Frozen Jr

“Frozen”, a tale of two royal sisters who live their lives  in perfect happiness until Elsa, the elder sister accidentally strikes Anna with her magic. Scared of her powers, she hides away in an icy wilderness until Anna locates her and all is well again! The show, played without interval, lasts only seventy minutes, but still gives Director, Iain Hughes, plenty time to extricate his cast from the multitude of trials and tribulations they face on their journey.

We open with the young Anna and Elsa (Kara Izatt & Mia Brown) setting the scene. Both gave good accounts of themselves in singing as well as dialogue. This confidence continued as we moved up to the middle Anna and Elsa (Georgia Langley & Freya Cowie). When we reach the grown-up Anna and Elsa (Lorelle Brodie & Keirra Marshall) confidence both in singing and acting ability has grown with them. Anna’s “Let It Go”  being so well known, had to be executed spectacularly – and it was! Prince Hans (Inis Balfour) played  a most assertive character, while Kristoff (Oliver Cowie) and particularly his sidekick Reindeer, Sven (Evie Henderson), certainly endeared themselves to the full house, on this the opening night. Evie’s manipulation of Sven’s mouth was a treat to watch. So too was the snowman, Olaf (Matthew Garrie), making dextrous use of his wobbly snowman costume. Other minor principal characters included Oaken (Martha Ferguson), Builda (Holly Kitchen), Pabbie (Bethany Downes), Queen (Maisie Nisbet), King (Ludo McCormack) and last, but not least, Westleton (Lewis Walker), all of whom gave fine performances, with good acting skills and first class diction.

The chorus this year, not unlike previous years,  showed a fine collection of talent, promising a healthy future for LAMA (Youth).

Direction by Iain Hughes and Andrew Doig was of a high standard – unsurprising, given the years of experience between these two gentlemen. Musical Director, Katy Holligan, has obviously taken great care in the rehearsing of both principals and chorus, making sure that diction was never let slip in any of the numbers. A special congratulations to Choreographer, Amy Elder, who managed to give a large ensemble exciting routines to accomplish within the confines of a small stage.

Technically, the show came up to the same standard as the rest of the production. Lighting worked well to enhance the show from the preset right through to the conclusion. We’ll happily forgive houselights finding their way into a couple of cues in the latter half of the show!

Sound too was first class, never having to strain to make out singing or dialogue.

For me, the technical highlight was the video wall, the use of which had clearly been well thought out. So often video walls are hired in and just sit there with a minimum of effort put towards their intended or possible use. Not so here, the location of each scene being presented on the wall to excellent effect, this, together with several effects overlaid simultaneously. Well done to the (unnamed) Video Designer.

All in all, well done LAMA Youth for presenting another most enjoyable show.

Many thanks for inviting us along!

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