All right.

Let's go to the theater to see.

Frozen.

It's coming.

I have waiting for the song.

Were you waiting for that?

I know I always gotta get some song in there, too.

Ashley, I love you.

You know this, I love you.

We're besties.

And Phoenix Performing Arts is putting on frozen.

And I'm so excited for this because this is, like, one of the very first ones that is happening in the community.

I'm excited that you guys are bringing it over here and to Middlebury.

We're at Northwood High School putting it up on the big stage.

Yes.

And honestly, I can't imagine a better place to be because of just how many people we have involved on stage and off stage.

And you're only getting a snippet of the set behind me.

This is so grandiose.

There are so many things that are hiding up here, and so we are so blessed to have this space and this partnership with Northridge Community Schools to be here this summer and yeah, to bring it to Elkhart County, but just in the Middlebury area.

Now, I know that this is a big cast because everyone wants to be in frozen, right?

Yes.

And if you don't, then what are you doing?

What are you doing?

How many people do you have your cast.

Because this was a two part cast.

I know you guys just had your junior cast.

Yes.

So we had a little over 100 in our youth cast last weekend, and we have just shy of 50 in our main stage cast, which is happening this weekend.

That's amazing.

Obviously we have Olaf over here giving us some warm hugs.

How exciting.

Okay, Matthew, this is is this your first time puppeteering?

Yes, actually, this is my first time doing a full puppet like this.

Okay.

And how do you feel about that?

Oh, I feel great.

All the practices.

Hard to learn.

It was very hard at the beginning.

We we had some struggles walking, but after a while I got used to it.

And using his hands.

So.

Okay, you got to tell me a little bit about this getup.

Yeah.

So it's a little different with puppeteering than what you might imagine.

So it's not something he's just holding with his hands.

It's physically strapped to him from basically from chest to toe.

And so when he's walking, Olaf is walking.

And so it's he has to, you know, manipulate the shuffle a little bit.

He's, he's got the waddle down and then, yeah, he can manipulate his hands and his face, his mouth.

Yeah.

So while he is talking and he's got a little mechanism back, should we give away the magic?

There's a little bit of Disney magic, actually.

Elsa sprinkles a little flurry on him, and then he.

Yeah.

Then he is able to move his mouth.

But.

So while he's singing and speaking, Olaf is as well.

And so he's a two for one character, which is actually very talented, I have to say, very talented.

And the only thing I know about puppeteering is when you're talking, their mouth should be open, right?

Like, like like there is a funny section where if he's reacting to something.

When we first started rehearsing or like the directing staff was laughing because he may be reacting and Matt wasn't quite or vice versa.

And so getting the mouth to be open at the same time.

Oh yeah.

So see your face, they can see everything.

So yeah.

So it was he's been he's had a few weeks to work with this since its arrival.

And so he's I think he's mastered it pretty well.

Okay.

Awesome.

Now we got to talk about the show itself.

This is more of the traditional.

But there is some new stuff incorporated into the script.

Yes.

So the movie, the animated film from 2013 that hopefully all the Disney fans know and love.

It's exactly what you'll expect there, the characters that you know and love.

But then when they came up with the musical in 2018, it made it to Broadway.

They expanded.

So the music directors and lyricists, they created new songs, there's some new scene work, and so it's everything you know and love.

And then more.

I talked to you a little bit briefly as a Disney snob.

I come by that pretty honesty.

There are some shows that are animated film first and they become musicals and it's like, oh, why did they get rid of that?

Or why are they change that?

When I, Zack and I got to see this on Broadway three weeks after it opened originally, and when I saw it, I gasped out loud more than the kids that were selling because it was just done so beautifully.

So whether you love frozen or you just want to see a spectacle, it's just it's magic, truthfully, from start to finish.

And so it's just so well done.

Now, I have to say, I met someone the other day who has not seen frozen.

I know you have to school that.

I know, I know, it's shocking.

Okay, so Matthew, telling me from your perspective as Olaf, what's the story about?

The story is about Elsa and Anna, and Elsa does has these magical powers and she accidentally harms Anna.

And it's her journey and how they get back together and become best friends.

Okay, okay, I like it.

There's a lot of magic involved with magic, and there's.

But there's so many relatable things to and, you know, with our youth cast last week like because their younger and their growing, we tried to instill, you know, like you do in stage.

There's so much that can be learned from art.

And so we talked about that with our adults as well.

You know, what are the underlining messages?

Yes.

These are animated characters you're bringing to life.

And yes, we don't necessarily have like snowmen in your backyard that are talking to you, don't you?

