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Wyoming Valley West Students of the Month

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MSNBC hires former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren for evening show

<p>WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP &#8212; If you&#8217;re a kid &#8212; or ever were one &#8212; chances are you know what it&#8217;s like to &#8220;want to build a snowman,&#8221; or play some other kind of game, and be rejected.</p><p>Maybe that&#8217;s why Anna, the younger sister in Disney&#8217;s popular movie &#8220;Frozen,&#8221; inspires so much sympathy.</p><p>&#8220;She&#8217;s very relatable, and very spunky,&#8221; said Jessica Leatham, a medal-winning skater who portrays the young princess in Disney on Ice: Passport to Adventure, which is scheduled to run Jan. 12-16 at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.</p><p>Characters from Disney&#8217;s &#8220;The Lion King,&#8221; &#8220;The Little Mermaid&#8221; and &#8220;Peter Pan,&#8221; along with Mickey and Minnie Mouse all will take part in the ice show, but the &#8220;Frozen&#8221; segment promises to be especially exciting, with appearances by Princesses Anna and Elsa, Kristoff the ice harvester and Olaf the snowman.</p><p>&#8220;Olaf has such a bubbly personality,&#8221; said Angie Lien, who appears as Princess Elsa. &#8220;He seems to always be smiling. You have to love somebody who&#8217;s smiling all the time.&#8221;</p><p>Lien&#8217;s character, in contrast, doesn&#8217;t feel like smiling all the time. Princess Elsa, after all, has that hard-to-control, flash-freeze power zapping out of her hands. It&#8217;s a problem that leads to alienation from her sister and just about everyone in her kingdom.</p><p>&#8220;But she has the ability to be strong; the ability not just to freeze, but to thaw,&#8221; Lien said.</p><p>Lien grew up in the Midwest with a sister of her own, and can identify with some of the difficulties Anna and Elsa experience. &#8220;We definitely had our little bickering and fights and &#8216;she won&#8217;t give it back,&#8217;&#8221; the skater reminisced with a laugh.</p><p>Nowadays, she added, she&#8217;s grateful for any chance to spend time with family. &#8220;We were lucky enough to spend a day and a half in Minnesota,&#8221; she said, explaining that&#8217;s where her young niece and nephew are growing up.</p><p>Lien and her husband, who works with props and &#8220;helps build the magic&#8221; for the Disney show, spent some time skating outdoors with a 6-year-old nephew in the crisp Minnesota air. &#8220;More often than not,&#8221; she said, winters there &#8220;are cold and snowy and beautiful.&#8221;</p><p>So far, winter in Northeastern Pennsylvania hasn&#8217;t been very snowy &#8212; but the Disney show promises to bring the icy beauty of Arendelle to the arena along with the underwater mystery of The Little Mermaid&#8217;s home, and the excitement of Neverland and the Pride Lands of Africa.</p><p>&#8220;People won&#8217;t be disappointed,&#8221; Leatham said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Jessica Leatham portrays spunky Princess Anna and Angie Lien is her older sister, Princess Elsa, in the &#8216;Frozen&#8217; segment of Disney on Ice: Passport to Adventure. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_Anna-and-Elsa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Jessica Leatham portrays spunky Princess Anna and Angie Lien is her older sister, Princess Elsa, in the &#8216;Frozen&#8217; segment of Disney on Ice: Passport to Adventure. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_Anna-and-Olaf.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Olaf the snowman doesn&#8217;t know what snow does in summer, and Princess Anna doesn&#8217;t want to tell him. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_Anna-and-Olaf.jpg</photo1><caption1>Olaf the snowman doesn&#8217;t know what snow does in summer, and Princess Anna doesn&#8217;t want to tell him. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photo </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>&#8216;Frozen&#8217; will be part of Disney on Ice</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What:</strong> &#8216;Disney on Ice: Passport to Adventure&#8217;</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Mohegan Sun Arena, 255 Highland Park Blvd., Wilkes-Barre Townshp.</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 7 p.m. Jan. 12 and 13; 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Jan. 14; 3 p.m. Jan. 15 and noon Jan. 16.</p><p><strong>Info:</strong> 800-745-3000</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Anna, Elsa coming to Mohegan Sun Arena with Disney on Ice