theatre in the Marcus Center in Milwaukee. Frozen is a musical that is heavily based on the beloved Disney classic movie. It follows the story of two royal sisters, Anna and Elsa, as they grow up and learn about the meaning of true love. First Stage’s production did an amazing job of staying true to the animated classic, while bringing the magic of musical theatre to the stage through strong performances and creative costuming, lighting and "stage magic."

Every single performer in this show did amazing, but there are a few that I would like to especially highlight. First off is Melody Marks, who plays Anna in the Fire Cast. Marks was absolutely incredible, and her voice really lived up to her name, "Melody." The role of Anna requires a strong actor who can play both the goofy side of her and the more emotional side, truly making Marks the perfect choice for the role. There isn’t just one version of Anna, however. Tesney Schatzman played the younger version of Anna, and she brought an adorable spunk and charm to this character. Something interesting about the Fire Cast, which is the one that I saw, is that the actors who play Young Anna and Young Elsa are actually sisters in real life as well! Tesney's sister, Kiena, gave a performance as the young princess that was truly amazing. She did a wonderful job of portraying the more proper and demure of the two young princesses. Just like Anna, there is also an older version of Elsa. Elsa was played by the adult actress, Molly Hill Fuller. Fuller had one of the most powerful voices I've ever heard. Elsa is super iconic and many kids look up to her, so you need someone in this role who has the ability to play the power, the fear, the kindness, and the sadness; this is a very difficult challenge for many actors, but Fuller really lived up to the challenge.

One thing I found very unique about this production was the costuming, designed by Jazmín Aurora Medína. Most productions of Frozen follow the typical movie costume designs, but First Stage did not do that. Some examples of this that stood out to me were Young Anna, Hans, and Elsa. In the movie, Young Anna wears a green and black dress; at First Stage however, she wore a pink dress and a white vest with flowers on it. I really liked this choice because Young Elsa wears a blue dress, and pink is a warm color whereas blue is a cool color, which provides a nice visual contrast, as well as showing the difference between the two characters' personalities. Another character whose costume stood out to me was Prince Hans. His attire featured gold embellishments as well as a cape. His costume has a very regal appearance, perfectly fitting the power-hungry character. It also included a headband with the same embroidered embellishments; with Hans being the 13th in line for the throne, it is quite fitting for him to have a headband as opposed to a crown. The last character whose costume I want to mention is Elsa. The main reason her costume captured my attention is because of what happened during "Let It Go." In the middle of the number, Elsa’s coronation dress is stripped away to reveal her well-known ice dress. I have seen many versions of this costume change, both online and in person, and the fact that I’m still not sure how they did it means they really did a phenomenal job of keeping the magic alive.

Another thing that stood out to me was the lighting, designed by Jason Fassl. The lighting in the production was different from any show I've seen before. One thing that I really appreciated about this was how they used lighting for Elsa's magic, specifically during the show stopping number, "Let It Go." They used blue lasers that went over the audience’ heads, in a way that really helped to immerse us further into the show.

One of Frozen's biggest "claims to fame" is its unique magic, including snow on stage. While some productions would just pantomime the illusion of snow, First Stage did not. They used multiple methods to show everything, from Young Anna and Young Elsa playing to full-on blizzards. For some of the moments with the young versions of the princesses, they used what appeared to be paper or plastic snow that came from the pocket of the actor portraying Young Elsa. For the flurries and parts of blizzards, it seemed to be the same material, except it came from machines on the ceiling of the theatre. For the blizzards, they also used actors with fans or long pieces of white fabric, to fully envelop the stage in a mystical winter.

First Stage’s production of Frozen was an all-around wonderful show. The whole production really worked to bring the classic movie to life on stage. I recommend this show to audiences of all ages (there were many little princesses dressed up in the audience!)

Catch Disney's Frozen through May 17th or other shows like it at First Stage!