Hilo’s Palace Theater stages Frozen with more than 100 local performers

More than 100 local performers and volunteers opened HEART’s Frozen at the Hilo Palace Theater on June 19, turning the downtown landmark into one of the largest productions the Hilo-based company has attempted. The show will continue June 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28, with a possible extension July 3, 4 and 5, giving Big Island families a full run of summer theater in the middle of Hilo.

The cast puts familiar local names front and center. Shayna Cohen plays Elsa, Zaira Hahn is Anna, and Riann Young and MJ Hahn portray the younger princesses. Behind them, director Larry Reitzer and assistant director Daniel Robinson have guided a production that also depends on producer and president Sarah Polloi, choreographer Kassidy Wilson and music director Grayson Mento, along with a larger backstage crew that has kept the show moving from rehearsals to opening night.

HEART built the production with youth arts in mind. In February, the company described Frozen as a large-cast, inclusive project intended to serve 50 to 100 local youth performers both onstage and behind the scenes, and the group marked its fifth anniversary with a benefit concert and fundraiser at the Palace Theater to help pay for it. Rehearsals began April 9, tech week started June 15, and a preview was held June 18, underscoring how much volunteer labor and planning went into putting a Disney title on a historic Hilo stage.

The choice of venue matters as much as the show itself. The Palace Theater, built and opened in 1925, is now celebrating 100 years and calls itself the Pride of Hilo. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the theater remains a cultural anchor in Downtown Hilo, and a full-scale production like Frozen keeps families coming into the city center for live performance rather than watching from home.

That homegrown identity is also central to HEART, which describes itself as a Hilo theater company focused on performance, education and audience-building opportunities for arts lovers of all ages. The group has previously staged Dear Evan Hansen, Cabaret, Beauty and the Beast, Biloxi Blues, Chicago, Gypsy, Avenue Q, The Lion King, Grease, The Prom and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at the Palace, building a track record that has made the theater a reliable stage for ambitious community productions. Tickets are available at the box office and through the theater’s website, and the run extends through July 5.