Interview: FROZEN at Ohio Theatre

There can be a sense of confusion when young fans of FROZEN see Dominic Dorset for the first time. Dorset, an African American who plays Kristoff in the musical, is not exactly the mirror image of the Norwegian-looking hero of the 2013 Disney movie.

Dorset believes that was kind of the point when it came to the casting for FROZEN’s North American tour. FROZEN arrives in Columbus for a run of shows from July 26 to Aug. 6 at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State Street in downtown Columbus).

In the musical version of FROZEN, the fictional country of Arendelle reflects a wide palette of cultures. In the movie version, let’s just say that Arendelle has the ethnic diversity of an Eagles concert in Wyoming.

“I obviously don’t look like the Kristoff from the movie, but that’s okay,” said Dorset, who made his professional debut when he joined the tour in September, 2022. “That is something theater, as a whole, is doing right now.

“The point is to show these stories are universal. The story of Kristoff is not something that happened to one person of one background. It’s something that could happen to anybody, no matter who you are.”

Dorset was reminded of that when the FROZEN tour rolled into Baltimore this summer. The actor was having a conversation with an African American elementary school student by the stage door after the show.

“I asked who her favorite character was, thinking she was going to say Anna or Elsa,” he said. “Instead, she said it was the actress who played young Elsa (who was also black). She saw an actress who kind of resembled her and she saw herself in that performance. There's something special about that.”

Chances are pretty good Dorset didn’t envision himself playing Kristoff on stage when he first saw FROZEN on a movie screen, but the film will always have a very special place in his heart.

“I saw the movie on a date when I was like in eighth grade,” Dorset said in a telephone interview from Grand Rapids, Mich. “It was a pretty good date.

“(As a character) Kristoff is a role model to me. He's such a selfless person and I aspire to be like that. I would love to say I'm 100% as selfless as he is but there are some other similarities. We’re both people that lead with our intellect; we try to brain through problems as opposed to leading with our emotions. But Kristof prefers to be alone and doesn't like to be around large crowds. That is not me.”

Shortly after he graduated from Michigan, Dorset heard from his agent the person who had been playing Kristoff on the tour was leaving the show. However, the auditions were in New York, and he was in Vermont. He sent in a video audition, but he thought he would be a long shot for landing the role.

“I didn’t think anything about it because I knew they had a lot of fantastic talent there in New York City and I was in Vermont,” he said. “Apparently the team liked what they saw.”

Dorset was given notes on things to try for a second round of auditions. Eventually, he had a final callback via Zoom with the director and the casting director and was told he landed the role.

The hard part was sharing the news with his parents.

“I was ecstatic obviously,” he said. “Disney has a track record of producing fantastic musicals out of original movies with THE LION KING and ALADDIN. FROZEN is a story everybody loves, and the film already had great music, so it was likely that it would become a very entertaining Broadway show.

“I tried to call my parents, but I was in Vermont at the time and the cellular connection was not so great. I was telling them the news, but they could only hear one out of every five words I was saying.”

It seems fitting Dorset’s first professional gig was with a Disney production. His first acting role was in another Disney film adaptation, MARY POPPINS.

Dorset remembers bringing home a flyer from school when he was in fourth grade about a local production of MARY POPPINS.

“That's where it started for me,” he said. “I enjoyed the experience. Then I kept doing shows and getting experience. That’s how all the fun began.”

Dorset is quick to admit the career path he has chosen isn’t always “fun.” When Dorset was a student at Michigan in 2020, COVID shut down classes in Ann Arbor. While it may not have affected students in other majors, losing the chance to perform and grow with others in his major had a chilling effect on Dorset.

“Everything came to a standstill,” he said. “In some majors, it's easy to watch a lecture online because that's the norm. However, it's hard to take a dance class in your living room and it's not the same as being in a studio for a voice lesson.”

Even after the pandemic, being in theatre can be a grueling profession. Being rejected or told you’re not right for a role is an occupational hazard.

“I would probably say the hardest part is the doubt,” Dorset said. “Everybody faces doubt at some point in their life about whether they're good enough or whether they should be doing what they're doing.

“I've learned it's OK to struggle and it's OK to not be perfect all the time. The sooner you understand that, the sooner you will get to where you want to go.”

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