Disney’s Frozen on Ice puts on really cool show at Royal Farms Arena
They came in waves, Elsas and Annas of every size and shape, from toddlers to adults, descending upon downtown Baltimore, where Disney on Ice: Frozen turned Royal Farms Arena into Arendelle.
It will be a scene that will be replicated throughout the weekend, as the arena will host a dozen performances of Frozen, a movie so big that if you haven’t heard of it, please stop reading now.
It wasn’t a question of when Disney would transform Frozen from the big screen, where it’s the fifth-highest grossing film of all time ($1.3 billion), to ice, it was only a matter of time.
Call it the ultimate show of girl power: a huge portion of the capacity crowd dressed as Elsa, the magical, pessimistic queen of Arendelle, while others chose to look like her sister, the optimistic Anna, who wants to reunite with Elsa after a childhood accident severed their relationship.
Anna, Elsa and Kristoff – the Norwegian cutie who wants to hook up with Anna – set the tone with smooth skating and acting as they lip-synced the storyline.
This could have been a debacle. But since the movie is so popular, the crowd recited the lines with the characters, keeping everyone engaged until the music hit.
Yes, the music – that’s what’s made Frozen so hot it hasn’t come close to melting since it hit theaters in November 2013. Whether it was Do You Want to Build a Snowman?, Fixer Upper, In Summer, Love is an Open Door, For the First Time in Forever and of course, Let It Go, the crowd took over, turning Royal Farms into a quite possibly the biggest sing-a-long in arena history.
After the intermission following the first of two acts, the crowd was greeted by Frozen’s unsung hero, Olaf, the most popular snowman since Frosty who’s brought to life by Elsa magic. Olaf’s witty charm provides comedic relief during Anna and Kristoff’s journey to find the exiled Elsa who has turned Arendelle into a never-ending winter wonderland.
The producers showed exceptional attention to detail, as Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven – Kristoff’s trusted reindeer – are mirror images of their cartoon counterparts who have driven a franchise to become the No. 1 animated movie of all time.
Frozen’s use of props, lighting, pyrotechnics, projections, strands of illuminated “ice” and shiny snow that descended from rafters helped tell the story and made it feel like winter in October.
The second act trumped the first, as it featured the show’s best effect – a massive ice monster that grows before the crowd’s eyes before going after Anna, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven.
Disney and Feld Entertainment, which produces the Disney on Ice shows, use some inventing staging to complement the skating. Olaf performed his iconic song In Summer while skaters dressed as flowers, insects and birds zoomed across the ice.
Since Frozen’s movie version is just 102 minutes, Disney needed something to fill time to make the show two hours, but it made a poor choice. The first 20 minutes seemed like it took twice that long, as two teenagers in flashy shirts tried to pump the crowd up by asking fans to name their favorite Frozen song.
Then, Mickey and Minnie took over the ice and introduced all of their friends – Goofy, Snow White, Ariel, Cinderella, Nemo, Simba, Pumbaa, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Aurora and Donald Duck. All these characters did was skate around, smile and wave to crowd before disappearing backstage.
But I don’t blame Disney for this because no matter how big Frozen gets, no matter how much money it makes, it can’t break Disney’s cardinal rule.
No one shows up Mickey Mouse.
Where Royal Farms Arena
When: Oct. 30 – Nov. 2
Show times:
Oct. 30: 3:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 31: 10:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 1: 11 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m.
Nov. 2: 11 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m.
Click here for tickets ($20-$100).
Jon Gallo is an award-winning journalist and editor with 19 years of experience, including stints as a staff writer at The Washington Post and sports editor at The Baltimore Examiner. He also believes the government should declare federal holidays in honor of the following: the Round of 64 of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament; the Friday of the Sweet 16; the Monday after the Super Bowl; and of course, the day after the release of the latest Madden NFL video game.