They came from New York. From Washington D.C. From California, Florida, Alabama, and points in between. They landed in Coeur d'Alene, walked into a rehearsal hall, and got to work.

Seventeen days. That is what a company of professional performers has to build Disney's Frozen The Broadway Musical from the ground up — music, choreography, staging, character, story — before they walk out onto the stage at Schuler Performing Arts Center and give it to this community. Seventeen long, demanding, exhilarating days.

That is the reality of professional regional theatre. And it is exactly what Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre, Idaho's oldest live performing arts organization, has been delivering to North Idaho every summer since 1967.

Disney's Frozen The Broadway Musical opens Friday, June 26, 2026, for a strictly limited seven-performance run.

The Story

Most people know Frozen from the 2013 Academy Award-winning animated film. The Broadway musical goes deeper.

Set in the mythical kingdom of Arendelle, it follows two sisters — Princess Anna and Queen Elsa — who have grown up separated by a secret. Elsa possesses magical powers she cannot control, and has spent her entire life hiding them, even from the sister she loves most. When those powers are finally exposed on her coronation day, she flees into the mountains, plunging the kingdom into an eternal winter. Anna sets off to find her.

It is an adventure — through frozen tundra alongside a warmhearted ice harvester named Kristoff, his loyal reindeer Sven, and an irrepressible snowman named Olaf who dreams of experiencing summer. But underneath the spectacle, it is a story about two sisters trying to find their way back to each other. About fear, and courage, and what love actually costs.

The Broadway production adds twelve new songs written specifically for the stage by Oscar and EGOT winners Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez — alongside the beloved classics audiences already know: "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?," "For the First Time in Forever," and the global anthem "Let It Go." The result is a richer, fuller, more emotionally layered story than the screen version can hold. Critics who have seen it on professional stages across the country and around the world have called it spectacular. Breathtaking. An experience unlike anything else in theatre.

The Company

The cast of Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre's production of Frozen is a working professional theatre company — performers who have trained at conservatories, logged hours on professional stages, and built careers in musical theatre. They did not all know each other before they arrived in Coeur d'Alene. They came from around the country, as they do every summer for Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre, and they built something together.

Madi Barnes and Ashley Cleveland share the stage as Elsa and Anna — the two sisters at the center of everything. Together they carry the emotional and vocal weight of one of musical theatre's most demanding shows. Barnes brings Elsa's journey from isolation to self-acceptance to life with extraordinary range and presence. Cleveland is a Coeur d'Alene native, bringing a genuine local connection to a role that audiences worldwide have taken to heart. Joining them are several other local performers woven into the company, including Skye Shotwell as Young Anna and Stormy Christopherson as Young Elsa — the versions of these sisters audiences meet at the very beginning, before the distance, before everything goes wrong, and the roles that set every emotional stake that follows.

The full cast includes Jay Kanabay as Kristoff, Lydia Salita as Olaf, Dylan James as Hans, Harrison Pearl as Sven, Hunter Curry as Weselton, Gabriel Trimbur as Pabbie, Amee Peltekian as Bulda, Adam Bingham as Oaken, Jessica Hamilton as Queen Iduna, and Kristofer Simmons as King Agnarr, with an ensemble that includes Delaney Carroll, Zach Hardy, Josh Miller, Grant Measures, Nicole Ostlie, Heather Stephens, Adele Trapp, Mihret Washington, and Damien Hober.

This is what a professional company looks like: nationally recruited, locally rooted, and pouring everything they have into seventeen days of work so that this community gets something extraordinary.

The Production

"What drew us to Frozen is the same thing that has drawn audiences to it worldwide — it's a story about two sisters and what real love looks like," said Chuck Ethridge, Executive Artistic Director of Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre. "Our job was to honor that story with a production that doesn't ask the audience to use their imagination for what's missing. We made a deliberate decision to do this show at the level audiences expect from us. That meant bringing in Broadway-quality set pieces, professional puppets, a Broadway-caliber creative team, and a cast that can deliver this material at the highest level. We brought everything."

That commitment is visible in every element of the production. The show features the same scenic elements used in professional touring productions of Frozen — trucked in specifically for this engagement. The Olaf and Sven characters are realized through professional-grade, Disney-approved puppets. Projections Designer Patrick Nims brings a professional projection system to bear on the sweeping visual environments the story demands.

The production is directed and choreographed by Megan Ruth Smith, with Assistant Director Chelsea DuVall. Music direction is by Scott Michaelsen, with music supervision and sound consultation by Nick Thorpe. The design team includes Costume Designer Alyssa Day, Lighting Designer Alana Shepherd, Projections Designer Patrick Nims, Props Designer Maddy Arana, and Sound Designer Jeremy Wissing. Production management is led by Executive Artistic Director Chuck Ethridge and Production Manager Mike Chapman. Stage management is led by Sean Fullmer, with Assistant Stage Manager Gavin Zacher, Crew Chief Kristin Martinez, and Youth Talent Manager Annemarie Stephens.

What Live Professional Theatre Gives a Community

There is something that happens in a live professional theatre performance that cannot be replicated anywhere else. Not on a screen. Not through headphones. Not on demand at midnight in a living room.

It happens when trained performers and a live audience share the same space and the same moment — when the music swells and a voice fills a room and something in the story lands exactly where you live. It is communal and immediate and irreplaceable. It is what Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre has been giving this region for nearly six decades, and it is what this production of Frozen will give to everyone who walks through those doors.

People drive from across the Pacific Northwest and Canada — Spokane, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, and beyond — to see what Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre puts on stage. Audiences who have seen shows in New York and Chicago come home saying the same thing: it is every bit as good.

Sometimes better. The orchestra is live, the production is built to professional scale, and the whole experience is unhurried and human in a way that major city venues often are not.

That is what Frozen brings — a professional production of one of the most beloved stories in modern musical theatre, performed by a company of artists who chose to bring their work here.

Performance Schedule

Disney's Frozen The Broadway Musical runs June 26 through July 5, 2026, for seven performances only:
Friday, June 26 — 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 27 — 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 28 — 2:00 p.m. (ASL Interpreted Performance)
Wednesday, July 1 — 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 2 — 7:30 p.m.
Friday, July 3 — 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 5 — 2:00 p.m.

All performances are at Schuler Performing Arts Center, Boswell Hall at North Idaho College, 880 W. Garden Avenue, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83814.

Tickets are $50–$192 and are available online at cstidaho.com/tickets/frozen or at the box office, open Wednesdays through Fridays 1p-4p and open 90 minutes prior to each performance at the venue.

About Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre

Founded in 1967, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre is Idaho's oldest live performing arts organization. Each summer, the theatre produces three full-scale Broadway musicals at Schuler Performing Arts Center, drawing professional talent from across the country to deliver productions at the highest regional theatre standard. Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For more information, visit cstidaho.com.

Disney's Frozen The Broadway Musical is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com