The Snow Queen finds a new home with the Impostors

As holiday fare goes, Hans Christian Andersen’s 1844 fairy tale “The Snow Queen” is grimmer than most. Of course, it’s not explicitly a Christmas story just because it references winter, anymore than Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale is. But the blend of wintry elements with a fantastical immortal being who lives near the North Pole certainly suggest that it’s ripe for exploration at this time of year. Back in 2006, Victory Gardens offered their take on Andersen’s story, adapted by Frank Galati and featuring an original folk score by Michael Smith, with puppet designs by Blair Thomas (who went on to become the founder and artistic director of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival). That ran for a few seasons, but aside from a production at now gone House Theatre of Chicago back in 2021 and various productions of the musical Frozen (very loosely adapted from Andersen’s original), The Snow Queen hasn’t been on local stages in recent years.

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