Frozen Jr sure to warm hearts

By Jemma Jones

Aug 20, 2024

While winter comes to a close, the Kyabram Plaza Theatre is recording unusual temperatures of below freezing — some witnesses said it felt like it was frozen.

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For the first time in forever, the St Augustine’s College production of Frozen Jr is coming to the Plaza Theatre on Thursday, August 22 and Friday, August 23.

Frozen Jr is a school-friendly adapted version of the musical Frozen, based on the hit 2013 Disney film of the same name.

The musical follows Anna’s journey — with help from Kristoff, his reindeer Sven, and Olaf the snowman — to find her estranged sister Elsa who has trapped their kingdom in an eternal winter with her icy and magical powers.

Year 6 student Jasmin Grima takes on the role of the overly-positive younger sister, Anna, while Year 12 student Sarah Mott will channel her inner ice queen as the chilly older sister, Elsa.

Starring alongside the duo is Iris Cleary as the quirky snowman, Olaf, Guneet Buttar will play the stubborn iceman Kristoff, alongside Maddison Reid playing Kristoff’s right-hand reindeer Sven, and Lily Murray as the deceptively charming Prince Hans.

The large cast and crew were in one of their first dress rehearsals when the Free Press went along to take a sneak peak ahead of the premiere.

**The production filled with students from years 5 to 12 were having their first dress rehearsal for the musical which is set to hit the Plaza Theatre.** Photo by Jemma Jones

Chloe Grant, who is acting as co-director alongside Sue Meeking, said the cast and crew had been preparing since Term 1.

“Obviously this year has seen a lot of sickness and colds going around ... and we’ve had some times where we’ve been a few people down ... but they’ve done a very good job — it’s been a solid three terms of rehearsing,” Ms Grant said.

Ms Grant said she expected a packed theatre for both shows.

When talking to her a week out of the premiere, she said ticket sales had already matched how many tickets were sold three days out for last year’s production of Aladdin.

“Telling them (the students) the ticket sales ... they got a little bit excited about that,” she said.

“I think they’ll be nervous, but they’ll also use that to perform well, I think.”

In the week leading up to the Thursday premiere, the production goes into lockdown mode with a full non-stop week of rehearsals at the Plaza Theatre.

It’s their last chance to study their lines, practice dress-changes, tidy their stage make-up and learn how to navigate through the hour-long show without breaking a sweat.

As they say, pressure creates diamonds, and Ms Grant is positive that in the final rehearsal week the finishing touches can be made to make the musical extra special.

“We’re about 90 per cent there at the moment, and that extra 10 per cent comes when you’re actually on the stage,” she said.

“They know everything — they’ve just got to really outperform themselves now.”