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Newspaper Articles 
Theater review: 'Snow Queen' gelling into something colorful 
Star Tribune
Published: March 3, 2002
By Rohan Preston
Sporting a tuxedo, a shock of hair and feathery fingers, high-stepping thespian Bradley Greenwald prances onto the Children's Theatre stage like a jaunty, scary crow. He walks and squawks with the peculiar rhythm of the black bird, but his Sonya Berlovitz-designed costume, including tails, says crow-by-way-of-Mozart.
So it goes in the wacky, strange realm that the CTC has created for "The Snow Queen." It is a world where humans mix with animals and where fluttery flowers come from hands. It also has vivid dreams, ragamuffins and the ice monarch herself, who holds wicked sway over her dominion. And this realm is haunted by four choruslike winds that deliver high-pitched joiks -- the keening singing style of Sami herders in Finland.
Though the show is ice-glazed, the experience -- recommended for older children -- is like riding through a kaleidoscope. The musical is suffused with colorful language, earthy, ritualistic rhythms and breezy bits of humor.
Based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, "Snow Queen," which premiered Friday in Minneapolis, is a journey that affirms the value of friendship. The title character has a mirror that reflects everything in opposite. When the mirror shatters over the world, a shard lands in the eye of a sweet young boy named Kai. He changes into a mean, abusive figure, turning on his friend Gerda.
The snow queen takes Kai away, but Gerda, still remembering him as a good friend, goes in search of him. She meets many interesting, instructive creatures on the journey, including the crow (Greenwald the excellent), a robber girl in the forest who wants to steal her friendship (the mean Emily Zimmer) and a wise, put-upon reindeer (Reed Sigmund).
The message-laden production, like most new shows, still needs tweaking. The individual segments, packaged like poems, sometimes rub against one another.
Still, you can see the achievement of the show in its music, its riddling humor and its often evocative acting. "Snow Queen" is a testament to the creative visions of directors Peter Brosius and Michael Sommers, who have shaped it to twist and turn like a stream.
Most important, the show is bright evidence of the expansive talents of theatrical multitasker Ruth MacKenzie, who plays the title character with frightening austerity. She has adapted, scored and written lyrics for this production.
And the message of friendship stressed by "Snow Queen" comes through in music and a script that harks back to the ritual vein that MacKenzie first tapped in "Kalevala: Dream of the Salmon Maiden."
For example, the creatures of this world have a lot to teach Gerda (played with effervescent charm by Britta Ollmann) and Kai (played by Conor McDonald with a slight lisp). Other educators-in-passing include a flower lady (the delightful Diane Benjamin-Hill) and an old robber woman (Autumn Ness).
In many ways, "Snow Queen" also suggests a kind of eco-friendly, pagan ritual -- the kind of thing you might see at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, except with more humans and higher production values.
The show is high on the wow factor. The queen towers over the stage from some secret lift. She seems to be flying in. The power of the production is not all by technological wizardry. The flowers, for example, come from the hands of unseen cast members below the stage; they are fetching and sensitive.
And the dreams of people asleep are puppets designed by Sommers. He based his sharp puppets and scenic elements on artwork by Andersen.
The two directors, who play with scale, have given us something with a unified vision. "Snow Queen" doesn't seem to be going in different directions, but works like two streams joining. Although the music is not used to push the narrative forward so much as to reflect on what's going on, it imbues the show with a high-register spirit.
Copyright 2002 Star Tribune.
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