Backstage Tour of Frozen: The Musical at the Hollywood Pantages

What's up, guys? Young Hollywood is about to take you behind the scenes of the phenomenon that is Disney's Frozen.

Caroline, should I introduce you as the Queen of Arendelle?

I mean, sure, here.

What an honor to play such an iconic character? No pressure, right?

You know, I I kinda take that pressure and let it go. Cuz I really have to every night. So, um, I just it empowers me. It makes me it fuels me. And it's And then it's just so fun. It is such a fun role to play.

Of course, you mentioned "Let It Go" first. I I didn't even have to bring it up. You get to sing one of the most famous songs out there.

Yeah. Every child knows it, loves it. I have to go out there and just feel free. And if I do that and I just take the ride of the song, it is just thrilling and fun and it's this high belty musical theater number where she's like creating an ice castle before your eyes. And I have magic and it just it's it's just so much fun and if I have fun with it then everybody else has fun with it. And then it's just great.

We have Caroline playing the Queen of Arendelle. Miss Elsa, we have Caroline playing Anna.

Yes, there's definitely a little bit of pressure that I feel but ultimately as an actor you just have to be able to set the pressure aside and just treat it like any other role that I've played. Just look at what the script says, listen to the music, you know, the costumes obviously informed the wigs like everything have been like custom fit to me. So, it's only fair that I try to custom fit the role to me as well.

You are the production supervisor of Disney's Frozen. Now, that is no small task. Take me through what goes into putting Disney's Frozen on a stage because that almost seems unimaginable.

Well, actually it is a big is a big task. Um, one thing you should know is that the creatives, the director, they didn't want to make a carbon copy of the movie. So, you're gonna see many of the elements from the movie but you're gonna see a really thought out version of a live performance of it on stage.

We're kind of in the midst of ice magic right now.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. And how we create our ice is through video. When we transform from Arendelle, which is a lot of wood and the palace and we actually go outside into the land where Elsa has frozen Arendelle over, we actually go into pieces like this, which is called the ice legs. And this actually comes apart when we travel it, as you see, it comes apart in different stages to actually stack on top of each other when we actually come into a theater.

And the process, the timing of all of that.

A little over 10 hours to get out of the theater. And then when we go into a house, we usually give ourselves like a day and a half to put it back up.

There's the iconic ice dress. I am always shedding beads or ice as they say. Um, so this is constantly being re-beaded and worked on cuz she is just so delicate and uh, but when I put her on and I look in the mirror, I I feel like Elsa. It's I mean truly it's so amazing.

We're standing in front of

Yes. The iconic Anna. Yes. Anna's beautiful coronation gown. Selfishly as an actor, when you have all of this gorgeous like beading and shimmery like hand-embroidered details, it just it totally transports you into the character in the world of the play.

This is where the actors change clothes constantly throughout the entire show. I'm sure. We have makeup stations where they can touch up their makeup throughout the show. Also when they put their wigs on, this is all done in this area. There have been approximately 300 costumes built that have all been designed by Christopher Oram.

Hand-sewn, oh, exactly. Exactly. Oh, I mean exactly. The audition process of even getting this role. Did you think you were gonna get it? Was it locked in or you were just like any other actress auditions callbacks.

Yeah, I don't really you know, I go into and I give everything I have all the time and every performance I give whatever I can that day 100% and um, and the same goes for auditions and the final callback was on the Broadway stage. So I got to sing "Let It Go" in on the stage with the set around me and 30 people in the audience. And so that was pretty magical and I got the call later on that day.

I auditioned for this first about two years ago for the pre-Broadway production in Denver and had seven callbacks for that over the course of a couple months and then when they were announcing the auditions for the tour, I had about eight more callbacks for that. It was a really emotional time to like to hear that I got the part.

Your husband

Yes.

Gets the call as well.

Yeah. We have never worked together and this is the first time we've gotten to see each other at in a in the workplace and we've done a lot of long-distance because obviously he's an actor as well. And so we go where the work is. It's so cool that we get to do it together.

Well, I saw him. Where is he? Let's let's show him. Austin Kobe, where are you? Where are you? I wanna put you two together. Where is he? Look at my dress. Have you seen this yet?

I I have. It's extraordinary.

This is Austin. You get to be in Frozen playing Hans.

I know. But to be able to play a character that um, so many people are familiar with just because of the film. Um, to be able to play a character that gets to sing a fun song. Um, and to work with this amazing cast is is a dream.

And the girls with you singing along with you, they look up to you, they admire you. I love that this is the role model, this is the character that they're looking up to and I get to play that character and that role model for these young women and then also adult women and men and people are coming and are so moved by the story. Um, and just, you know, it's empowering. It makes me feel empowered and I and I feel like it's making little girls feel like they can be who they are and stand firm in who they are and not conceal and feel everything. And it just it's it's really really cool to play a role like this. And I've never played a role to this magnitude of that is so um affects such um um massive rain age range of men and women. And um, but yes, especially women and young young women as well. It's just it's it warms my heart every day. It's really really sweet.

I do love seeing kids and also like adults like people come dressed up like everybody. And it's amazing to see them sort of like registering that that's me and it's it's really special that we get to give people a really lovely night, a beautiful story, like beautiful music, a big spectacle.

The little ones, they come dressed up as Anna, they come dressed up as Elsa. Sometimes we have little boy Olafs.

I was gonna say, do you have Olafs?

Every now and then we have an Olaf sitting in the

We don't have a Sven.

That we don't.

Do you want to like just give me a little something of those three those three words, you know? Let it go. Those words.