Laramie High School Theater Dazzles Audiences With Disney's Frozen Musical

Lily Onnen stepped into the role of Elsa at Laramie High School's main auditorium on Boulder Drive in late March, leading a student cast through one of Broadway's most technically demanding Disney productions and earning a district-wide congratulations from Albany County School District #1.

The LHS Theater Department staged Disney's Frozen, The Broadway Musical under the direction of Clarissa Walker, the school's theater teacher and director, who framed the production as something the community urgently needed. A dress rehearsal was photographed by Carol Ryczek on March 24, 2026.

"In our crazy world, theater is so important, because you can go and have that moment, to escape, to learn about love," Walker said. She described the production's core message plainly: "This story is about warm hugs. I think the message is really important in the world we now live in."

Alongside Onnen's Elsa, Rachel Canen played Anna, Byron Anderson took the role of Prince Hans, and Cameron Killpark portrayed Kristoff. Walker noted that the cast and crew carried a particular excitement into the production because they grew up with the story, making the performance both a theatrical and a personal undertaking for everyone on stage.

The show is based on the 2013 Academy Award-winning Disney animated film set in the fictional Scandinavian kingdom of Arendelle, where Princess Elsa's uncontrolled magical powers plunge the kingdom into eternal winter. Her sister Anna's journey to find her drives a story woven through with trolls, Olaf the talking snowman, romance, and ultimately selfless love. The stage musical's music and lyrics were written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, with a book by Jennifer Lee.

The LHS production arrives at a moment when the musical is drawing renewed attention. A professionally filmed West End version starring Samantha Barks as Elsa became available on Disney+ on June 20, 2025, and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival ran its own professional production from November 26, 2025 through January 4, 2026. That LHS students tackled the same material on the same stage where, just months earlier in November 2025, they presented Pirates (Pirettes) of Penzance speaks to how quickly the theater department has scaled its ambitions.

Albany County School District #1 amplified the achievement on its official Facebook page, calling the student cast's work "outstanding." For Walker, who hoped audiences would leave the auditorium at 1710 Boulder Drive transported somewhere else entirely, the production made that case.