The cold doesn’t bother Frozen fans as musical melts hearts
LAUREN and Kristin Riefflin were nervous. Standing outside the New York City theatre, the sisters from Seattle took photos of the bright blue promotional signs: “Frozen: the Broadway Musical.”
The excitement was palpable; two years after it was announced, on Thursday night the general public got a first look at the $50 million (£36 million) musical. Young girls in powder-blue Elsa dresses hopped from toe to toe in anticipation. For the Riefflin sisters, excitement was mixed with concern.
“The main song, Let It Go, was just everything to me,” said Lauren, 31. Her sister nodded. “I’m worried it might not live up to the film.”
And yet they, like the 1,700 others pouring into the theatre, had to be in the audience for the opening night.
“There’s such a buzz in the air,” said Ruth Kennedy, from New Jersey. “I think this is going to be the new Lion King.”
Disney executives are hoping the same. The phenomenal success of the 2013 Frozen film – the highest-grossing animation of all time, with worldwide box office takings of $1.27 billion (£910 million) – made it an obvious choice.
The film, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, tells the story of a princess who sets off to find her estranged sister, whose icy powers have inadvertently trapped their kingdom in eternal winter.
Michael Grandage, the British former head of the Donmar Warehouse, was brought on to direct, after Disney parted ways with the initial director, Alex Timbers. He enlisted his partner, Christopher Oram, the theatre designer, to create the sets and costumes.
A trial run was held over the summer, but Grandage then made significant changes. “A character we created we got rid of, we changed the opening, we changed the closing, we changed four huge numbers of choreography,” said Grandage.
On Thursday night, as they filed out of the theatre into the cold New York night, the first paying audience were giddy with delight.
“It was wonderful,” said Lauren Riefflin. “They exceeded my expectations.”