Disney Frozen Jr

Directed by Louise Selden the production opened with a rousing welcome to Arendelle where we are introduced to the delightful Young Anna played by Esme Harker and Young Elsa played by Isabelle Askew.  Both girls had a wonderful infectious manner and together with Maggie Arthur and Lillian Horton as King Agnarr and Queen Iduna the audience immediately felt at home in this magical town.  ‘A Little Bit of You’ was really sweet and enhanced by the Snow Chorus, whose representation of ice and snow throughout through show was stunning.  When Elsa’s magic causes a risk to Anna the King and Queen bring in the Hidden Folk and Grace Darwin (Pabbie) and Sophie Welsh (Bulda) really captured their characters with mystical voices.

A lovely transition during ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman’ moved time forward so we meet Middle Elsa (Emily Askew) and Middle Anna (Emma Hurdubei) who captured the essence of their younger selves and added to the story telling with their great performances.  We are introduced to the final Anna (Ruby Harker) and Elsa (Keira Davis) ahead of the coronation and both young women had an excellent command of the stage and super stage presence.  Their songs and routines were to a very high standard and both had wonderful interaction with all the other characters really bringing the story to life.

There was great light relief from Sophie Clarke as Kristoff and Martha Cope as Sven – both very entertaining with great timing.     Ollie Welsh as Olaf was a super performer and totally captured the funny little snow man – he was a delight to watch.  Katie Shekle gave a strong performance as Hans showing his really nasty side when he locks the dying Anna in a castle room.

There were some great cameos from Lucas Wilson as the Duke of Weselton, Luca Dent as Oaken, Jasper Foster who confidently introduced the Duke of Weasletown and the Castle Staff -Sophie Ingram, Isabelle Kraus, Ebonie Roddis and Elle Brooke Hinchliffe.  Everyone on stage put their all into the roles maintaining pace whilst delivering lines and showing huge enthusiasm in the routines.  The ensembles of the Townspeople, Snow Chorus, Hidden Folk, Summer Chorus and Oaken’s Family were excellent and adapted well to the different scenes and characters.  The cast also did a great job of moving the onstage trucks to transport the show from the castle through snowy mountainside to Elsa’s Ice Palace.  Enhanced by excellent lighting, provided by CS Technical, the simple staging worked really well and allowed the space to be filled with this vast cast of very talented young people.  Musical direction by Gail Cobb had been successful as the singing was very strong .

The costumes were excellent especially as the audiences come with expectations of both the large scale professional musical productions and Disney animations, but DOS certainly met these expectations and along with the great direction and lovely choreography (Catherine Enos) this was a great evening’s entertainment.  Congratulations to everyone involved in the production including the Committee and Production Team who continue to invest in the Student Academy who are moving from strength to strength, showing huge promise for the future of the Society.

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