Directed by
James Tolhurst-Close. Musical director Callum Tolhurst-Close. Free Rain Theatre
Company. The Q Theatre, Queanbeyan. To Oct 11.
I have an anti
Disney gene. And was raised on unadulterated Hans Christian Andersen, unhappy
endings and all. However, stories change and narratives develop and Frozen can
stand on its own two feet.
It’s a Disney
spinoff but with a degree of gumption and with two, not one, heroines at its
centre.
Chloe Stevenson as the forthright Anna and Charlotte Morphett
as her magical sister Elsa leads a cheerfully happy cast that on opening night
included a nicely reserved Mele Tuli and an exuberant Zahra
Zulkapli as the younger Elsa and Anna.
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| Charlotte Morphett (Elsa) |
There’s good clear character work and singing from a cast
that includes Joe Dinn as the relentlessly cheerful snowman Olaf and Jackson
Gibbs as the ever reliable Kristoff.
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| Chloe Stevenson (Anna) with the cast |
The storyline of heroines passively falling for princes is
surprisingly avoided and the emphasis is on the evolving sisterly solidarity
between Anna and Elsa.
There’s a big and solid sounding orchestra in the pit under
Callum Tolhurst-Close’s leadership that doesn’t put a foot wrong.
The set has its fascinating side, backed up by a film screen
that does a very good job of changing the setting and the atmosphere. I miss
the old painted backdrops but the images work and it does save a lot of flying.
(Sets can’t be flown at The Q anyway.)
Free Rain’s
exuberant production has been packing them in all season and success is easily
judged by the number of kids who turn up in costume. It’s got enough magical
elements to delight the young who will already know the story. That is
excellently carried by Stevenson’s Anna and Morphetts’ Elsa as the central
sisters.
No wonder that the
audience is so full of little Elsas and Annas. Frozen clearly deserves what has
been a highly successful season.
Alanna Maclean