Paramount’s Frozen is Gutsy and Fun
Disney’s Frozen the Broadway Musical at Paramount Theatre in downtown Aurora. Experience winter magic as two royal sisters, Elsa (Emily Kristen Morris, left) and Anna (Beth Stafford Laird) navigate love, loyalty and Elsa's uncontrollable powers. Photo by Liz Lauren
The amount of times that I’ve seen both Frozen movies over the last three years is an astonishingly embarrassing number that as the weather turns chilly drastically increases year after year. I know it by heart. I pull out a book when it turns on, no longer hearing the songs or jokes or crises. But Disney’s Frozen the Broadway Musical was a show to watch with full raptured attention. Aurora’s Paramount Theatre staged this well known Disney tale with gusto, superior talent, and an awe inspiring amount of guts. It was no longer just a little show for little girls.
Under the direction of Trent Stork, the tale of two sisters being tested by love and fear with a dose of magic went from an age-worn sweater to a new masterpiece ready to face the world as it stands today. Stork pushed my own perceived limits of what a suburban city could put on a stage in today’s climate of banality and bans spreading from rural landscapes to major metropolises. But like Anna and Elsa, Stork pushed his cast, creators and his audience to feel brave and to spread the light within no matter what comes after. Even the goofy Oaken (David Blakemen) lead the ensemble cast in a riotously fun version of Hygge complete with implied nudity, non stop choreography and proof that hygge and love is for all and can be found in all ways.
Frozen was the show that all mother’s were waiting for, and Paramounts production catapulted this finally feminist take on love and strength to new heights. It comes at no better time to harshly critique the patriarchal standards of power. And who better to ease it down the throats of the masses than Anna and Elsa. Even Anna, who is so naive in love, knows that her own convictions govern her own body. Beth Stafford Laird (Anna) and Emily Kristen Morris (Elsa) delivered all the well loved moments, wholly embodying characters known like family and still found a way to have them ring new and multidimensional. Both actors shattered the concept of men saving the day, quipping about the everlasting doubt of women in power.
The final number was the echoing chorus of letting the light shine through the darkness. Some kids may have left the theatre half asleep on their parents shoulders, but the majority left knowing that there is hope still in this world and we just witnessed the rally cry.
Frozen the Broadway Musical is on stage at Paramount Theatre making its Midwest Regional Premiere until January 19. Visit Paramount’s website for more information and tickets.
