“Have faith in your dreams and someday/Your rainbow will come smiling through.”
It’s hard to hear Matthew Cangelose’s story and not be reminded of those magical Disney lyrics.
He was a competitive ice skater when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and derailed his career, which he had trained for since the age of 10.
Retaining a deep love for the artform, he didn’t know where to turn next when the world re-opened. As he tried to plot his future, a friend in the cast told him about “Disney on Ice.”
He thought the chance to skate, travel and bring joy to audiences sounded “extraordinary” − and has happily skated around the globe with “Disney on Ice” ever since, recently marking five years with the organization. He’s gotten the chance to perform in 46 states in America, spent 2.5 months in Japan and toured Western Europe.
This week, the 30-year-old skater visits Trenton with “Disney on Ice Presents Frozen & Encanto,” at the CURE Insurance Arena through March 15.
The show is “very special because it has two of the most award-winning Disney properties, and it is very magical,” Cangelose said. “It has all of your favorite characters including Anna, Elsa, Mirabel and her whole Madrigal family, as well as Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy,” he said.
Coming from the world of competitive skating, he’s enjoyed getting the chance to explore acting through his performances with “Disney on Ice.”
“It can be really challenging not coming from an acting background and getting to develop that skill on the ice,” he said. But “getting to see the audience members just light up whenever they see those characters that you help to bring to life, it’s really cool.”
Cangelose appears as Hans and Kristoff at moments throughout the show, and portays Prince Eric in the finale.
He especially loves the coronation scene in the show, “getting to skate the waltz and see Anna and Elsa interact and getting to keep stretching that improv acting muscle. Being in the background and helping to support the scene, I think it’s really fun. It’s really cool to get to bring all of these moments to life and share that magic with everyone.”
He’s also loved the lifelong friends and sense of commuinty that “Disney on Ice” builds.
Cangelose is a Texas native − “not a lot of people think we have ice there,” he quipped. He grew up skating in the Houston and Dallas areas.
He has long loved the feeling of being on the ice.
“I love the expression that you put out onto the ice − your emotion, whatever you’re feeling that day, can come through your movements. And that feeling of gliding over the ice and feeling free and feeling the cool breeze in your face. It’s not a feeling that you get anywhere else and you get transported to another world. It’s very therapeutic,” he said.
Outside of skating, he hopes to earns degrees in architecture in order to “create sustainable construction models for the urban landscape” and become a certified reiki healer, astrologer and tarot reader.
Skating with “Disney on Ice” gave him a chance to fall in love anew with Disney and its stories and iconic music in addition to skating and sharing the magic with audiences.
“When you start to really absorb it, you feed off of that energy when you’re on the ice, it actually makes it even more exhilarating. You get to interact with everybody and you feel like a part of something more than just skating.”
Go: “Disney on Ice Presents Frozen & Encanto”; 7 p.m. Thursday, March 12, and Friday, March 13, 11 a.m., 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday, March 14, 11 a.m and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 15; CURE Insurance Arena, 81 Hamilton Ave., Trenton. For tickets and more information, visit disneyonice.com/en-us/frozen-and-encanto.
Ilana Keller is an award-winning journalist and lifelong New Jersey resident who loves Broadway and really bad puns. Reach out: [email protected].
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