**** Highly Recommended If you have a small princess in your family – daughter, niece, granddaughter – you should consider getting tickets to the Paramount Theatre’s production of Frozen. This musical has everything you’d expect - fabulous voices, great choreography, lifelike puppets, gorgeous costumes, phenomenal sets and special effects. As each character/costume appeared for the first time, everyone in the audience cheered! It’s always a pleasure to see lots of young people – in this case, very young people – in the audience – they will become the next generation of theater-goers. 4 BIG Spotlights
As is often the case, we had an interesting discussion on the drive home. I remarked that I thought Anna was a more interesting character, since she’s curious, loving and fun, while Elsa mostly sulks behind doors or in her ice castle. My niece Kelly strongly disagreed. In her opinion, Elsa is strong, fierce and loyal while Anna gets to flit around. What did you think?
Frozen was written by Jennifer Lee, with music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. It is based on the 2013 Disney film of the same name. Frozen premiered on Broadway in 2018. The Broadway in Chicago tour landed here in 2021. The Paramount production is directed Trent Stork choreographed by Tiffany Krause, music direction by Kory Danielson.
King Agnarr (Jonah D. Winston) and Queen Iduna (Allison Sills) of the happy kingdom of Arendelle have two beautiful daughters, Elsa (Genevieve Jane alternating with Everleigh Murphy) and Anna (Avelyn Choi alternating with Elowen Murphy).
Anna, a bouncy six-year-old was always trying to get her sister to do magic. One day, as they sang A Little Bit of You, they used some toys to make a snowman they called Olaf. When Anna begged Elsa to make snow, she threw her arm in the air and snowflakes fell. Unfortunately, she accidentally hurt Anna with her magic.
The King and Queen called on the hidden folk for help. After Pabbie (Matty Bettencourt) and Bulda (Marta Bady) healed Anna, they erased her memories of Elsa’s magic. Meanwhile, Elsa put on a pair of gloves to prevent her magic from escaping, then shut herself away, never again answering Anna’s knock on her door.
Several years later, on the day Elsa (Emily Kristen Morris) was to be crowned Queen, Anna (Beth Stafford Laird) was ecstatic. She had a brand new dress! Even more important, the castle gates were open and she had people around For the First Time in Forever.
As she was dancing with joy, Anna ran into a handsome young man (Jake DiMaggio Lopez) who introduced himself as Hans of the Southern Isles. Anna was charmingly awkward with the young man, but then he kissed her and she fell in love. Smarmy Weselton (Jason Richards) tried to court Elsa. When she rejected him, he was angry and vengeful.
After Elsa’s coronation, Anna and Hans asked Eliza for permission to marry but she said no. When Anna pushed for a reason, Elsa lost her temper, waved her arm and – with the help of some really spectacular special effects, accidentally froze everything around her. When Weselton called her a monster, Elsa runs off to North Mountain.
Anna follows her but didn’t stop to get warm clothes. Soon after, she met Kristoff (Christian Andrews) and his lovable reindeer, Sven (Adam Fane) and everyone cheered. By the way, I knew intellectually that there was a man inside that costume, but it was so charming and lifelike, I forgot! When Olaf (Ryan Stajmiger) came along a few minutes later, the kids cheered even louder. Olaf was a puppet, of course, but who cared!
When Elsa, wearing a sparkling white gown, ended Act I standing at center stage and singing Frozen’s signature song, Let It Go, it was a moment to remember!
Kudos to Paramount’s technical team, Frozen was just about perfect!
The Ensemble includes Corey Barlow, David Blakeman, Lydia Burke, Morgan DiFonzo, Evan C. Dolan, Tiyanna Gentry, Darian Guilding, Brian Hupp, Clare Kennedy, Trey Mendlik, Justin Payton Nelson, Emma Ogea, Emily Scinto, Rachel Ann Thomas, Shelbi Voss and Matthew Weidenbener.
The Paramount Orchestra includes Kory Danielson (Conductor), Celia Villacres (Associate Conductor), Sean McNeely (Reed 1 – Flute, Piccolo, Soprano Sax, Alto Sax), Matt Beck (Reed 2 – Flute, Clarinet, Tenor Sax), Mark Olen (Trumpet/Flugelhorn 1), Amy Nelson (Trumpet/Flugelhorn 2), Sharon Jones (Horn), Catie Hickey (Trombone/Bass Trombone), Celia Villacres (Keyboard 1), Kevin Reeks (Keyboard 2), Charlotte Rivard-Hoster (Keyboard 3), Dave Saenger (Guitars – Acoustic, Electric, Nylon String, Steel String, Archtop, Octave Mandolin), Andrew King (Bass – Acoustic, Electric), Jim Widlowski (Drums) and Bobby Everson (Percussion).
Frozen runs through January 19th at the Paramount Theatre, 23 East Galena Blvd, Aurora. Valet parking is available, plenty of street parking too.
Running time is 2 hours, 30 minutes, with an intermission. Performances are Wednesdays at 1:30 and 7:00 p.m.; Thursdays at 7:00 p.m.; Fridays at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 3:00 and 8:00 p.m.; Sundays at 1:00 and 5:30 p.m. Tickets range from $56-$158. FYI (630) 896-6666 or www.paramountaurora.com