Frigid: A Musical Worth Melting For (needs a bit of a defrost)

Frigid: A Musical Worth Melting For at Greenside @ Infirmary

Frigid: A Musical Worth Melting For by Napier University Drama Society is marketed as a parody version of Disney’s Frozen. However, it’s more general Disney canon parody than faithful to just one movie. The story follows Ella on her quest to get back her sister Annie from the three old school princesses (versions of Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora). Along the way, Ella recruits two other new school Disney princesses: Senga (Merida) and Rapella (Rapunzel) to help her free Annie from the terrible “Nicholas” cage the old school princesses have put her in.

The story, for the most part, is well-mapped territory, but there are moments of genius. The most successful being that of the portrayal of Senga. Intermittently you get little Scottish digs thrown in by Senga, jokes about Mars bars and Iron Bru; but nothing tops her musical interludes in the style of Trainspotting’s “Choose Life” monologue. I would absolutely die to see a full-length Brave/Trainspotting parody (I call dibs).

There are also a couple of proper musical theatre moments that I loved: The Nicholas Cage/Annie song and the three old school princesses song. The old school princesses steal the show with their “Sandra Dee”-esque treatment of young Annie, especially the actor who played Snow White. The new school princesses were far more subdued, excluding the actress who played Senga. She was spot on, and I was drawn to her every time the new school princesses were on stage.

The show had no diversity in the cast, and they even make a point in the plot to address it; however, if you’re going to do a piece that pits old school Disney vs. new…you have to diversify the cast. Also, I wish the script addressed or at least acknowledged the one big problem that I have with Disney’s Frozen. The fact that Anna is the hero of Frozen…not Elsa, but children are conditioned to love Elsa through marketing and the hit song “Let it Go.” Anna literally throws herself in the firing line, possibly sacrificing herself for her sister; Elsa just hides in her ice castle and pouts, but children want to dress up like Elsa for Halloween, not Anna. The cast slightly hits upon it once when Annie says “if there’s going to be a hit song that kids will be singing at the top of their lungs, it’s going to be sung by her.” But Frigid does nothing to riff off of this further, as Elsa is the hero of Frigid. Such a missed opportunity to really stick it to Disney by choosing to comment on the contradicting narrative and marketing techniques. However, Frigid does get a few tiny digs in there.

I would have loved to see them go further, committing to producing a faithful parody of Frozen. They were on their way with stunts such as the swole protein shake guzzling Olaf and a cat laser tracking Annie, but no signs of Hans, Kristoff, or Sven. I wanted a parody of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" or "Love is an Open Door"; However, overall the show leans more toward a derivative piece than a traditional tongue and cheek parody...which made me want to go drown my disappointment in a big chocolate fondue.