For the first time in forever.

Frozen is coming here, right here to the stage at Premiere Arts.

I'm so excited to have my friend Aaron with me now.

Aaron, you and I have worked on some performances in the past, but this is an exciting opportunity for you because you have now become a puppet master.

Yes, definitely.

And tell us about your character.

I am playing Sven, the magical reindeer who travels along with Kristoff.

I don't have my own voice, but Kristoff gets to voice and make up his own voice for me.

Okay.

So do you make any like the.

I feel like, you know, when you go to Disney and you hear the little kisses, are you making any of the little grunts in there?

I'll be making lots of grunts because of the position I'll be in.

Yes.

So this is an entire outfit that you have created.

It really is a puppet.

Yes.

Yeah, I am inside of it.

It's kind of a mix between a puppet and a costume.

So I am inside of this costume.

But I'm also operating as a puppet.

Kind of.

Okay.

How did you get the ideas for this?

Because you created this from scratch, from scratch.

So I reached out to some of the Broadway kind of people or the traveling groups that do frozen, and I actually spoke to two of the different actors who played Sven on Broadway and traveling around the country, and a few different puppeteers, costume designers and makers for that made these costumes before and got kind of tips and tricks from them.

Lots of research and just made it.

And I seen some of it already too.

It reminds me of like, The Lion King on Broadway, right?

It's actually this.

The original Sven costume was designed by the exact same studio that did The Lion King.

Okay, that makes sense.

So that's.

Yeah.

So that studio is very good at making animals.

Why do you think it's, I would say particularly cool to have it as a puppet rather than a character who's just, you know, assigned to it or, you know, maybe something smaller, like a dog with antlers on it or something like that.

I like the fact that like, because the whole kind of little joke of it is Christoph pretending to talk like a reindeer, and he's so it not being a character, being just like an animal portrayed as an animal on stage, then he's like, he is more like an animal than an actor.

So that's that's why I felt like the puppet was better than just the costume.

Yeah.

And I have to ask, how heavy is it?

It probably weighs together.

Yes.

Altogether it probably weighs 20 to 30 pounds.

I'm guessing it's pretty light, I feel like.

So the head is completely hollow.

I made that I molded foam and clay and kind of modeled that, and then covered it with a fiberglass, and then took all that work out of the inside of it.

So that is all hollow.

Okay.

So that is actually going inside of there.

There's a helmet on the inside.

My head actually sits just that is not going to fit all in there.

I had actually sits just below the neck.

And I have a panel a panel that I can see through.

So I only get to see about ten feet in front of me.

So the actor's on stage.

Better watch out because I can't see you have like a handler.

Yes, I do, because I know I went downstairs right now and the learner theater and we're in one of the dressing rooms here, but there are stairs to get upstage too, so I was going to work for you.

What's your plan?

I'm not going to get dressed in the dressing room.

I'm going to get dressed on stage.

Right.

And that's where I'm going to camp.

I'm going to have me a stool to sit on, a water to drink because I'm gonna be sweating.

That's amazing.

What is the process been like to kind of become this character?

A lot of work.

So it's a lot of late nights because I just do this in the evenings for fun, to help out because I just, I love Premiere Arts and working with them.

So it's just a fun time for me to do so.

Yeah.

And you've been a part of premiere.

It's in many other capacities to.

Do you want to talk about that?

Sure.

My wife is the costumer.

She handles all the costumes for the people.

I just volunteer and help out with building sets.

I make puppets.

I help Brittany in the costume shop.

Just, you know, they're finding things and stuff like that.

I help on stage, backstage, pulling flies and doing stuff like that.

And I've been in a few of the productions a little bit.

Okay, so you are you were getting your way to the stage and now you are going to be as an animal.

Yes.

Can we get you in the costume?

Yes.

Can you show us a little bit about how that process goes to get into it?

Yes.

Okay.

It takes a little bit, but I'll have to call in my wife to help.

So you need to get it.

I do, I have a reindeer wrangler that's assigned to me.

And so she's going to be helping me do that.

But Brittany's going to step in and do that for me.

All right.

Brittany.

Okay.

Okay.

This is a complete transformation.

This is amazing.

Hi, my friend.

Can you see me or hear me in there?

Hi.

This is incredible.

And I know Erin has just done such a fabulous job in creating this.

It is so realistic.

And it is as tall as me.

Well, that doesn't take much.

I have my high heels on today.

Craig, tell us about how this process.

I mean, what does this mean to you to have something like this?

