Frozen Jr

I saw the film around nine years ago, and across the years have so often heard some of the songs on the radio, especially ‘Let It Go’, although I think I prefer ‘Do You want to Build a Snowman?’. I first saw this production last year so I had some idea of what to expect, although every director has their own vision and interpretation. I did know as I sat down that this show would be full of colour, sound and movement as I could see an open stage with a projected image of Arendelle across the whole backcloth, this told me that this was indeed going to be a well-designed production.

I was not to be disappointed, the opening number ‘Let the Sun Shine On’ brought almost the entire cast onto stage, from the youngest to the oldest. These forty odd youngsters moved with precision in the choreography for this number, indeed as they did throughout the show. The singing also gave us a foretaste of the quality of the songs throughout the production. We met here the first two of the pairs of youngsters playing the sisters Anna and Elsa, Young Anna – Brioney Skinner, Young Elsa – Emily Andres-Stacey, both gave us good renditions of ‘Let The Sun Shine On’ and ‘A Little Bit of You’. These two were joined by Middle Anna – Ayda Joyce, Middle Elsa – Agnes Garratt in beautifully sung ‘Do You want to Build a Snowman’, these four youngsters performed their roles very well with good clear voices. We finally meet Anna – Ivy Freeman-Hall and Elsa – Carmen Baum, these two were well cast and worked well together, Carmen showing the resolve not to interact with her sister with the worry of the horror she could inflict, but also the love for each other at the end of the show when she thaws the frozen Anna with love. She gave us good songs whether as a solo or a duet with Ivy – they gave us a lovely ‘Dangerous to Dream’ and ‘For the First Time in Forever’ and of course Elsa’s iconic song ‘Let it Go’, well sung.  Ivy performed the role of Anna with feeling and gave us another great performance in this show, she acted well together with her counterparts and had an easy on-stage relationship with Hans – Niall McGarrity singing ‘Love is an Open Door’ together. Niall always gives a polished performance on stage, has a good stage presence and always knows when to smile.

It was a delight to watch Kristoff – Barney Cooper, Barney has really grown as a young actor and so good to see him in this role, he gave his all in ‘Reindeer(s) are Better than People’ and ‘Kristoff’s Joik’ his singing and stage confidence is coming on and he was watching all that was going on and had developed his character well. He had a good relationship with Sven – Samantha Bix, and with Olaf – Millie Jackson. Samantha did well with this role, not a lot of dialogue, an interesting Reindeer accent and gave us two good numbers with Kristoff and Olaf, her make-up was very good. I loved the way that Olaf melted, so graceful and her movement as she tripped around stage was well suited to a walking Snowman and gave us two great songs ‘You’re Hired’ and ‘In Summer’ nicely sung.

There were some good performances from the minor principals, the Bishop - Thomas Colegate, King Agnar and Queen Iduna – respectively Lucie Large and Freya Dorsett, and Oaken – Mia Silva Medd. I enjoyed Weselton – Otto Firkin, I loved the accent and moustache and what a good clear voice Otto has. There is here a few Juvenile leads for the future in this large young company. There were good dance sequences with the snow scenes led by Jazz Macrorie and Jessica Smith. The dancing and company singing were good throughout, and for a lot of youngsters spacing on stage was good. Most dialogue was clear, there was only one point where the dialogue was drowned out by the music, I think this was where the palace staff (was it?) were at the front of stage and had a little bit of dialogue over music. All principal sound was good throughout

The projected backdrop was well worth the money spent, when that was split it worked well with the door in the middle of the stage indicating the two halves. Linking the movement on stage with action on screen was co-ordinated very well especially for Elsa. A good lighting plot, lighting throughout of the characters on stage was good, all seemed to be well lit at the appropriate time. Good costumes throughout, well fitted and smart.

This was a show greatly appreciated by the audience and I much appreciated the opportunity to meet with the Principals at the end and to join the company behind the front tabs on stage.

Many thanks to the backstage crew and vast number of indispensable helpers.

Congratulations to the cast, director Nicola and musical director Cassie.

Leslie Judd East 4N Rep

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