When “Frozen” was released in 2013, the Hans Christian Andersen-inspired fairy tale marked a fresh approach for a Disney princess film — one that centered the relationship between two sisters, rather than happily ever after with a charming prince. More than a decade later, Elsa and Anna dresses are still ubiquitous costumes for kids and Idina Menzel’s power ballad “Let It Go” still dominates parental playlists.
That’s no coincidence, says Emily Kristen Morris, the New York-based actor making her Paramount Theatre debut in its winter production of “Frozen.” “It’s about familial love. It’s about sisterhood. It’s about women. That’s really special, and I think that’s why it’s had this crazy long success,” she says.
Nominated for three Tony Awards when it opened on Broadway in 2018, the stage adaptation has since toured North America and played in Europe, Asia and Australia. Paramount, the downtown Aurora theater known for its large-scale musical productions, has built a strong relationship with Disney in recent years and landed the rights to stage the Midwest regional premiere. Jeff Award winner Trent Stork directs.
In the stage version, “you get everything you know and love in the movie,” says Stork, but new songs provide more character development. “The songs that are added to the musical let us inside (Elsa’s) brain, so she’s not just this mystical figure. She’s become such an iconic persona that almost feels intangible, and the music in the musical brings a lot of Elsa’s humanity out.”
Preparing for the role of Elsa, Morris drew on her experience as the Elphaba standby on the national tour of “Wicked,” a job that brought her to Chicago in the fall of 2022. “The first thing that struck me, looking at the (‘Frozen’) script, is the similarities between (Elsa) and Elphaba,” she says. “I know what it is to play a character who has been isolated but in a different way.”
Starring opposite Morris as Elsa’s younger sister, Anna, is Beth Stafford Laird, who played Belle in Paramount’s “Beauty and the Beast” in 2019. “That was great because I had done that show before as an understudy, and so it was really wonderful to get to play the part here with such full permission to do it the way that I really wanted. Similarly, with this process, I’m getting the same free rein to play, which is so much fun. I’m a baby sister — I’m the youngest of three — so I said on the phone to my parents that this is my inner child incarnate, running around on stage.”
In rehearsals, Morris and Laird have discussed their characters’ shared backstories to inform their performances. After being close in childhood, Elsa and Anna are isolated from each other when Elsa’s magical powers grow beyond her control.
“The absolute trauma that does to somebody growing up — being asked to hide such a huge part of their identity and being told if they don’t, they will cause damage to those around them and maybe hurt or kill people — there’s a real stunt to both of their growths, and that manifests in different ways,” says Morris. “Because (Elsa) knows the truth, that manifests in terror and fear.”
Anna doesn’t understand what’s going on with her sister, so she becomes “an overly trusting, overly optimistic, can-do kind of opportunist,” says Laird. “Given the opportunity, I’m going to make the most of it because for so long, I couldn’t.”
Unlike the movie and the Broadway production, the sisters share a duet in the current version of the musical. Added during the North American tour, “I Can’t Lose You” is “one of the most beautiful songs in the show,” says Stork. “It really highlights how deep their love is for each other and how their bond is so strong.”
With this sisterly love story at its heart, “Frozen” also promises a certain level of spectacle that audiences expect from a Disney musical. Stork, who has Norwegian ancestry, leans into the fairy tale’s Nordic roots and envisions Arendelle as a closeknit community that’s deeply connected to nature. This approach results in designs that are unmistakably inspired by the film but “uniquely our own.” Elsa’s snow magic and an onstage blizzard are among the special effects, and Sven (Adam Fane) and Olaf (Ryan Stajmiger) are brought to life by puppets designed by Jesse Mooney-Bullock.
Likely to be a popular family attraction over the holidays, “Frozen” is scheduled to play for 12 weeks, the longest run for Paramount’s Broadway Series since its launch in 2011. “It’s always such an honor to be able to do the holiday show with the Paramount,” says Stork. In 11 years of working there, they’ve seen kids who used to attend shows with their parents or grandparents grow up and go off to college to study theater.
“To be a part of everyone’s holiday traditions and holiday memories is really, really beautiful to me, and I’m just so excited that ‘Frozen’ gets to be the next iteration of that legacy,” says Stork. “I’m hoping that this is a show that people remember for a long, long time, and that they have a memory of this theatrical experience for the rest of their lives.”
Emily McClanathan is a freelance critic.
Oct. 30 to Jan. 19 at Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora; tickets $28-$85 at 630-896-6666 and paramountaurora.com
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