As the Summer Holidays draw to a close, The Grand Theatre offered alternative entertainment to keep the kids amused, before the inevitable return to school. The Sing-a-Long treatment has already been successfully given to other musical classics such as Grease, Dirty Dancing and Moulin Rouge. Frozen is the latest classic film to be added to the Sing-a-long-a list of shows. Given the resounding success of the Disney sensation, it is not difficult to see why they have chosen this as their latest addition.
You could feel the excitement building on the arrival at the The Grand Theatre, with lots of little ice-princesses and a few snowmen hurrying to get inside. I think it’s an excellent way to introduce a younger audience to the Theatre and to experience stories they love in new and exciting environments. The sing-along format suited the younger audience perfectly; being encouraged to dress-up, shout out and take part with handy lyrics on the screen, to follow with a bouncing snowflake. Small party bags were issued to all audience members at the start, complete with props to use throughout the performance. We were guided through how to use these props by the actors, who also appeared at significant points in the story. Before the show started I thought they actors would be a distraction, but they did not remain on stage throughout and only came on to enhance memorable scenes.
The performance was also enhanced by additional special effects that can be provided within a theatrical environment, enhancing the mood by lighting changes and use of a mirror ball and even by making it snow. All this added to increasing the magic of an already well-known story and hopefully will have encouraged a younger audience to return to the Theatre to experience the magic of live performance again. 
Although the running time of 2 hours 40 minutes sounded long to begin with, the children were entertained by the participation elements and got involved in making the sound effects, cheering, booing and singing-a-long. I would recommend getting a seat in the stalls, if you want to get fully immersed in the snowstorm.
I took my 5 year-old niece, Olivia Thackray, to see this show and asked her for her review. She said ‘My favourite part was when it snowed and when the bubbles came bursting out. I liked being able to dance and sing-a-long and see the characters. I also liked that we got a goody bag of things to use during the show. I would give it 5 stars!’
Adults beware – you are all expected to join in too. But I know that even though some of you have already ‘Let it Go’ there are still some parents/aunties out there like me, willing to ‘Build a Snowman.’
Hear other audience reactions here.
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