FROZEN STEFAN KYRIAZIS
★★★★
A GENERATION of children were defined by Frozen, Disney’s animated blockbuster about royal sisters Anna and Elsa who are driven apart by the latter’s forbidden power to manipulate snow but reunited by their love for each other.
The musical version swirled on to the London stage last week in a blizzard of sequins, crystals and fake snow.
When leading lady Samantha Barks as Elsa unleashed a sensational Let It Go at the end of Act One – transforming mid-belt into a glittering ice queen in her blindingly bedazzled palace – the opening night crowd’s roar blew the roof off the beautifully refurbished Theatre Royal. This show shines brightest in spectacular set pieces – from lanternstrewn terraces backlit by the shimmering Northern Lights to a jaw-dropping bridge bedecked with gigantic glistening icicles.
We all gasped as Elsa’s magic erupted across the giant LED screens framing the stage. Thrilling stuff.
Barks is vocally majestic as Elsa while Stephanie Mckeon brings an endearing giddiness to Anna, but it’s the sidekicks who steal the show. Children and adults alike cheered for Sven the Reindeer and Olaf the Snowman (a hilarious Craig Gallivan), both brought to life by a combination of puppetry and actors.
Michael Grandage’s production faithfully follows its cartoon roots, delivering fan-favourite moments alongside singalong standards like For The First Time In Forever and Do You Want To Build A Snowman? I loved bonkers new song Hygge, joyously performed by the cast dashing in and out of a sauna in sheer bodystockings and strategically placed leaves.
However, all the spectacle can’t disguise a lack of substance.
Additional scenes and serviceable songs such as Elsa’s tortured Monster and the sisters’ plaintive I Can’t Lose You fumble the chance to develop their characters beyond Elsa’s brooding and Anna’s plucky naivety.
Similarly, where Disney embraced painful parental loss from Bambi to The Lion King, here the deaths of the King and Queen at sea are glossed over.
Few emotional punches really land while the epic scale and peril of Anna’s journey to her sister’s mountain palace in the film are also entirely absent.
Often dazzling, the show seems strangely skittish about the danger and darkness at the heart of every fairytale.