Freezing, the family friendly holiday production at The Gladstone Theatre, embraces an inventive plot line steering away from the movie loosely echoed in the title. Familiarity bred anticipations and comfort, with many young girls in attendance decked out in their finest Anna and Elsa gear, while original storytelling guaranteed the production was no poor man’s version of the film.
Set in the troubled land of Snow Globe, Queen Gerda (Gab Desmond – in a stellar cross-dressed performance) is keen to marry off Princesses Hanna (Esther Vallins) and Adele (Jessica Vandenberg) to preserve the icy kingdom. Enter Hans (Will Lamond), the winter-hating villain of the piece, who threatens endless summer if not granted a royal wedding and all measure of comical action ensues with an eager beaver, a troll with low self-esteem, a handsome ice-man, a tornado and many twists and turns.
To the unacquainted, a pantomime is “British theatre traditionally performed at Christmas incorporating song, dance, buffoonery, slapstick, cross-dressing, in-jokes, topical references, and audience participation.” Audience members cheer the heroes, boo the villain and in this instance some young ones even had a hockey shoot out.
Costume and styling connect the younger audience with accessible characters while the fresh and fun writing hold that engagement. The cast is charming with particularly strong comic performances from Desmond, Lamond and Shelley Simester in the role of Rubble the troll. The music and choreography are wholly successful with the whole cast delivering wonderful, rousing song and dance.
Freezing is well paced with whimsical moments incorporated with music and enough adventure to keep kids entertained while tongue-firmly-in-cheek references and current asides touching on everything from the Red Blacks to the LRT had adults amused. Despite some not altogether successful jokes, such as the 3-pigs / Senator scandal and an unfortunate commercial break in the proceedings, producers Sarah & Matt Cassidy have delivered a winning panto which could well become Ottawa’s newest holiday tradition.
We have a four-pack of tickets to giveaway for the December 27 evening performance of Freezing. Show starts at 7:30 pm. To enter, send an email to apartment613@gmail.com with “freezing” in the subject header. We will choose a winner by random draw at 9 am on December 24.
Freezing is at The Gladstone Theatre (950 Gladstone Ave) until January 4, 2015. Click here for showtimes and tickets.
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