Knock, Knock! Who’s there? You. You who? Yoo-hoo Big Summer Blowout! This summer, Rich Heritage of Cedar Rapids (RHCR) Theatre brought to Cedar Rapids the spectacular “Disney’s Frozen Jr.”. This show starred two Xavier sophomores, Ava Challenger and Chase Ralston, who played Elsa and Kristoff, respectively. Practice for the musical started in mid June and they had their first performance at the end of July. Challenger and Ralston were very excited to learn that they were going to be in the musical.

“I am not quite sure how I felt. I was happy with the part I got and I saw Ava’s name on the list and I was excited to be doing another show with her! I was just happy to be cast,” Ralston said.

Challenger and Ralston have done shows together before and were both excited to have someone they knew with them on set. 

“I was so excited! It was crazy to me that I was going to play a Disney princess and be able to sing the song, “Let it Go.” I also saw it as a challenge to prove myself to be worthy of the part of Elsa, especially since the animated Elsa and I don’t share the same skin color,” Challenger said.

Both Challenger and Ralston’s friends came to the show to support them. Xavier junior Carlie Mauss thought the musical was phenominal.

“All of the costumes were amazing! And it was absolutely adorable at the end when they called all the kids on stage and the cast and kids sang “Let it Go” together,” Mauss said. 

Mauss also added that the set was really neat and the cast was very good at playing their roles. 

“My favorite part about being Elsa was probably my wig. I was panicking about it before my first photo shoot because I had absolutely no idea what it was going to look like. When I first saw it, my jaw dropped because it was so beautiful,” Challenger said. “I loved coming onto the stage and hearing a whole bunch of tiny little gasps and voices saying ‘I love this song!’ and ‘Look it’s Elsa.’ It was so much fun to bring happiness to so many kids.”

Overall, the musical was a success and the cast had so much fun and spread happiness to those who came to watch. Viewers can catch these   two in action in  Xavier High School’s fall musical, Beauty and the Beast. Tickets will be available for purchase in the Activities Office leading up to the show.