I’m pretty sure this year I could see the musical adaptation of Frozen every week if I wanted to. It is definitely this year’s hot show along with Come From Away. Luckily I am a critic that doesn’t mind seeing a show a bunch of times and I try my best to look at something as a stand alone show and not compare it to other productions. The latest staging of Frozen is down at Payson Community Theater. They almost always do a great job in Payson in creating a lively and comforting community event and this was no exception.

Performances at PCT take place at the new Payson High School and this musical is truly a family affair. It is directed by Colleen Carrasco with daughter Kenna Carrasco playing Elsa and husband Michael Carrasco on set design. There are other family connections mentioned in the program and that family spirit permeates through the whole production. This adds a lot to Frozen as a property because it is at its core about sisterhood and family being the strongest form of love.

Carrasco does a good job as Elsa and has the singing chops for the demanding role. Brynn Hartley has all the bubbly energy you want for Anna and the 2 have good chemistry together for songs like “For Time in Forever (Reprise).” I also enjoyed Isaac Major as Kristoff and Nick Chisenhall as Sven (the Sven costume was extremely well done.)

The costumes by Brooke Holahan in general are one of the highlight of the production. The beautiful embroidery and painted details did not go unnoticed by this critic. Especially with such a massive ensemble the attention to detail is extremely impressive. My only critique was that some of Anna’s clothes didn’t appear to fit her properly with her straps falling down or clothes hanging down. Still, they the dresses for scenes like the coronation crowd scene are very impressive.

Another favorite handmade element is the Michael Carrasco creates for the sets. My favorite was the back panels made to look like a Norwegian home with hand painted flowers and other designs. Also the set for Oaken’s lodge looked of a professional quality.

I attended Frozen at PCT on Monday 8/31 and it did seem like one of those days of community theater where lots was going wrong. Everything from the microphones malfunctioning to the smog machine going crazy (I have never seen so much smog! I was in the front row but still,) to other problems. This happens sometimes with community theater but they pushed forward, making it all part of the charm.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to tell whether a company is using AI or computer graphics these days but I did suspect that some of the projections used throughout were made in AI. Particularly one projecting a beach for “In Summer.” Whether it was or not I found the projections to be a poor contrast to the handmade elements and immersion they create throughout. It took me out of the moment to see an artificial projection and would have preferred a blue sparkly background or other simple color.

Still, this production of Frozen at Payson Community Theater is a wonderful community event that is giving a huge cast a positive experience together. If you like the movie you’ll enjoy this staging and want to sing along (I believe they even have sing along nights) with the talented cast. It is playing through Sept 7th and tickets can be purchased here.

Frozen: the Musical has music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez with a book by Jennifer Lee. It is based on the 2012 animated classic and first premiered on Broadway in 2018.

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