Our review of Disney's Frozen: The Broadway Musical
A Winter Wonderland!
Magical, Sparkling, Fun
Frozen is a winner
Fun Fact: Elsa's ice dress took approximately 400 hours to create and it is exquisite!
Target Audience: I think the Disney dust reaches far and wide on this one!
Best Bit: Actress Zoe Glick is absolutely adorable as Young Anna and Patti Murin sweeps in and plays Anna exceptionally.
Morning After Effect:Do I want to build a snowman?
Five years after its release Disney's Frozen still holds the record for the number one animated film of all time, worldwide! So, it is no surprise that the empire adapted their big hit (written by Jennifer Lee) for Broadway and made sure Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez were on board to create the new music and lyrics. The masterminds behind the song "Let it Go" - yes, the song you had finally forgotten - are back and no strangers to Broadway. Anderson-Lopez was the co-creator/writer of In Transit (Broadway's first a cappella musical) and Lopez was the co-creator/writer of The Book of Mormon and Avenue Q. Their musical notes span across the stage, TV and film - and there is no denying their ability to create a catchy tune.
I arrived at the St. James Theatre expecting a flurry of children and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of adults equally excited as I was! The diversity of the audience further reiterates the success of this story and how sister's Elsa and Anna have melted hearts all over the world. Jennifer Lee's script represents a new wave of storytelling where the girls decide their destiny and take ownership of their power but most importantly we see true love defined by their sisterhood rather than the usual rescue from Prince Charming.
Being a huge fan of the film, I was excited to see how they were going to bring this magnificent animation to life with its snow storms, a snowman, and a princess with magical powers. As we already know, Disney does not disappoint and hires the best in the business and this production is no exception! Frozen kicks off to a wonderful start with Young Elsa (MiMi Ryder) entertaining her sister with her magic tricks. The special effects (Jeremy Chernick) and video projections (Finn Ross) are a tremendous extension of Christopher Oram's stunning scenic and costume design which brings the town and people of Arendelle to life with winter sparkle and charm. The performances were lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed Rob Ashford's choreography and the use of the ensemble to create the deadly snowstorm as well as dancer Andrew Pirozzi who plays Sven the Reindeer.
Overall, Frozen is a winner - don't let this go!