When the Performing Arts Department announced Frozen Jr. as the 2025 musical production, they surprised the current Seniors who had performed this musical in 2021 as eighth-graders during the year of the pandemic.
Mr. Fry, the musical director, says that Frozen Jr. felt like unfinished business, and he always was looking for a chance to give the show justice, “That 2020 year . . . we never had an audience. It was virtual, and we had such strict limitations with what we could do,” he says. “And I always said I wanted a chance to do it again. And then, when I saw that this class of seniors was coming up, I thought, you know what? This would be a great time. I want to do this show as a dedication to the senior class because they never got an 8th-grade show.”
The year 2021 was the year of the pandemic, which involved social distancing, mask-wearing, and a lot harder production for the musical’s cast. Moreover, they struggled most with performing in front of a camera. Reeves Wood, who played Anna in 2021 as a female lead, says that hard work ultimately led to success during that challenging year. “I’d say the hardest part, of the many challenges we had to face, was definitely the lack of an audience,” she says. “Performing live is so magical because of the relationship formed between the story and its viewers, so not having an audience there to experience our performance truly made the experience feel artificial. However, once the video streamed live for everyone to watch, getting to experience their live reactions up close made all of the behind-the-scenes work worth it.”
Actors and actresses had to be socially distanced, so when Anna fell during a scene, the other co-stars couldn’t help her because they couldn’t touch anyone.
Fry has plans to make this special to the Class of 2025, “So I will connect the senior class and this current cast,” he says, “And I always felt bad that they never had the opportunity to perform in front of a live audience because it was such a talented group of kids, and they, you know, were not where they were denied that chance because of all our severe restrictions.”
Andy Liu, who plays Pabbie, feels Fry has been waiting on a strong cast for the opportunity to pull this challenging production off. “Probably because they think it was a fun musical, and it was a good production that the people put on, and they’ve been scouting the people out,” he says. “And they think that they can match roles probably with the Frozen cast.”
Fry has a plan to help reengage the senior class with this year’s show. “I plan to involve the seniors heavily in our production. I’m going to have them come down, and we will have a sing-along,” he says. “Like, where I’m going to have some of the actors work with our actors and give them some coaching tips, that type of thing.”
Students are preparing to be on the Kellet stage, ready for the excitement and nerves from their stage presence. However, many actors are unaware of the excitement Fry has in store for the Class of 2025 and the musical’s cast.