Review: FROZEN at Marcus Performing Arts Center

While Milwaukee is just getting its first tastes of spring, the arrival of Broadway's "Frozen" demonstrated that there's always room for one more snowman.

The stage version of the animated Disney hit capitalized on it's human actors (and a collection of additional songs) to add even more humanity to the story. And the stage design, lighting and costumes filled in ably for the magic of animation.

The scenic and costume design by Christopher Oram, lighting design by Natasha Katz had the audience gasping and applauding. The play features the songs from the original film, plus a dozen new ones by the film's songwriters, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. They added depth to the well-loved characters

Caroline Bowman as Elsa and Lauren Nicole Chapman as Anna, brought heart, humor and powerful voices to their roles. Chapman in particular brought some welcome sass.

Bowman and Chapman are well supported by Jeremy Davis as Olaf (Olaf is a puppet), Dominic Dorset as Kristoff, Will Savarese as Hans, Evan Duff as Weselton, Collin Baja as Sven, Jack Brewer as Oaken, Avelyn Choi as young Anna and Sydney Elise Russell as young Elsa.

The younger versions of the sisters and the characters of Hans (Saverese) and Oaken (Brewer) benefited from the new music. The additional focus on Hans made his character's development much more powerful (particularly to someone who hadn't seen the film, if there is such a person). And Oaken's boisterous (more sass!) song "Hygge" brought the house down.

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