Dave Alley
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – PCPA is bringing Disney’s Frozen to life this holiday season with a much-anticipated six-week long run inside the Marian Theatre on the Allan Hancock College campus.
“Frozen is just a wonderful, family-friendly show,” said Lesley McKinnell, who plays Elsa in the show. “Honestly, it’s so great for everyone of all ages, but I would say especially the littles. They really do love Frozen, and just the pieces in it, the songs in it. They just really are wonderful tunes that people seem to enjoy year after year.”
The show is based on the iconic 2013 Disney Academy Award-winning animated film, along with the subsequent Tony Awards-nominated Broadway musical that followed.
“There’s a lot of additions, a musical additions to the show, songs that they have heard before that are from the movie, but that they also have not heard,” said McKinnell. “There’s a couple like Anna and Elsa, both have song new songs, additions and Kristoff as well. He doesn’t really sing in the movie or the first staged musical of it. He didn’t really have a song, but he has a whole song now. Hans has a whole song now, and so it’ll be fun to be experiencing the old numbers that everyone’s used to, but also see the new ones that it’s like, ‘oh, that’s fun to have a little fresh new song in there.'”
Set in the fictional wintery kingdom of Arendelle, Frozen is an ideal production for PCPA to hold as its annual holiday show, which typically draws its biggest audiences of the year.
“It’s nice because here, we don’t get white Christmases,” said Molly Dobbs, who plays Anna in the show. “So it’s a moment to kind of feel into that space of blisteringly cold, and you want a cup of hot chocolate, and you want to be with your family and wrap up in a warm coat and go and see some real life snow on stage, so it fits perfectly with the season, and I think the Christmas show is a big tradition for a lot of families. They come in, they see it, and that’s one of their Christmas traditions, so to have it be so on theme feels nice. This one really is a Christmas show. It feels nice to be able to to bring exactly what we know families are wanting.”
PCPA describes Frozen as a show that features incredible characters on a magical adventure through snowstorms, sisterhood, and self-discovery that includes magnificent music, heart, as well as a flurry of fun.
“The heart of the story I think is just even better in this stage version because you just really see the relationship between Elsa and Anna and their struggle to connect with each other and the secrets that they have to keep to keep each other safe or love one another,” said McKinnell. “I just think it’s a really beautiful picture of sacrificial love to one another and just really loving others as yourself.”
The show premiered earlier this month on Nov. 6, and through the first several performances, the actors describe the reaction has been extremely positive.
“It’s been so much fun,” said Dobbs. “I’ve already met a lot of kids. I’ll go out and I’ll meet the princesses in the lobby, and they’re like, ‘this is my first time I’ve ever gone to the theater,’ so that’s really, really special because everybody up here remembers their first time going to the theater. It’s lovely to see families. It’s really nice and heartwarming and you walk away feeling exhausted and so gratified and so fulfilled.”
Disney’s Frozen runs in the Marian Theatre through Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025 and will actually return to the stage for PCPA next summer outside in the Solvang Festival Theater from July 5, 2026 through Aug. 2, 2026.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit pcpa.org.
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