Thursday is opening night for Salem High School Drama Department’s presentation of Frozen Junior

The Salem High School Drama Department presents the musical Frozen Junior for a two-week run beginning Thursday night.

The show is based on the 2018 Broadway musical and brings Elsa, Anna, and the magical land of Arendelle to life, onstage. The show features all of the memorable songs from the animated film plus five new songs written for the Broadway production.

SCHS Drama Club Sponsor Drew Johnson says there are 38 student actors and four student directors involved in the first musical performance since the COVID-19 shutdown.   He’s proud of the talent the plays and musicals have developed.

“The neatest part about any of them is getting to meet kids I wouldn’t otherwise see during my school day.  And taking kids who tend to be on the quiet side become more of an extrovert than an introvert.”

The Drama Club lost most of its upperclassmen in the COVID-19 shutdown, leaving just five seniors among those presenting the play.

One of them is Connor Teriet who plays Ice Harvestor Kristoff.

“He’s very warm-hearted and he comes along in the story to help Anna find her sister Elsa and doing the show has been a lot of fun with all my castmates, directors, and everything.  It has truly been a great experience.”

Haley Ferguson plays a deer.

“I gave Sven a Brooklyn accent.  And I smell Hahns at one point which is pretty fun.  It’s been a blast.  I never thought I’d have so much fun playing a dear but it’s very en”dear”ing.”

Mataya Petrea is Queen Elsa, who is very isolated and keeps to herself. Petrea and the other seniors say it is great for drama activities to return to normal.

“I think it’s been awesome this theater season especially because we’ve had so many underclassmen.  And sometimes it feels like they are taking us over but I feel it’s great at the same time because as seniors we can train them in what the theater department was made up to be.  I think it’s been really cool to build them up to fill our shoes come shows in the future.”

The other two seniors are Trinity Gordon, who is one of the student directors, and Hannah DeLao who is part of the ensemble playing multiple parts.

The show will be presented Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights this week at seven, with a Sunday afternoon matinee at three. Additional performances are from March 31st to April 2nd at seven pm.

Tickets are $8 for children/students and $10 for adults. There are a limited number of tickets available, so you are encouraged to purchase them before arriving at the theatre. Several shows are expected to sell out so they ask you to indicate what night your family plans to attend when purchasing tickets in advance. You can purchase tickets online via a link at salemiltheater.org or at the Salem Theatre Box Office and at SCHS Main Office during office hours.

Here is the list of students involved in the production: