THE SNOW QUEEN WHIPS UP FROSTY FAMILY FUN AT THE MARRIOTT
The Snow Queen, a musical adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen tale that inspired Disney’s Frozen, rounds out the latest Marriott Theatre for Young Audiences season. It features five energetic actors (four taking on multiple roles) who transform the Marriott’s round stage (which resembles a vinyl LP thanks to the current production of Beautiful) into an icy land where the titular character is turning children into snowflakes.
Don’t worry. This isn’t some kind of MAGA allegory. The kids are turned into actual snowflakes because of negative vibes created by billions of shards from a giant mirror that a troll broke high in the sky to send bad feelings raining down on unsuspecting people around the world. If they catch a shard in their eye, they grow fractious, and if the Snow Queen spots a child so afflicted, she spirits him or her to the top of the world to join her snowflake army.
So yeah, the plot is pretty convoluted and more than a little hippie-trippy, but once young Gerda (a determined Joryhebel Ginorio) sets out to rescue best friend Kai (Jeremiah Alsop, who gets to best showcase his talents as a jovial avian prince Gerda meets on her trek) from the Snow Queen (a spunky, punky Alanna Chavez), the vignettes are easy for kids to follow and the show, ably directed by Landree Fleming, breezes through its hour-long runtime.
Poor Gerda is caught in a fast-flowing river, vividly evoked here by actors twisting long, blue silks around her, only to be rescued by a gardening witch (Caron Buinis) who magicks her into believing she’s her daughter. After breaking that spell with the help of three friendly flowers, Gerda meets a band of robbers and a palace full of royal crows on her way to the final showdown with the Snow Queen over Kai’s heart and soul.
The show’s high-flying highlight is Ryan Stajmiger, who most memorably portrays a bird-brained British war-hero crow. Stajmiger is completely committed and in the moment whenever he’s onstage. He sings with verve in a variety of styles (all of the actors do a nice job with the serviceable score by Haddon Kime, Kirsten Brandt and Rick Lombardo), plus he’s flat-out funny. Adult audiences have been enjoying Stajmiger in Mercury Theatre’s production of Young Frankenstein, where he’s killing it as Igor. He’s got big talent and charisma.
My one professional stage role in Chicago was as a minor player in a Second City Children’s Show in the late 1980s–the show they used to ballyhoo at the end of the adult revues as “Sunday, Sunday, the little bastards’ fun day!” Every performance ended with an unrelated audience-participation session, with the cast typically leading the children through a rousing version of “Going on a Bear Hunt.” The kids loved that segment, probably more than the scripted show.
I was reminded of that as The Snow Queen actors stuck around after the Saturday opening performance to take questions from young audience members. Many little hands went up and the questions flew as fast as the crow commander. Did Gerda actually kiss Kai at the end? Why? Who decides which actors play which roles? Was one actor okay after performing a pratfall? And on and on, each question passionately asked.
There’s a lesson here for nearly any children’s theater production: Find some way to let the kids participate in the magic. They are yearning to be part of the action, and they’ll create wonderful, memorable moments of their own if given the chance.
And they’ll be more likely to ask their parents for additional theater outings as they grow up.
