‘I’m an Anna through and through,’ says Frozen star

It’s a challenging role and a demanding run of 45 shows in 40 days, but Jessica Gallant feels she was born to play the awkward and intrepid younger sister in the musical adaptation of the Disney hit. 

Editor’s note: Check out our Instagram on Wednesday, Dec. 17 for Jessica Gallant’s takeover where she’ll give a behind-the-scenes view of a day-in-the-life playing Anna in Disney’s Frozen, The Broadway Musical at Theatre Aquarius. 

It’s clear to Jessica Gallant and to theatregoers who have watched her perform at Theatre Aquarius these last three weeks that she was born to play Anna in Disney’s Frozen, The Broadway Musical.

“I've never felt more like myself on stage,” she says during an interview with HAMILTON CITY Magazine the morning after a two-day stretch of four shows. 

“I will say it just feels like she's kind of in my bones. I mean, people tell me I'm very bubbly and optimistic and I like to be really goofy. So I think we share a lot of those characteristics, but the way she's willing to go the extra mile for the people she loves is something I'd like to think that we also share.”

Anna, the younger sister of the magical Queen Elsa, is, in many ways, the true heroine of Frozen. She’s fiercely loyal, determined, bold and brave, but also charmingly and humorously awkward. Gallant is just a joy to watch in the role.

But it’s a demanding one. She’s on stage for much of the show, involved in many song and dance sequences, including solos, duets and ensembles. 

“It's probably one of the busiest tracks I've ever done in my career. And when I'm not on stage, I'm backstage changing. I have an 18-second quick change. I have a 43-second costume change. So I'm back there while you see our gorgeous ensemble dancing, just throwing clothes like the whirling dervish.”

It’s a long run – 45 shows over 40 days – and Gallant, who lives in Toronto, isn’t seeing a lot of her husband actor and producer Luc Trottier or her daughter Lennon, who spent her fourth birthday a couple of weeks ago watching her mom perform.

Though Gallant has dreamed of playing Anna ever since the musical debuted on Broadway in 2018, Lennon was less than impressed when her mom landed the part. 

“I was so excited to tell her, because my husband was actually in The Lion King at Mirvish and that was exciting. So I said, ‘Mommy's going to be in Frozen.’ She said, ‘You're going to be Elsa?’ And I said, ‘No, Mommy's gonna be Anna.’ So she was very upset. She cried.”

But Gallant has been showing Lennon pictures and videos of Kayleigh Gorka as Elsa in the Hamilton production.

“I tell her that Mommy's an Anna. Mommy could never be Elsa. I'm an Anna, through and through.”

‘Something really special’

The role is a great opportunity, says Gallant, who has played Ariel in The Little Mermaid and Belle in Beauty and the Beast.

“The journey of Anna is really juicy as an actor, because I've played Disney princesses in the past, but the journey that Anna goes on in this show is fantastic. All she wants is love, and she wants to figure out what that is and how to get it and where to find it, and the things she's willing to do to find it as an actor, to go to those places while simultaneously getting to be quirky and have those comedic moments, but then flip it around and have the dramatic beats. You don't get that all the time as an actor. So I'm just soaking up every second of this role.”

Gallant and Gorka, who grew up in Hamilton, have never worked together but had an immediate connection in rehearsal. 

“We have a ton of mutual friends, and the industry is very small. I've seen snippets of her work, but to get to work with her is unreal.” 

Gallant sings the praises of the entire  cast and creative team on Frozen and says everyone has been a joy to work with. 

“The way the audiences have been reacting to (the show) is feeling really special. We all feel it. Kayleigh and I talk about it a lot, that we feel like we're a part of something really special right now.”

Gallant, who hails from Prince Edward Island, says she was a shy kid but being on stage in school plays and in programs at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown pulled her out of her shell. She was about 18 when director and choreographer Stephanie Graham told her she could consider performing as a career. 

From there, she went to Sheridan College for theatre arts, where she met her husband, who grew up in Newmarket. She left the program before graduation because she landed the role of another iconic red-headed heroine. 

She was only the second P.E.I. native to ever play Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables – The Musical at the Charlottetown Festival.

“I still am pinching myself that that happened, and that was 10 years ago. So when I put on the red braids for Anna, yes, I sort of had a flashback. There's something about the red braid characters that I connect with.”

Following that, she tackled perhaps one of the most iconic women of our time, pulling together a Dolly Parton tribute show during the pandemic at a time she was supposed to play Cinderella at Aquarius. She performed the show across PEI over three summers before she reworked it to add more storytelling from her life and from Dolly’s and brought Becoming Dolly to the Charlottetown Festival. 

Gallant says she was “honoured and gobsmacked” to be awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal of Honour this year and she’s previously been named BroadwayWorld Montreal’s Performer of the Decade.

Day by day

Taking on a challenging lead role during the high-season for colds, flu and COVID, and all the preparations and gatherings for the holidays is a tall order. It takes a lot to remain well-rested and healthy. Gallant says she’s relying on her husband to manage the home front and just concentrating on doing what she needs to do each day.

“As soon as I started rehearsals, I told myself, I'm going to do this day by day. I'm not going to look forward to Christmas. I'm not going to look ahead to tech week. I'm not gonna look ahead to opening. I'm going to look at our first day of rehearsal, and this is the only thing I'm going to focus on. I’ve done that every day since,” she says.

“I've done shows where I see the entire picture right away, and it just is overwhelming. So that's how I tried to approach it, and I've learned I'm going to approach every role like that, because it's brought me so much peace and enjoyment.”

She has to be protective of her voice and as an extrovert, that’s a hard one. She’ll spend hours ahead of a show on vocal rest. 

“It's definitely a sacrifice, and I hate having to text my mom or my family and say I'm not talking today. It can be a little lonely sometimes, but that's why you’ve got to find your people and make sure you're still texting your friends and family, so you don't go crazy just waiting for the show that evening.”

She spends time commuting from Toronto doing vocal warm ups and listening to podcasts. It’s a good time of solitude to get ready for the day. Her pre-show routine includes hair and makeup, and dance warmups, but also a daily fight call to run through stage combat sequences. 

Though she finishes each day tired, she’s also grateful.

“I'm not taking a single second of it for granted, especially because I'm a mom, and I'm not getting any younger. I'm just gonna enjoy it and soak this up as much as I can because I’m not going to get to play roles like this forever.”