London’s calling Frozen, but will Disney let it go?
ANDREW Lloyd webber is hoping that producers of the musical Frozen will let it go to the Theatre royal drury Lane after the venue’s £35 million revamp.
The show, based on the phenomenally successful disney animated film, completed a preBroadway run last Sunday at denver’s Centre for Performing Arts. when I saw it in Colorado, Thomas Schumacher, president of disney Theatricals, told me he’d love to see it staged in London — and the Theatre royal drury Lane is surely on his list.
director Michael Grandage is also a fan of the venue. But he and his team are taking nothing for granted until they see how Frozen fares in new York.
To re-open Britain’s most historic theatre with what could be disney’s biggest ever title would be a mega-deal for Lloyd webber and his associates at his really Useful Theatre Company.
The Frozen team — including Schumacher, Grandage, writer Jennifer Lee and songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and robert Lopez — have identified the cuts, tweaks and changes they need to make before the show, a fairytale about two royal sisters elsa and Anna, begins previewing at the St James Theatre in new York in February. The Broadway cast will include Caissie Levy as elsa, Patti Murin as Anna, Greg Hildreth as Olaf and Jelani Alladin as Kristoff the ice salesman. (Alladin had a sore throat the night I was in denver, so I caught his very fine understudy, noah J. ricketts.)
The Theatre royal, which has housed musicals such as Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, A Chorus Line, Miss Saigon and 42nd Street (a revival of which is currently running) will close in 2019 for an 18-month restoration.
On the list of improvements will be creating more leg room for the audience, and making the line of the Circle rounder, so the theatre feels more intimate, like the London Palladium. If all the stars align, there’s every chance Frozen could become as big a musical powerhouse as smash-hit Hamilton.
It’s still early days and negotiations for Frozen to go into drury Lane have yet to start.
Also, before disney Let It Go to Lloyd webber, there’s a second suitor to be considered.
disney and Schumacher have a long history with Cameron Mackintosh: Mary Poppins and Aladdin have played at the Prince edward, which is owned by the delfont Mackintosh group. In fact, Aladdin’s there right now. PERHAPS Mackintosh and his executives might argue that it could have run its course by 2020 . . . in which case Frozen could skate into the Prince edward instead of making its home in drury Lane.
There are few other places for Frozen to go. Possibly the dominion in Tottenham Court road — but as I’ve already written, that will likely land the terrific Bat Out Of Hell.
disney’s Lion King is happily enthroned in the Lyceum for a long reign; while the London Palladium — still recovering from The wind In The willows — has a panto deal for the next couple of years.