Eight years after its Broadway debut, Disney’s Frozen has at long last arrived at the La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts, where it is treating audiences of all ages to two hours of spectacle, laughter, and heart.

Taking such previous animated film-to-live musical Disney hits as Beauty And The Beast and The Little Mermaid as its template, Frozen The Broadway Musical expands upon its 90-or-so-minute-long source material with new scenes (book by Frozen screenwriter Jennifer Lee) and new songs (by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez), and what has worked before works once again, with the added plus that Frozen The Musical clocks in at about two hours and change, great news for parents of fidgety tots and those like this reviewer for whom two hours and forty-five minutes can end up a bit of a slog.

The story is the same one that has captivated readers since Hans Christian Andersen first penned The Snow Queen and even more so since its 2013 Disney Animation Studios adaptation earned more than a billion-and-a-quarter bucks internationally, with preteen princess sisters Elsa (Bellami Soleil Smith) and Anna (Everleigh Kim-Bergman) living a pampered life in the fairytale kingdom of Arendelle.

Unfortunately for the two young royals, older sis Elsa’s magical ability to freeze anything or anyone backfires when Elsa accidentally ices Anna’s redheaded noggin, though fortunately for her, the girls’ parents King Agnarr (Gabriel Navarro) and Queen Iduna (Ashley Moniz) manage with the aid of a certain Grand Pabbie (Kenneth Mosley) to have the spell reversed.

 Realizing that Elsa’s magic powers could eventually wreak even more havoc upon her family and subjects, King Agnarr sequesters Elsa (now played by Jenna Lea Rosen) in her own secluded wing of the castle, the better to shield Anna (Cailen Fu) from being entirely turned into ice.

Talk about family drama worthy of a daytime soap!

And this is just the beginning of Frozen’s tale of romance (Garrett Clayton’s dreamy Prince Hans Of The Southern Isles arrives to woo Anna), intrigue (Derek Manson’s weaselly Duke of Weselton plots to have Anna as his own), adventure (provided by the arrival of Alexander Mendoza’s ice-harvesting Kristoff and his reindeer sidekick Sven), whimsy (Mark Ivy’s snowman Olaf dreams of summering at the beach), and yuks (thanks to Daniel Dawson’s sauna owner Oaken and the wacky pleasures of “Hygge”).

Is it all a bit of a hodgepodge of genres and tones? Yes.

Does Elsa’s “Let It Go” come seemingly out of nowhere simply because Act One must end with a great-big-voiced bang? Yes.

Are Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez’s new songs mostly not nearly as memorable as the ones they wrote for the movie? Yes.

Notwithstanding, does Frozen still manage to captivate? Yes, indeed it does.

Having directed and choreographed Frozen’s first regional production last year at Houston’s TUTS, Dan Knechtges proves the perfect choice to helm its La Mirada debut given the production’s challengingly short rehearsal schedule, and the performances he has elicited and the dance numbers he has staged (ranging from elegant ballroom moves to kickline pizzazz) are dazzlers.

In what might well be her last local production before Broadway beckons as I’m certain it will, local child performer-turned-gifted adult triple-threat Rosen delivers the most stunning (and stunningly sung) of star turns as Elsa, and co-leading lady Fu (whom I discovered as a UCI undergrad) makes for the most absolutely captivating of Annas.

 Puppet-manipulating Ivy is adorableness personified as Olav, Clayton combines idol looks and powerful legit pipes as Hans, and Mendoza’s salt-of-the-earth heartthrob Kristoff makes his return to La Mirada for the first time since 2013’s Next To Normal one worth celebrating.

Manson follows his warm hearted Baker in MTW’s Into The Woods with the hilariously heartless Duke of Weselton while Dawson earns a much deserved shoutout from me for turning every word out of Oaken’s Svedish-accented mouth into a laugh-getter and “Hygge” into a bona fide showstopper.

Thomas Whitcomb stands out even trapped inside reindeer Sven’s life-sized puppet (though he’s too talented a triple-threat to stay hidden for long); Regina LeVert, Moniz, Mosley, and Navarro all do stellar work in their featured roles; and Kim-Bergman and Smith are child charmers as Anna and Elsa’s younger selves.

 Ensemble members don’t get any more talented than Brittany Anderson, Beau Brians, Delilah Brien, Davide Costa, Quintan Craig, Sloane Griffith, Harmony Ishikawa, Bruno Koskoff, Shanon Mari Mills, and Alexander Ríos in production number after production number whether dancing to Knechtges’s infectious choreography or vocalizing to orchestra conductor Brad Gardner’s expert music direction.

 Frozen looks absolutely fabulous too thanks to the talents of TUTS designers Tim Mackabee (sets), Coleen Grady (costumes), and Afsaneh Aayani (puppets) with Mike Tutaj’s meriting special snaps for such gorgeous scene-setting saturated-colors projections, you may find yourself believing you’re seeing an animated feature performed live on stage, and Jason Lyons lighting, Josh Bessom’s sound, and Kaitlin Yagen’s wigs are every bit as splendid.

 Casting is by Julia Flores. Andrea Dobbins and Camal Pugh are swings. Isabella Abiera and Audrey Moore understudy Young Elsa and Young Anna. Ivy and Dobbins are dance captains.

Graham Darnell is associate lighting designer, Charles Glaudini is associate sound designer, Dwight Bellisimo is associate projection designer, and Kyle Craig Bogard is assistant director and assistant choreographer. David Elzer is publicist.

Talia Krispel is production stage manager and Julian Olive and Audrey Coundres are assistant stage managers.

 Concluding a season that has broken all box-office records and preceding an upcoming one that puts the competition to shame, La Mirada Theatre and McCoy Rigby Entertainment’s Frozen once again provides proof positive that nobody does local musical theater better than they do. Simply put, Frozen is a sure bet to melt even the iciest of hearts.

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Boulevard, La Mirada. Through June 29. Thursdays at 7:30, Fridays at 8:00, Saturdays at 2:00 and 8:00, and Sundays at 1:30 and 6:30.
www.lamiradatheatre.com

—Steven Stanley
June 7, 2025
Photos: Jason Niedle/TETHOS

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Jennifer Lee, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts, Los Angeles Theater Review, McCoy Rigby Entertainment, Robert Lopez