As a young girl, Jillian Leman ‘26 and her friends dressed up as Elsa and Anna from the 2013 Disney movie Frozen for Halloween. Now, she gets a chance to play Anna at Opstad Auditorium when the musical premieres on April 24th. 

“I feel like Anna is pretty much me. There are definitely aspects and characteristics that we share,” Leman said, “I have two older sisters, so I kind of understand that dynamic, and she has a little spunk that I think I have too.”

Despite the similar characteristics, there are key differences between the two.

“She’s a little more sheltered than me, obviously, being stuck in a castle for most of her life, Leman said. “She’s also ignorant and a little naive, and just excited to be out in the real world, so I’m trying to find out how to play that out.”

The musical Frozen will be the last of many productions in Leman’s high school career. She had a lead role in last year’s musical Urinetown as Hope Cladwell. Her career ending brings many mixed emotions.

“It’s definitely a little bittersweet, but I’m trying just to enjoy it while it lasts,” Leman said.

Clara Meehan ‘26 has been in every production at the City High Theatre Department since Freshman year, whether cast or crew, singing ensemble or solo, but Frozen provides a new experience: a lead role in Elsa, the queen of Arendelle. 

“This is really any little kid’s dream, right?” Meehan said, “It’s really cool, but it can be nerve wracking learning all of these lines and being kind of at the center of all of it.”

Meehan has her lines and blocking memorized, but when it comes to being prepared for the show, there are key differences between being ready in the ensemble room and being ready in Opstad on opening night.

“There’s a lot of things that come with getting on stage,” Meehan said, “We haven’t been able to be in Opstad because of the construction, and there’s a lot of things that come with that and with costumes and costume changes, which will all get sorted out during our tech week.”

The character of Elsa is complex. Between almost killing her sister when she was young, the death of her parents, and the inability to control her powers, she carries a lot of complicated emotions. 

“She views herself as this evil monster, even though she knows that’s never her intent. And there are lots of layers,” Meehan said. “Also, she shoots ice out of her hands. That’s really cool.”

Nate Malone ‘27 is no stranger to the spotlight. He starred as Orlando in As You Like It earlier this year and was pop star Joshie in Diary of a Wimpy Kid in 2024. This year however, Malone gets the chance to play Hans, the charismatic and dangerous villain of Frozen.

“He’s easily my hardest character yet,” Malone said, “Everything about him is a lie. He is a prince, but he’s very goofy and unhinged. So how do you project yourself as a stand up, prim and proper royal figure and still be kind of a goofball?”

Another difficulty comes from the fact that, for the majority of the show, Hans is a good guy, secretly biding his time to take the throne of Arendelle while portraying himself as a hero. 

“He does all good things, but they all have evil intent behind them,” Malone said. “So how do I make something good be evil without changing what it looks like?”

The physical portrayal of Hans has also been a bit of a challenge. During initial rehearsals, Malone had issues moving, sometimes standing there, occasionally looking ‘like a robot.’ Malone has adapted quickly however, and is excited for the show to begin.

“It was kind of bad for a long time. But now that I’ve kind of been able to work at it, I’ve gotten a lot better at portraying what Hans is thinking in a physical sense,” Malone said. “I’m so excited. [Frozen] is going to be very fun.”

Being a lead for a broadway musical requires a lot of work, and it’s even harder when making the leap from Tiny Tom, a minor character in Urinetown to Kristoff in Frozen, but that’s exactly what Cameron Echols is doing.

“The amount of lines that I have is much more significant than what I had last year. Last year was just interjections or stuff like that,” Echols said, “But now I have a couple monologues and big groupings of conversations. It’s a lot more this year.”

Echols is relatively new to City High Drama. He first joined the theater program last year after being convinced by a friend, though he was skeptical at first. As production progressed though, he started to enjoy it a lot more.

“I love to perform on stage and like to be able to be authentic and be myself and really do whatever I want. I think that’s what really brought me to theater because I feel like that’s what theater is. You’re being a character, but you’re still yourself in that character, which makes it fun,” Echols said. “Being able to sing, dance, and act with all your peers and your friends and getting connected to like some of these people that you’ve never talked to is really the best part of it.”