PicksInSix Review: Disney's FROZEN The Broadway Musical-Paramount Theatre

For the First Time in Forever…
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

Paramount Theatre’s sensational production of Disney’s “FROZEN The Broadway Musical”— featuring the electrically-charged performances of Emily Kristen Morris and Beth Stafford Laird—opened Friday in Aurora to the thunderous cheers of fans both young and old who have helped to canonize the 2013 film’s anthems “Let It Go” and “For the First Time in Forever” into Disney’s musical lexicon and made modern day icons of a rambunctious reindeer with an attitude and a playful snowman with joie de vivre and a yearning for a summer vacation.  

The show that garnered three 2018 Tony nominations (Best Musical, Book and Original Score) features music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and book by Jennifer Lee based on the smash hit 2013 Disney animated film written by Lee. Paramount’s Midwest Regional premiere is directed by Trent Stork with a top-flight creative team including choreographer Tiffany Krause and music director Kory Danielson who also conducts the orchestra.

The story begins in the mythical kingdom of Arendelle and follows the child sorcerous Elsa (Everleigh Murphy shared with Genevieve Jane) and her younger sister Anna (Avelyn Choi shared with Elowen Murphy) whose loving relationship for each other is severed when their parents King Agnarr (Brian Hupp) and Queen Iduna (Allison Sill) discover that Elsa’s inability to control her mystical powers are a direct threat to Anna’s life. When Anna is saved by the Hidden Folk with no memory of the encounter, the parents venture off for a cure and disappear. As time passes, the coming-of-age Anna (Laird) is confused by her sister’s self-isolation in the castle and yearns to be reunited with Elsa (Morris). On the day of Elsa’s coronation, Prince Hans (Jake DiMaggio Lopez) arrives, sweeps Anna off her feet and proposes marriage. Elsa refuses to bless the sudden union and in a frustrated rage, drops her guard and is forced to flee from the castle when her powers are revealed. In the wilderness, Elsa then creates an icy sanctuary of her own, unaware that her awakening has plunged the kingdom into an endless winter. Anna, despondent and desperate, is left with no choice but to pursue her sister and try to bring her back. She is soon joined by the mountain man Kristoff (Christian Andrews), his trustworthy reindeer companion Sven (Adam Fane) and the irrepressible snowman Olaf (Ryan Stajmiger)—courtesy of puppet designer Jesse Mooney-Bullock. Not far behind is Hans and the conniving Duke of Weselton (Jason Richards) who have diabolical plans of their own.

Scenic designer Jeffrey D, Kmiec, projections designer Paul Deziel and lighting and sound designers Greg Hofmann and Adam Rosenthal have created a magical, ever-evolving icy landscape with superb scenic projections—including a wink to Aurora’s Fox River—and eye-popping special effects. Mara Blumenfeld’s stunning costume design has magical treats all their own.

The shimmering and flawless performances of Laird’s “For the First Time in Forever” and Morris’s “Let It Go” are highlights in a score that includes brilliant ensemble arrangements and specialty numbers including the fine company with Oaken (David Blakeman) in the hilarious trading post number “Hygge,” with Elsa in “Dangerous to Dream,” and Kristoff, Olaf and Hidden Folk in “Fixer Upper.”     

Life lessons abound here about remaining positive in the face of adversity, coping with loss and isolation, and understanding ourselves and our place in the world around us. But it’s Anna’s determination to put her love for others above all else that will warm your heart for “FROZEN,” a fun-filled musical extravaganza for the entire family.

PHOTO|Liz Lauren

PARAMOUNT THEATRE
presents
FROZEN
The Broadway Musical
through January 19, 2024

23 East Galena Boulevard
Aurora, IL 60506

(630) 896–6666

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PICKSINSIX Review: Photograph 51

Sharp Focus Drives Winning ‘Photograph 51’

The moment Dr. Rosalind Franklin learns that she has received a grant to lead a genetics research team at Kings College, she makes three requests in writing: a cube, a camera and the date of delivery so that she may begin her work at once. From that declaration in December 1951 through the course of Anna Zielger’s insightful Court Theatre production of “Photograph 51,” directed by Vanessa Stalling, Chaon Cross delivers an exhilarating and flawless performance as Franklin, the British chemist whose groundbreaking work in the male-dominated world of scientific research provided the key to our understanding of DNA’s molecular structure.

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Upon arrival at the Kings College research laboratory, Franklin discovers that the brash Dr. Maurice Wilkins (Nathan Hosner) has a completely different perception of their professional association creating an intolerable – and what we would today call ‘toxic’ – work environment. Undaunted, Franklin forges an alliance with her research assistant Ray Gosliing (Gabriel Ruiz) to refine the X-ray technology to photograph the shape and pattern of DNA. As successive images become more illuminating, word leaks to James Watson (Alec Goodrich) and Francis Chick (Nicholas Harazin), a competitive team of scientists at the University of Cambridge. Along the way, Franklin corresponds with Don Casper (Yousof Sultani), a doctoral student who vies for a fellowship to work alongside Franklin. It is around the reflections of all of these men that the portrait of Franklin’s life emerges.

The injustice defined in “Photograph 51” involves sexism, deception, greed and unethical behavior, all tinged with anti-Semitism. As she feels progressively more suffocated by the hierarchy in the post-war scientific research community, Franklin’s only recourse is to isolate herself. With only a few steps left in her research, a pair of fresh eyes – three pairs, actually – obtain key information and are able to break the code ahead of her. Without an earnest ally in the group, Franklin’s significant contributions are obscured and marginalized.    

This compelling story unfolds through the voices of the men, all superbly cast, recalling pivotal scenes with Franklin, and among themselves, presented in rapid succession over a span of roughly 18 months into mid-1953. The narratives, according to the fine program notes by Production Dramaturg Derek Matson, are rooted in the contrasting view of Franklin’s work first addressed in James Watson’s controversial 1968 memoir The Double Helix, which compelled other works, all represented here, and Maurice Wilkins own account in which he accepts responsibility for minimizing Franklin’s contributions when he, with Crick and Wilkins, received the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology for the discovery. 

Arnel Sancianco’s arresting scenic design includes a massive, two-story wall framed with definitive circular stairs on either side while the laboratory’s main floor has period card catalogs, lab tables and equipment on an ingenious floor design. It is all integrated with Keith Parham’s superb illumination, Jeffrey Levin’s stirring sound, stunning projections by Paul Deziel and Mieka van der Ploeg’s impeccable costumes.

“Photograph 51” is an empowering statement about equality, perseverance and truth. While “the world wins,” the moving and heartfelt performance of Chaon Cross reveals Franklin as a complex, compassionate, driven chemist with an extraordinary thirst for knowledge. Most importantly, as art and science intersect, Rosalind Franklin’s rightful place as a trailblazer is assured.

PHOTOS|Michael Brosilow

Court Theatre
Presents
Photograph 51
through February 17th
5535 S Ellis Ave
(773) 753-4472

WEBSITE
TICKETS

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