I come to your house, but it's like there are messages that can be taken away as well.

And so I love that kind of that two for one special that you get with having an evening to just enjoy and experience leisure and art, but then have a message that you can take home as an adult or as something that you can take home with your young ones too, about, you know, being yourself and not judging a book by its cover and showing kindness and empathy and all of those things.

That and not being nice.

Dot dot dot that in the show.

Okay, now let's talk about the set because I know we're seeing just a part just a little bit.

I can't imagine the work that goes into designing and building.

I tried to pull him up here today because I went, okay, so Zach has obviously he's our technical director and artistic director and all the things.

And so he built all of this and all the things you can't see yet.

And then our scenic painter Karina, she painted it all the summer all by hand.

And so I had been at rehearsals most of the summer with our kids and our adults and things like that.

So I didn't have a chance to see when it got put up.

I've seen some little bits in the works when I came in, and they had some of the flies in the air, I actually started crying, which is kind of embarrassing, but it was just, I don't know if it was a combination of just being so proud of the people that I love, or if it was just that, like the people that are going to be coming to Middlebury, what they're going to see in the caliber that they put out, and then also the Disney kid in me, I just literally I stood right over there and like, cried.

He was like, oh, do you hate it?

I was like, no, I have no words.

So this is just a snippet.

There are some things he's hiding up here and pictures of videos.

They just don't do justice.

So if nothing else, if you don't come for Disney, come for Zach and Karina because it's just it's beautiful.

Okay.

And now this isn't your first time up on the stage here with Phoenix, correct?

No.

All right.

Tell me about your experience in acting.

I mean, I've been doing shows with Ashley honestly, since 2018.

Oh, yeah.

Wow.

I mean, I've been doing this for a long.

I can't even count how many shows now, but plenty of years, you know, acting.

And he was part of he was our Jesse Tuck and our inaugural production work everlasting.

And we've kept him ever since.

So thankfully he hasn't run away from us.

I love that, I love it, and you know, I know we talk about this all the time, but being a part of theater is really becomes your family, and it's such a great way to connect with other people and to gain more confidence and and just to be yourself, really.

And I know that people find that when they come to the stage, but you guys also had a lot of new people join you this time too.

Yes.

So we had so many new faces in our adult show, which again, for a Disney title, you never know.

Not everyone's a Disney adult like us, but people were just excited.

It wasn't necessarily even a title.

They just came to us in auditions.

They were like, my friend or my family member has participated with you guys, and they just had nothing but great things to say or they love their experience.

And so we wanted to try it for ourselves.

And so it's been so wonderful to welcome them into our family.

And then in our youth cast, we had over 50% of them brand new to us.

So new faces, new names.

Yeah.

I mean, we have like I said, we have new faces every audition that we have.

But this summer, I mean, it was in droves of hundreds and hundreds that auditioned because, again, with little ones, they love.

They love.

Is that why you guys moved to this stage for the summertime?

So we are so blessed.

Yes.

To have that partnership, because we did the same thing last summer as well.

Again, to hopefully just be able to include as many people, you know, there are limitations with space and safety, but we were able to include over 100 of them and we had two sold out performances for them.

And so we're hoping to do that.

Thank you, thank you.

They were very excited.

It was just I don't know if they were more excited just for us to say that they were sold out or that they were more excited to get on stage, but just like go out there and he doesn't like it gets your nerves a little bit when you're like, it's a sold out girl.

Yeah.

But then I feel like so, you know, so cool.

And they should and they should.

And so we're hoping that we can do that for our adults too, because while it is the same title, it's a different show entirely.

And it's a little bit different between the kids and the adult.

Yeah.

Which is kind of nice.

So we had a great partnership and mentorship between our youth cast and our adult cast.

So did you get to like, play around with little or to for the cast at a rehearsal recently?

And he he was so good.

And I got to see him last night and he did so well and he was over compliment him like, what are you talking about?

You're doing just as good as I am.

Yeah, and it's neat because, you know, of course you think what the little ones watching you.

Ones, they will be inspired.

But it's really cool for me and our staff to watch the older ones get inspired by the young ones too.

And so I just kind of sit back like that little mom with the camera and I'm like, just being friends.

And they're just so sweet.

And the camera this time are you I am not.

You're going to be on stage.

I am maybe casting a couple ice flurries or two, so we're gonna have to let it go.

I think people get their tickets to one of the showtimes.

So we have Friday and Saturday at 730 or Sunday matinee at 3 p.m.. You can head to the Phoenix Arts, or you can show up the day of the show and pick them up at the door.

All right.

We'll see you there.

So break a leg or a stick a stick.