A Voice Geek’s Christmas: Performing Frozen with Tahirih Vejdani ❄️

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Voice Study Centre! We love seeing what our students get up to outside the MA, especially during the festive season. In this blog, our Voice Pedagogy student, Tahirih Vejdani, takes us behind the scenes of Disney’s Frozen The Broadway Musical, sharing the joys, challenges, and excitement of performing in a holiday show. 🎄✨

I am currently in a production of Disney's Frozen The Broadway Musical, playing the role of Bulda at The Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, Canada. This is a co-production with The Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where we performed earlier this year in Jan/Feb. Between both productions, we will have done over 80 performances of Frozen!

The run at The Grand Theatre is just over six weeks long, including the extensions. Since this production is a revival, we had a shortened rehearsal process, so things felt a little wild returning to a role I hadn't played for over eight months. I did do a little personal review before our first day of rehearsal to refresh the part in my mind, body and voice. Behind the scenes, things moved very quickly, and in no time we were already into tech. As you can imagine, Frozen is a very tech-heavy show with lots of stunning magic and visual effects. The team on this show did a fantastic job bringing the visual storytelling to life.    

What makes performing in a holiday show like Frozen special is truly the joy it brings to the kids, especially at the student matinees. I am definitely not a fan of getting up early, but it's definitely worth it when you hear the gasps, awes, and giggles from the kids in the audience. And seeing all the little dressed-up Elsas and Annas in the audience is really, really cute. 

What's especially exciting for me this time around is that I am understudying the role of Olaf, which I did not do in the previous run. This was an exciting challenge and a great opportunity to work with the phenomenal Olaf puppet and learn the song In Summer.

The work I am doing in the MA program has really benefited me both as a performer and a teacher. Understanding the research behind vocal dosing, endurance, and sustainability comes into practice when doing an 8-show week. There is a lot of off-stage singing in Frozen, so understanding vocal pacing and active recovery through a show itself is very important. I'll often be doing SOVTEs like blowing bubbles into my water bottle before stepping on stage to sing 'Fixer Upper'. 

The information I've been studying about the voice not only benefits me personally, but also my fellow cast mates. I just love talking about vocal health and habilitation! My research has been on vocal cool-down practices, and I am currently designing a resource on cool-downs as part of my Module 2, which I am working on between shows.

I also teach voice for Sheridan College's Bachelor of Musical Theatre program and was teaching remotely during this production. So balancing the vocal dose of being a teacher and performer at the same time is an important skill I have developed as a result of my studies.

🌐 www.tahirihvejdani.com