Nearly 100 cast and crew members lit up the Chrysalis stage with song and dance
By Liana Yadav
The Freaky Friday production by the Toronto Metropolitan Theatre Company (TMTC) opened on February 20, an icy cold Thursday night which marked the beginning of the end of the Winter 2025 reading week. The production was housed in The Creative School’s Chrysalis theatre on 43 Gerrard St., which launched in Spring 2024.
I went for the 8 p.m. show the following Friday night and found the theatre busy with students, friends, siblings and parents. Then the voices hushed as the theatre lights dimmed a few minutes after show time, and an announcement segued us all to a story we have come to know and love in its many adaptations.
Freaky Friday, originally written by Brian Yorkey and Bridget Carpenter, is a story about family, friendship, grief and teenage hormones. When Ellie and her mother Katherine accidentally switch bodies through a magic hourglass that breaks during one of their frequent arguments, they are forced to reckon with conflicting ways of thinking by stepping into the other’s shoes. In the midst of this theatrical drama, there is a wedding to be planned, a scavenger hunt to be won, high school dynamics to navigate and a baby brother to find.
Ellie and Katherine had captivating chemistry with distinct presence and voice. Played by Elise Jeffords and Isabella Malfatti, respectively, the two serenade with precision to songs such as “The Hourglass,” “Just One Day,” and “I Got This.” Jeffords and Blake hold each other towards the end of the second act with as much earnest love and acceptance as they had loathed the other’s idiosyncrasies in the first. Cast member Cooper McRory looked passionate as he remarked after the show, “it’s incredible to be in the wings of your friends performing their solo after you’ve seen them work to perfect it for months. And then to have 200 people appreciate it, too. It has been phenomenal.”
In a cast of students of similar ages, I marvelled at how uniquely each was able to emulate the stage of life their character was in. Even more miraculously, Ellie and Katherine exchanging bodies felt so real that I struggled to imagine them switching back in the climax scene. A character I particularly enjoyed watching was Grandpa Gordon, played by McRory, whose blonde hair seems convincing as both Ellie`s no-nonsense grandpa and her teenage classmate in gym class.
A contemporary look at the story, which most people have seen in Lindsay Lohan’s 2008 cult-classic film, also gives an interesting ode to smartphones and social media. For instance, Adam, Ellie’s crush played by Matthew Walker, spreads the word of his “Hunt” through a video on the internet, during which the characters also seemingly get notifications and post pictures. Though not omnipresent in a way that steals from the plot or appears jarring, the technologies simply exist as a subtle nod toward the times we live in. Another way the time-period is relatable but still unique and ubiquitous is through fashion. Y2k grunge fashion of smeared eyeliner with lower back tattoos and contemporary street style of baggy jeans with varsity jackets come together in a wardrobe that transcends time.
This show stays with you: colorful graphics, messy emotions, catchy songs and a vague resemblance to the experience of watching a goofy yet heartwarming movie from the early 2000s. The emotional range of all characters was incredibly cathartic to experience. Ethan Edwards, who played Fletcher, Ellie’s 10-year-old brother, switched accents between his puppets in a manner that left me giggling even at jokes that were funny only because they were so childish. Edwards looks so at ease playing a younger brother who loves his family despite them being overbearing at times.
Projects like TMTC’s Freaky Friday remind me of the core values of the student body at TMU. In a time when finances govern most endeavours, such productions are a fresh reminder of how far creativity can get you. All outfits, props and costumes had been sourced by students at The Creative School. The scene changes were well designed and added to the dramatized theatrics; the loud cheers and waves of “oohs” and “aahs” confirmed an engaged audience. With a theater full of students and families who paid $22 for a Friday night ticket and a corridor flooded with audience members cheering the cast after the show ended, I felt a surge of appreciation for the TMU spirit that moves us all — that of supporting student-run effort and celebrating the creativity and success that emerges as a result.
“Auditions happened in early fall,” said cast member Kaitlyn Tran, who plays Ellie’s high school rival Savannah. “And since then, the cast has been practicing every Sunday from 10 to six, sometimes longer.” When asked about how she relates to her character, Tran laughed before saying: “You know, I know Savannah comes off a little mean, but I think she’s just ambitious, and I relate a lot to that and her sassiness!”
Every cast member looked like they belonged on stage and seemed to revel in each other’s presence, having the time of their lives not just performing but setting up the stage for their friends. As much as I enjoyed watching TMTC’s Freaky Friday, I am not sure it was as much fun as the cast members were having performing it.
“It’s so awesome to be around people who volunteer their time to do something fun for the community,” said Kalon Young, who plays Katherine’s to-be husband, Mike. “It was a lot of hard work, but honestly? I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to be around every Sunday.”
“It’s been a full calendar year, from getting the rights to do this to auditions and rehearsals,” said Catie Thorn, who plays Ellie’s best friend, Gretchen, and is also a finance director on the executive team. “It’s incredible that a student-run theater company could produce something of this magnitude on such a tight timeline.”
And incredible it was. After a packed weekend of four back-to-back shows and many months of hard spent time and energy, cast and crew members take a seat back along with the rest of us until the next annual TMTC production lights up the stage in 2026.
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