SILER CITY, N.C. — It won’t be long until “Let It Go” rings from a high school stage in the North Carolina school premiere of “Frozen: The Broadway Musical.”
The first-ever school production of “Frozen: The Broadway Musical” in the state will be on stage at Jordan-Matthews High School in Siler City. Performances are Friday, April 19, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, April 20, at 7 p.m.; and Sunday, April 21, at 3 p.m.
General admission tickets are $8 each and now available online at JMArtsTickets.com. Online sales end at midnight before each performance. Any remaining tickets will be available at the door. No passes — including Chatham County Schools and senior citizens’ passes — can be accepted. Everyone entering the theater, regardless of age, must have a ticket.
Based on the hit 2013 animated feature film, Disney’s stage adaptation of “Frozen” opened on Broadway in March 2018. When Arendelle princess young Elsa accidentally injures her sister Anna, it causes a chain of tragic events throughout their childhood. And when Elsa brings permanent winter to Arendelle during her coronation, she flees to an ice-bound mountain. But Anna and her friends Kristoff, Olaf and Sven journey to save Elsa, and the kingdom, by bringing back summer.
“Frozen” celebrates the many forms of true love, especially the bond between sisters.
Jordan-Matthews was selected to present the North Carolina high school premiere of “Frozen: The Broadway Musical” in a nationwide competition sponsored by Educational Theatre Association, Disney Theatrical Group and Music Theatre International.
Centering on the theme “Love Is An Open Door,” the competition was designed to promote inclusion and outreach in high school theater programs. Applicants were asked to demonstrate how they will use their production of “Frozen” to strengthen their school communities, provide outreach to underserved groups and support inclusive and diverse theater programs.
One way Jordan-Matthews accomplished that in the theatrical production, itself, was structuring the pit orchestra as a collaboration among local public school students and professional musicians, almost all affiliated with Chatham County Schools. Orchestra director Zachary Wills said about 20 musicians from eight different local schools will provide live music for “Frozen.”
The musical is directed by Mikala Richardson, who is in her first year as theater teacher at Jordan-Matthews. She walked into this major commitment over the summer and is pleased with what’s unfolding. “I’ve been impressed with the talent on our stage and the dedication and commitment of our creative team,” she said. “We are excited to share our journey to Arendelle with our whole community.”
“Nothing Like We’ve Attempted Before”
As rehearsals continue toward opening night, there have been a lot of moving parts to coordinate. Jordan-Matthews has created a strong, recent theater tradition — even though, barely more than a decade ago, there was no theater at all.
That’s when JMArts was created to provide opportunity for students wanting to test the dramatic waters.
It began with original shows, when there had been no theater classes for years and no money to pay for performance rights. As enthusiasm began to build, productions shifted to familiar Broadway shows. Traditional musicals like “Grease” sold out almost the entire run and the annual musical routinely features more than 40 students on stage and many more working behind the scenes.
The general rule: If someone wants to be in the show and commits to being in the show, they’re in the show.
Jordan-Matthews also began receiving wider recognition, with individual actors or the full ensemble nominated for Triangle Rising Stars awards in a regional musical theater competition hosted by the Durham Performing Arts Center that leads to the national Jimmy Awards on Broadway.
The school also created some interest with innovative accomplishments like a female, African American actor playing Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof.” Most audience members never picked up on the nontraditional casting and the actor, Jasmine Brower, received one of the school’s Triangle Rising Stars nominations.
Still, this North Carolina premiere of “Frozen” is largely uncharted territory.
“The scale of this production is like nothing we’ve ever attempted before,” said JMArts President Rose Pate, who helped create the nonprofit working to provide opportunity for Jordan-Matthews arts students. “And that’s meant a huge effort from within JM and beyond. All of our school creative team — plus our carpentry department, Chatham Middle teacher Katherine Skipper and her mom Kristen making costumes, and of course our music teachers from across the district and beyond — have given one-hundred percent to make ‘Frozen’ a great experience for our students and our whole community.”
Premiere Across the Community
The reach for this North Carolina premiere of “Frozen: The Broadway Musical” extends far beyond the stage. A schedule of premiere-related events is now underway as part of the school’s “Season of Frozen.”
It all began last fall with a “Love Is An Open Door” theme for the most recent JMArts holiday card, an annual fundraiser featuring student art. Jordan-Matthews artist Stephanie Aleman won the schoolwide contest and her color pencil drawing, “Love in Winter,” was published last fall as the 2023 holiday card.
And the “Season of Frozen” is continuing this spring with two major projects.
Bilingual cast members from the musical will visit eight elementary schools throughout Chatham later this spring for bilingual “Frozen Storytime.” They will appear in costume and read a “Frozen” story in both Spanish and English to students in the county’s Spanish immersion kindergarten and all pre-K classrooms. Actors will meet the children, take photos and give each child a bilingual book of their own.
Audiences at “Frozen” also will be drawn into Arctic culture with “The Frozen North,” a multidimensional exhibition produced by Jordan-Matthews science teacher Wendi Pillars, who lived in Norway during two farming seasons and has conducted polar research in Svalbard, Norway, and Savoonga, Alaska. The exhibition brings art and science together to share insight into environmental challenges facing the polar region.
A Unifying Force
Making the North Carolina premiere happen has involved an enormous number of people and groups.
Chatham County Schools joined the effort as sponsors for “Frozen Storytime,” providing funding to pay for books given to pre-K students. Chatham Education Foundation provided grant funding to help purchase books for kindergarteners attending “Frozen Storytime” and to produce “The Frozen North” environmental science exhibition. Chatham Arts Council stepped forward with a grant that provides honoraria for professional musicians, mostly teachers, performing as rehearsal pianist and in the pit orchestra.
And, of course, more than 200 individuals and groups work together each year to bring the Jordan-Matthews musical to life.
Adults on this year’s “Frozen” creative team include Aaron Partin as technical director, Allison Blaylock as music director, Laura Newman as set designer, Cynthia Bredenberg as wardrobe supervisor, Katherine Skipper as costume designer and Heath Smith as hair and makeup supervisor. Several students also are part of the creative team — including Dennis Chicas Garcia and Aidan Johnson in the booth and Amanda Drubeck on props.
Uniting the community behind such a significant artistic venture was something that caught the attention of Dr. Anthony D. Jackson. Not only is he superintendent of Chatham County Schools, but he is an accomplished musician who has used the arts as an educator to bring people together.
“I am incredibly proud of the cast and crew of ‘Frozen’ and all the students and staff involved in this amazing production,” he said. “I look forward to seeing their dedication and talent shine through in bringing this Broadway hit to life, showcasing the best of our district’s artistic and educational community. I commend their hard work and creativity in providing an enriching experience for our students and the wider community.”
More information about “Frozen: The Broadway Musical” is available at jmarts.org/frozen and other Jordan-Matthews arts events scheduled this season are listed online at jmarts.org/events.
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