In an unsurprising development, the upcoming production of Frozen, Jr. from Fort Wayne Youtheatre is completely sold out. Now comfortably nestled into the Youtheatre rotation of holiday fare, which has also recently included Elf, Jr. and A Charlie Brown Christmas, the 2019 production of Frozen, Jr. was similarly popular with audiences, and returning as director is Fort Wayne Youtheatre’s Christopher J. Murphy who directed the 2019 production. The biggest difference between that effort and this year’s is that in 2019 the ability to do it was a surprise.
“It had just become available when we were putting together our 2019-2020 season,” said Murphy. “That in itself was completely surprising since we didn’t even know they were developing a Jr. of Frozen. We were one of the first in the country to snatch it up.”
Having already overseen a run of the show, Murphy came into this year’s production with some ideas he gained the first time through the show.
“I think any director will look at things after a show, when you strike the set, and write down a few things that you might do differently,” Murphy said. “We’re just taking a deeper approach to the story. It’s easy to dismiss it as a piece of pop culture after seeing kids singing ‘Let It Go.’ But it’s not just a beautiful story or even a song. It’s really deep and complicated, almost Shakespearean. It’s a story of acceptance and what happens when people can’t accept you for who you are. There are secrets and lies, and the stakes are high in the story. And they’re high for everyone, not just these two people.”
With tickets already sold for both weekends of the show’s run, audiences are advised to buy early in the future. Fort Wayne Youtheatre’s executive director Todd Espeland notes that this is the third straight holiday performance which has sold out completely ahead of its run. Fortunately, the Linda L. Ruffalo Young Heroes of Conscience Series production, Bagdad Zoo, is set for early March performances, and tickets for that are available at artstix.org.
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