Oh my gosh.

I mean, Erin really has taken it and just run with it.

Like I'm like, I'll be surprised.

Just like the audience.

I'm seeing it, really.

I'm actually seeing it for the first time with you right here today in.

Yeah, in its entirety.

So, I mean, what a huge undertaking and what amazing job.

And so to be able to create storytelling like frozen, when it goes from being an animated feature to a live stage, right?

Already there's a little like, oh, how are they going to do that?

This is how enter Erin and Fenn, right?

And so I think that this is going to be one of those moments.

I I've always said over the years, every show I like one moment where the audience goes.

And I think that this might be it.

I love it, I love it, and I've had a little sneak peek of the set too.

It is phenomenal.

Well, you know, we go big or go home and it's it's definitely big.

Not only does it have over 200 local people, people in the learner stage for this weekend, but also just the creativity that went into it.

And not to mention that we did all of this in like six weeks with spring break in the middle.

Yeah.

So that's been a little powered through.

It's been a little crazy.

And so yeah, it is going to be such a treat.

And, you know, I think so many special things the set, the lights, the costumes, the characters.

But you know, the thing I will love the most is all the littles that come to the show dressed like Elsa and Anna.

And when they come in their costumes and they just get so engaged and just love it so much.

And we're just really creating that next generation of theater goer and also participant.

So and you think back to, you know, Snow White and Cinderella were kind of those classics from our era back in the day.

But frozen is really the new age Disney musical, right?

Like that's where is that?

That's kind of the bread and butter right now.

I don't think anybody does not know the the tune to let it go.

I mean, right, I'm ready to let it go after this weekend.

I'll be like, please don't see me that song again for a while.

But no, but it is.

It's infectious.

Right?

And this, you know, to be a new musical and to have the depth that it has.

You know, one of the things that Disney has just mastered is telling stories that appeal to kids and adults at different levels, and this totally does that.

The movie does that, but the musical takes it a step further, and it's different than a little different than the movie itself.

Many things you'll recognize.

Okay.

Right.

But some of it is, is you do a little deeper dive into their characters and, and the, the interweaving of their lives.

And so it's really a beautiful, beautiful story.

You know, Elsa's journey to being herself is kind of amazing.

And when you kind of put it into the context of how what's going on in the world today and watch it through that lens, it just becomes completely different.

You know, we had a history with frozen because we were the first to do the junior version years ago, but this is now the main stage version, the Broadway musical.

And so doing both at the same time, but will be the first in the region to do frozen.

And this is just amazing.

I just think we're setting the bar pretty high.

You guys are absolutely, absolutely.

And you know, bringing it to Michiana here is really so amazing.

So thank you guys for doing something like this.

I know my kids are both two of my kids are participating and our cast members to, and they have been patiently waiting for this moment to be a part of frozen because everybody wants you.

And I know you had like, record turnouts for auditions for nothing High School Musical, I think probably have we had that many people audition.

And so, you know, that's a great problem to have.

And you want to offer as much opportunity as possible.

And so we hope to continue to do that for the rest of our season.

Right.

Which is we've got guys and dolls coming up next, then Sister Act and then Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

So it really is a season filled with opportunity for the whole family, both on stage and in the audience.

I love that, and I know you guys are so great with family participation, so thank you for being here.

Yeah, we're going to see you again.

Well, see that we can people see frozen.

Yeah.

Oh, we first.

Yes.

May 1st, second and third.

Okay.

And so there's performances Friday, Saturday Sunday with all all youth production on Saturday afternoon.

And then Sunday evening.

That's an added new.

It is because it's so popular.

And with 165 children in the youth show, we wanted to give them not only the opportunity to do it more than just once, but also for their families to be able to make sure that they got to see it.

And it gave a really wonderful opportunity.

We have two Elsa's, so we have a Saturday, Sunday Elsa.

So it gave one more kid another opportunity to let it go and to to have that experience.

So we're really proud of that.

And to be able to put something like this on the stage, the community support, I mean, we have to give them a shout out to everyone who supports.

Absolutely.

Grand design stepped up.

They've been stepping up year after year to to underwrite a show this year.

They certainly have done frozen as well as J.J.

Osceola Design and Form Co.

So lots of help.

Like you said it takes a lot of hands and a lot of dollars to make to make this right.

And so we're really, really just so appreciative.

All right.

Are you ready for a carrot.

Yes I am.

All right.

We'll see you on the stage.

Break a leg.

All right.

Are you ready to walk?

Let's go.