On Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, Latinitas Magazine had the pleasure of attending Media Night at The Hobby Center for Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) Houston’s production of Disney’s Frozen, and it was a complete showstopper that left Houstonian audiences spellbound! Disney hand-selected TUTS Houston as one of five regional theatres globally to produce an exciting and imaginative new staging! The production of the show was top notch and I felt as if I were at a Broadway show.
Nestled in Downtown Houston, The Hobby Center is part of Houston’s Theater District and is the perfect atmosphere for a musical, as it was adorned with Christmas decor just in time for the Holidays. As a fan of the original film, Frozen, I was excited to see the brand-new staging of this musical which included new songs that were not included in the movie. Jenna Lea Rosen did a standout performance portraying Elsa with Cailen Fu who portrayed Anna during their performance of “I Can’t Lose You”, Ms. Fu and Manuel Santos, who portrayed Hans, both performed “Love Is An Open Door” with a striking similarity to the film, and Mark Ivy did a fun performance of “In Summer” with his portrayal of Olaf. As expected, Ms. Fu did an impeccable job portraying the vivacious princess, Anna, so much so that she sounded like the same character in the original film. Notably, Olaf & Sven were brought to life through puppetry by Mr.Ivy and Kahlil Cabble.
When lead actress Ms. Rosen, as Elsa, belted out “Let It Go”, her plain princess gown dropped, revealing her sparkly blue princess gown that resembled ice, and the stage transformed into a Winter wonderland of shimmering lights and snow flurries. As soon as the curtains closed for intermission, my coworker and I immediately turned to look at each other with our eyes wide open, jaws dropped and synchronously exclaimed “Wow!” to each other. It truly was a Broadway-worthy performance! The icy kingdom of Arendelle was brought to life with extravagant set pieces that made up Elsa’s ice castle and lots of smoke resembling snow flurries. The costumes were authentic to Scandinavian culture and Elsa’s iconic blue dress was a masterpiece! The lighting was skillfully executed to draw the viewers in and keep them engaged as the snow appeared to flurry with the smoke and TUTS even had fake snowflakes fall from the ceiling too.
The live orchestra did a phenomenal job and the vocal performances by Ms. Rosen and Ms. Fu were stellar. The energy was high and the creativity of the dance sequences were fun during the “Love Is An Open Door” and “Hygge” performances. As usual, TUTS included both local talent from Houston and Broadway for this musical. Ms. Fu returned due to the rave reviews for her performance as Katherine in Disney’s Newsies in 2024. Ms. Rosen makes her debut in Texas and has voiced countless characters for Disney Channel, Disney Jr., Netflix, and MAX, as well as starred in musicals across the country. The teen ensemble was made up of students from TUTS education programs.
I highly recommend attending future TUTS productions. Check out their website to buy tickets for their upcoming shows for the rest of their 2024-2025 season. Up next is Mean Girls!
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