Anna and the ‘Frozen’ crew skate into TWC Arena

When it comes to Disney princesses, Snow White and Cinderella reigned supreme for decades, making room for Belle, Ariel and Jasmine in the ’80s and ’90s. But no one in recent years has gripped a nation of starry-eyed little girls’ imaginations quite like “Frozen’s” Elsa and Anna.

It was a no-brainer to include the sister princesses as well as Kristoff and Olaf in the newest production of Disney on Ice – “100 Years of Magic,” a greatest hits of sorts that includes the aforementioned princesses as well as characters and music from “Toy Story,” “Finding Nemo,” “Tangled,” “The Princess and the Frog,” “The Lion King” and, of course, Mickey Mouse and the clubhouse crew.

“100 Years of Magic” starts a five-day run at Time Warner Cable Arena on Wednesday.

Adding “Frozen” to the lineup was a must. The highest-grossing animated film of all time has spawned its own touring Disney ice show and Anna and Elsa are the Disney equivalent to rock stars, plus Olaf has made the franchise cool and funny for boys, as well.

“I wasn’t aware of how serious it was until I stepped out for the preview show and little girls started screaming for Anna,” says Jamie Edens, who plays that role. “I love the movie myself so I understand the hysteria over it.”

“100 Years of Magic” also includes the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go,” as well as signature songs from the other films represented in the show.

“We lip sync,” Edens clarifies. “I get asked all the time. I don’t know if I’d have the lung capacity to sing and skate.”

Edens grew up a competitive skater and has worked with Disney on Ice for three years, but competition for the coveted role of Anna was fierce.

“Anna is a hot commodity for skaters. I started really early last year working on the numbers,” says Edens of the show, which launched this month.

Skating in shows is a nice break from competitive skating, though.

“Getting into Disney shows is like a nice retirement. Competing is really stressful. Obviously, hard work goes into this, but you don’t have the pressure of competition and of your parents spending money on the sport. Shows are a great afterlife to competing. I get to travel. All the hard work has paid off now,” she continues. “The only part I found difficult was the dialogue for Anna. That’s a fun challenge.”

There’s still no guarantee the performers won’t fall.

“Obviously we don’t have a lot of triples so there’s a lot less likely chance that you’ll fall,” says Edens, laughing. “I find I fall more because I’m into character and I’m not thinking about what my feet are doing. But if I fall as Anna it works because she’s clumsy anyways.”

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 12:38 PM with the headline "Anna and the ‘Frozen’ crew skate into TWC Arena."