Snow in August
Rainbow Stage auditioned more 1,000 people in the open call for its summer production of Disney's most famous musical of the gen Z and alpha childhood eras, which opened Thursday.
'We wanted to find some diamonds in the rough [and] we wanted to feel accessible to every kid who loves Frozen… And our worst nightmares came true. Everyone could sing!' says Rainbow Stage artistic director and Frozen's director Carson Nattress.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
From left: Frozen music director Andrew St. Hilaire, choreographer Jaz Sealey and director (and Rainbow Stage artistic director) Carson Nattrass auditioned more than 1,000 actors for this production.
'It's been overwhelming in every sense — and then we went on sale and our system crashed, because people are so moved by this story.'
If you're not someone who watches movies with the kids in your family, you've still probably heard Frozen's iconic power anthem, 2013's Let It Go.
Like most contemporary Disney, Frozen takes its inspiration more from Top 40 than the jazz and Tin Pan Alley influences that coloured the musicals of the 1990s, so it may be confused for a regular pop hit.
Also like so much recent Disney fare, Frozen is essentially an original story — bearing almost no connection to mythology, legends or fairy tales beyond a loose resemblance to Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen — which may mean its plot is unfamiliar.
In short: when Queen Elsa (voiced by Broadway stalwart Idina Menzel in the movie) accidentally plunges her kingdom into eternal winter with her ice powers, her sister younger Anna (voiced by Hollywood actress Kristen Bell) sets out on a dangerous quest to find her and bring back summer.
Along the way, this being Disney, she finds wisecracking sidekicks in talking or anthropomorphized creatures (a snowman and a reindeer among them) who join her for one reason or another on her journey — which is ultimately about love and sisterhood.
Where some productions opt for older professional actors to play young leads, Rainbow Stage decided that for a show still so popular with children, it wanted to stay authentic.
For the roles of Young Anna and Young Elsa, they were set on finding actors who fit this age description, even if they were amateurs. An open call format then just made sense.
'It's not teen years playing kids. We have true kid energy. It's very sweet,' says Nattress.
But an open call, in this case, meant an open floodgate. Rainbow Stage's creative team saw groups of 10 kids at once for about three days straight in search of Young Anna and Young Elsa.
It meant tough odds for hopeful talent and tough choices for Rainbow Stage. They narrowed their callback list to 20 children, but in the end just two actors felt too few.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
From left: Frozen music director Andrew St. Hilaire, choreographer Jaz Sealey and director (and Rainbow Stage artistic director) Carson Nattrass auditioned more than 1,000 actors.
'Layla (North) stole the role of Young Elsa,' says Nattress. 'And then we didn't know what to do, when Emmaline (Arnold) and Kari (Castillo) auditioned,' he adds, concerning the role of Young Anna.
'And I remember Jaz [Sealey] yelled from his car, 'Can we just have them share the role and alternate every night?' And we looked at each other and went, 'That's a great idea, because they both earned it.''
Sealey, Frozen's choreographer, had his Rainbow Stage debut himself as a performer in 2000. Like more than a few RS alumni, he's gone on to do notable things in the theatre world.
After debuting on Broadway's 2012 production of Jesus Christ Superstar, he's continued to appear in Broadway's Aladdin since its original production in 2014. Nattress says this makes him one of the longest serving actors in Broadway history.
Sealey's taken a little break from Broadway to choreograph Frozen.
All this underscores the spirit of Winnipeg's musical theatre community, where casts are often mixed age-wise with child actors learning their chops alongside established performers who likewise got their start as kids.
Nattress says that while young performers benefit from the example of adults, those adults are often charmed by their younger peers' energy and sincerity.
'It turns the tables,' he says. 'They — we — all battle our egos. And there's something about (a mixed-age cast) that takes the edge off for the adults… it removes cynicism.'
North, Arnold and Castillo have their older counterparts in Julia Davis, who plays Anna, and Tiera Lee Watts, who plays Elsa. Both are from Winnipeg, but Watts — who debuted at Rainbow Stage just a couple of months ago in Rock of Ages — now lives in Toronto.
'(Tiera's) Elsa is elegant, intelligent, a powerhouse… Her voice is stunning. She's exactly what you look for,' says Nattress.
Supplied
Layla Forth as Young Elsa (left) and Kari Castillo, one of two people playing Young Anna, build a snowman in the Rainbow Stage production of Frozen.
While Elsa gets the musical's biggest tune, Let It Go, Anna is on stage non-stop as the hero of the journey. She's shot out of a cannon and sings number after number.
'Julia Davis, I can't say enough about her, because the role of Anna in Frozen is probably one of the hardest roles that in my recent memory of modern musical theatre,' says Nattress.
Monthly
What you need to know now about gardening in Winnipeg. An email with advice, ideas and tips to keep your outdoor and indoor plants growing.
'She's hilarious, she's sweet. It's like all the things that if I were a kid who loves Frozen and knows the spirit of Anna, you're gonna see her and go, 'There she is.''
While it's common these days for theatre productions to take boldly interpretative approaches to well-established material, postmodern-ing this and that, Nattress wanted to stay true to the source.
'It was our conversation on the first day of rehearsal: carrying the responsibility of telling the story to people who love it this music. (We come) from a place of honoring the source material,' he says.
'(People) are coming because they love this Academy Award-winning film that changed animated musicals and the tropes within them forever.'
conrad.sweatman@freepress.mb.ca
Conrad SweatmanReporter
Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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Along the way, this being Disney, she finds wisecracking sidekicks in talking or anthropomorphized creatures (a snowman and a reindeer among them) who join her for one reason or another on her journey — which is ultimately about love and sisterhood. Where some productions opt for older professional actors to play young leads, Rainbow Stage decided that for a show still so popular with children, it wanted to stay authentic. For the roles of Young Anna and Young Elsa, they were set on finding actors who fit this age description, even if they were amateurs. An open call format then just made sense. 'It's not teen years playing kids. We have true kid energy. It's very sweet,' says Nattress. But an open call, in this case, meant an open floodgate. Rainbow Stage's creative team saw groups of 10 kids at once for about three days straight in search of Young Anna and Young Elsa. It meant tough odds for hopeful talent and tough choices for Rainbow Stage. 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