Sadat Hossain, Ralph Shehayed, and Lauren Berling Photo by Scott Lasky

As every attentive kid that packed the matinee I attended probably knew before arriving, Frozen (Jennifer Lee, book; Kirsten Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, music and lyrics) is a magical tale about the special bond and love between two sisters, both princesses, in the Nordic kingdom of Arendelle. Even as she becomes queen, the elder Elsa must struggle to control her powers not to freeze everything she touches. After accidentally, in a moment of anger, sending her sister into a possible icy death and her kingdom into perpetual winter, Queen Elsa flees in horror into ice palace isolation.

The younger Anna survives the initial freeze and sets out on a treacherous trek up mountain paths in howling winter winds and blizzards to reunite with the sister she still loves above all. Along the way, Anna receives help and companionship from the most unlikely of sources, including a young and handsome ice harvester named Kristoff, his giant reindeer Sven, a jolly snowman named Olaf, and a host of Hidden People with their own magic and charm.

Bringing the Disney "wow" that audiences young and old are accustomed to–and thus expect–to a setting like a mid-sized, indoor theatre is no easy task, but the Palo Alto Players creative team under the inspired imagination of director Janie Scott has more than met the challenge. From a castle's immense gate and walls and an interior that is reminiscent of the pop-up pictures in a fairytale book to ice peaks and scary caves that appear during a frozen-filled journey, Kevin Davies' set design opens our eyes in wonder and awe. That is especially true in combination with the projections of Alanna Bardell, which fill not just the stage but at times the entire theater with the fury of a ice storm's wake or the beauty and celebration of a happy ending. Special effects like snow falling from a bed's canopy are plentiful, thanks to Chris Beer, while the lighting and sound designs of Edward Hunter and Jeff Grafton, respectively, ensure we feel right in the middle of a coronation's ball, a winter's horrific blast, or a bleak mountain where cracking ice is taking over the entire scene. Finally, from castle guards to the elegance of ballroom guests to mysterious Hidden Folk, roaming ice peaks, and of course the Ice Queen's gown, Patricia Tyler's costume and Karen Althoff's hair/wig/makeup designs ensure our Disney animation and Broadway stage memories come to life before us.

Special memories in live theatre are also made by scenes that fill our being with a pounding heart, a huge grin, feet that cannot help but tap, and occasionally, an outright guffaw. Director Janie Scott, creative director Patrick Klein, choreographers Karen Law and Stacey Reed, and music director/conductor Richard Hall (along with an accomplished orchestra of twelve) have succeeded spectacularly in creating scene after scene of enchantment, excitement, and pure entertainment.

A coronation's grandeur and solemnity is sealed by the beautifully swirling choral harmonies of guests in their fairytale gowns and top coats, followed by the dancing of waltzes and by a roundtable's twirl of their multiple poses around a newly crowned queen who sings of both her hopes and her fears of what may lie ahead for her and her kingdom. A snowman's dream of summer will suddenly result in beach scenes and a host of tap-dancing bathers singing in big voices in their flowered swimsuits, all in the middle of an Alpine winter.

A winter-wandering Anna and her ice harvester friend will find themselves suddenly at a remote outpost where half-naked folk will happily parade indoors and out, waving birch branches as they also dance with bounce, kick, and circling motions before joining in a rousing kickline of bare legs and feet in the snow. And wait until the Hidden Folk appear with hairy heads full of flowers dressed in sackcloth outfits, soon to fill the stage with rip-roaring vigor in voice and dance, including high-air body flips and arm/leg moves that pop, extend, and kick in all directions possible. These and more are prime examples of a large ensemble's many shifts and changes in roles, costumes, and dance types with each appearance while also filling the Lucie Stern with their huge-sounding harmonies.

The giant but graceful reindeer Sven elicits giggles as he lumbers about on four gawky legs–a feat only possible because inside the furry fellow is Peter Bullen using his arms and tippy-toes in positions that would challenge even the most accomplished ballet star. Every move and facial grin or grimace of Olaf–the happy-go-lucky, several part snowman with googly eyes, big-toothed mouth, and bouncy feet–is mirrored by his highly expressive puppeteer in all white (Ralph Shehayed), whose vocals are hilariously full of a larynx box's bump, thump, and jump of octaves. David Mister is a hoot and a holler as the proprietor of the Wandering Oaken's Trading Post with an exaggerated Nordic accent in which every "u" takes a starring role in all that he says or sings.

But this of course is a story that centers on two sisters; and the Players have scored big in filling those roles. We first meet them as little girls, with Lily Sazdanoff as Young Anna and Lucy Allen as Young Elsa delighting us with their spunk, spirit, and voices that speak and sing with just the right squeak and squeal.

When we first see the teenager Anna, Lauren Berling immediately wins us over as she delivers with vibrancy the familiar "For the First Time in Forever." Her portrayal of the sometimes clumsy and always likable Anna is full of energy and eagerness; she is especially charming when she first meets "the thirteenth son of a king of a very small kingdom of a very small island to the south," Hans, played with an equal amount of attractive awkwardness of youth by Justin Kerekes. Their "Love Is an Open Door," which leads to a first kiss, is sung with well-matched and mature voices even as their accompanying dances are hilariously full of teenage antics and play.

Lauren Berling's Anna will undergo a number of impressive transformations as she undertakes her journey, and she will once again find herself wondering in a cute but compelling duet with Sadat Hossain as Kristoff, "What Do You Know about Love?" But the duet that truly leaves its mark is "I Can't Lose You," with Elsa, when her sustained notes full of emotion are heartbreakingly beautiful. Queen Elsa's half of that duet is likewise sung with equal passion and power by Astraea Brown, but the demand on anyone playing Elsa is how will she measure up to Idina Menzel's universally known "Let It Go." While the princess with scary magic in her hands sings at first with more subdued tones underlying her own insecurity and fear as she becomes queen, once she escapes to build her own ice palace and appear in her gown full of frozen sparkles, Astraea Brown's vocals triumph in a jaw-dropping "Let It Go" that cannot help but meet and even beat everyone's expectations.

However much the above descriptions have urged my faithful readers to catch one of the final four performances this coming weekend, unfortunately there are no tickets available. But what is a must-see Frozen is well worth an attempt in finding one's own Disney happy ending, and a phone call to Palo Alto Players' box office or an arrival an hour before curtain call is a way to get on a waiting list for no-shows and/or returned tickets. Believe me, it would be a miracle well worth seeking.

Frozen runs through May 10, 2026, at Palo Alto Players, Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto CA. For tickets and information, please visit www.paplayers.org or call the Box Office at 650-329-0891.