Disney’s new Anna and Elsa are ready to take up their crowns . . .
ANYONE still harbouring hopes of playing Princess Anna in the new West End production of Frozen might want to let it go, because I can reveal that Irish actress Stephanie McKeon has been chosen to play the klutzy but kind-hearted redhead who comes to the aid of her big sister Elsa in the musical.
Samantha Barks had already been cast to play Elsa, the princess (and heir to the throne of fictional Scandinavian country Arendelle) who’s frightened by the strength of her magical powers.
But Dublin-born McKeon was picked to play Anna after sending in an audition video to director Michael Grandage and his casting chief. The pair had spent the better part of a year searching for the right one to play the gung-ho sibling in the musical based on the phenomenally successful Oscarwinning Disney animated film.
But McKeon had been working in Los Angeles, and so was off their radar.
When she returned to London, she made a tape of herself singing one of the show’s hit songs, For The First Time In Forever, and sent it in. ‘That tape absolutely got her the job,’ Grandage told me this week.
‘I think there are a few people out there who are sceptical of self-tapes, but hers was wonderful.’ And, alluding to our present quarantine state, he added: ‘Self-taping is going to be the way of the future, anyway.’
Thomas Schumacher, president of Disney Theatrical Group, who manages an empire that encompasses every Disney stage show worldwide, was just as enthusiastic. He flew McKeon to New York so Grandage could introduce her to his creative team — songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez; book writer Jennifer Lee and choreographer Rob Ashford.
‘The minute Steph started singing, Tom said: “We’ve found our Anna for London!” ’ Grandage recalled.
McKeon studied at Trinity College, Dublin. She was a stand- out in director Jamie Lloyd’s The Commitments at the Palace Theatre and later appeared in the Carole King musical Beautiful at the Aldwych.
Frozen is set to begin performances at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stunningly refurbished Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, from October 30. Grandage said that Disney has a ‘department of future-planning for everything’, should dates need to change because of the virus. Just before we were ordered to stay in our homes, I had lunch with Barks (whose credits include playing Eponine in the film of Les Miserables) and McKeon at Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham.
Henry Walpole’s white Gothic revival villa — more like a castle to my eyes — seemed an appropriate stand-in for Elsa’s ice palace in faraway Arendelle. Inside, a state room had been filled with fake snow for a photo shoot of the two stars (images from the session can be seen above).
Turns out the women had already met, a few days before, for what was meant to be a brief cup of tea. ‘Seven hours later!’ Barks exclaimed. ‘If it had been a first date it would have been very promising.’ McKeon sighed dramatically and said: ‘If only first dates
were like that.’ ‘We both had a good feeling about each other after that,’ she said, more seriously. ‘We knew it was going to be just fine.’ Usually, in fairytales, there’s a prince who comes to save the damsel in distress. In Frozen, though, it’s a sister who comes to the rescue. Which makes it fitting — if corny — that I’m revealing McKeon’s casting on National Sibling Day (promise I am not making it up).
‘That’s what’s so special,’ McKeon agreed. ‘I think that’s why little girls, especially, love Frozen. They see these two princesses who can pack a punch. That’s what makes them interesting.’ Barks felt the same. ‘They’re young women with the strength to say: “It’s OK to show your vulnerabilities.” ’
McKeon nodded. ‘They’re not your average Disney princesses. Anna trips over her own feet and says the wrong thing all the time, but she’s driven by love. She watches Elsa, who can’t control her powers, and simply wants to help her.’
The power ballad Let It Go is the show’s stellar signature number. Barks will get to sing the Oscar-winning song, which she sees as the turning point, when Elsa begins to accept her strength. The show also taps into the unconditional love that sisters share.
‘We both have older sisters, so we get it,’ said McKeon, whose sister Sarah was the first person (after her husband) that she told she’d won the part. (‘She’s protective of me but she also knows that I’m quite independent. But she’ll be there if she senses something’s wrong,’ she said of Sarah.)
Barks agreed that there’s ‘a bond between sisters that will be there for life, if you allow it to be’. She said her sister Kim was her ‘best friend in the world. You are each other’s protector. My sister’s seen all the tricks I’ve pulled. Sisters know everything.’