Frozen heat
What did the audience think of the new Broadway show?
Between them they had probably seen the film tens of thousands of times. But five years on from Frozen’s cinema release, it was clear that the audience enjoying Friday’s preview of the new Broadway musical adaptation of the Disney phenomenon had not tired of the cult fairy tale, loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen.
First announced three years ago, and coming to New York after a trial run in Denver, Frozen: The Broadway Musical is the biggest theatrical event that the US has seen since the 2015 opening of Hamilton.
“I love this one,” squealed a young girl as a scene opened to a backdrop of icicles. Minutes later, another audience member – this time an adult – called out to finish one of comedy snowman Olaf ’s sentences.
The biggest question was how the musical would go about staging Let It Go, the beloved Oscar- and Grammywinning theme song that has become synonymous with the film. Judging by the rapturous response following actress Caissie Levy’s rousing version – during which she flings her cape into the wind, proudly performs her magic and dramatically switches dress at lightning speed mid-song – it met the sky-high expectations of fans.
The story – that of two orphaned sisters, Princesses Elsa and Anna, and the problems they face as a result of Elsa’s freezing powers – hardly needs repeating for the millions of children, and their parents, for whom it has become a viewing staple. The audience for Friday night’s show exemplified the reach of Frozenmania, comprising everyone from young girls in blue Elsa dresses, to groups of female millennials and couples in their 30s and 40s.
The work of the creative team behind the 2013 film – writer Jennifer Lee and composers Kristen Andersonlopez and Robert Lopez – and British director Michael Grandage, the new stage adaptation adds 12 new songs to the film’s original repertoire, bringing extra dimensions to the characters.
These include a power ballad called Monster, delivered by Elsa while she is hiding in the mountains, which allows the audience to better understand her motivations; and a ditty called Hygge, written into a scene set in the mountainside sauna, Wandering Oaken’s Trading
Post and Sauna, and paying reference to the Danish lifestyle philosophy du jour.
It got a lot of laughs from the audience, in part due to the branch-wielding, semi-naked chorus dressed in towels. This is not the adaptation’s only risqué moment: Anna sings the early number For the First Time in Forever teasingly from behind a screen as she gets dressed on the morning of her sister’s coronation. Aside from the two main protagonists, the biggest reception on Friday went to their carrot-nosed sidekick, Olaf, a puppet brought to life, physically and vocally, by actor Greg Hildreth. Meanwhile, the other main nonhuman character, Sven the reindeer, is played by dancer Andrew Pirozzi in a full reindeer costume – and while he doesn’t have any dialogue, he does have the benefit of very expressive moving eyelids and ears. Designed by Christopher Oram, another Brit, the production gives a dramatic sense of the landscape of the fictional kingdom of Arendelle, based on the mountains and fjords of Norway. Meanwhile cleverly deployed lighting is used to depict both the Northern Lights and Elsa’s magical ability to shoot icicles from her hands. After the performance there was a giddy atmosphere on the street, as fans waited for the cast to come out. Four-year-old Kennedy Canion flew all the way from Houston, Texas, to see the show with her mother, cousin, aunt and grandmother.
“It was great. I liked when Elsa changed into this dress,” she said, pointing at her own blue dress. Of the new songs, she said that she liked Monster the best.
Diego Cruz, 29, a software developer from New York, took his young son Ethan to see it. He said: “There were more insights [than the film] into the characters with their thoughts, that was really good.” But he wasn’t sure of its potential longevity. “[I don’t know] if it’s the new Lion King. It was good to see it one time, but I don’t know if it has that lasting effect,” he said.
His partner Ellen Chumbe, 31, was slightly taken aback by the kissing scenes, but said “everything else was great”. Joe Weismantel, 37, a child life specialist, there with his fiancée, tax accountant Jennifer Wyatt, 38, said he was not in the slightest bit embarrassed about going to see a show popular with children. “This is going to be one of those that’s going to be on Broadway for a long time. I’m glad we saw it at the beginning.”
While the production will undoubtedly spur many British fans to make a trip across the Atlantic, the question remains: when will they get to see it at home? Disney Theatrical Productions says it is “focused solely” on the Broadway production at the moment – though a West End transfer is surely only a matter of time.