Frozen (musical)

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Frozen
Official promotional artwork
MusicKristen Anderson-Lopez
Robert Lopez
LyricsKristen Anderson-Lopez
Robert Lopez
BookJennifer Lee
BasisFrozen
by Walt Disney Animation Studios

Frozen is an upcoming stage musical produced by Disney Theatrical Productions with music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and book by Jennifer Lee. It is based on the 2013 film of the same name and the subsequent franchise.

The musical premiered at the Buell Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts in August 2017,[1] before heading to Broadway in spring 2018 at the St. James Theatre.

Development

"The first priority [for Disney Theatrical in 2016], I have to tell you, is when you have a property that is as beloved and music-based as Frozen, that has to get an enormous amount of my attention. To say, How do we take this and make a sophisticated, adult evening of theater out of it? Because, as we know with our hits, they have been for that audience that includes the sophisticated theater-goer."

— Tom Schumacher, interview with Southern California Public Radio in November 2014[2]

In January 2014, Iger stated that Disney Theatrical Productions is in early development of a Broadway stage musical adaptation of Frozen.[3][4][5] No specific date has yet been set for this adaptation. "We're not demanding speed," Iger said. "We're demanding excellence."[3][6]

During Disney's February 2014 earnings call, Iger congratulated "all those involved with Frozen" and reiterated that it would "be going to Broadway."[7]: 4  He also noted that Frozen "has real franchise potential" and predicted that "You will see Frozen in more places than you've certainly seen today."[7]: 8, 13 

At the end of March 2014, Del Vecho confirmed that there had been "discussions on how we can support the [film's] characters at other locations [and] [w]e are also discussing making a theatrical [musical] version of Frozen, but these things take time."[8] In late June, Anderson-Lopez and Lopez said there will be a musical based on Frozen within "a few years".[9]: 45:40 

In an October 2014 interview, Thomas Schumacher, the president of Disney Theatrical Group, disclosed that discussions about a musical had begun even before the film was released almost a year earlier.[10] After watching Frozen at a pre-release midnight screening, he texted Lasseter at 1:30 a.m. with "When can we start?" and got a call back from Lasseter within 60 seconds.[10] Schumacher explained: "My job is to corral the writers of the movie. I'm already talking to directors, and I have a design concept, and we have to begin to fashion this idea. It doesn't need to be fast. It needs to be great."[10]

On February 12, 2015, the Daily Mail reported that Lopez, Anderson-Lopez, Lee, and Schumacher had been meeting with two-time Tony Award nominee Alex Timbers to discuss ideas for getting the musical into a theatre by 2017.[11] The next day, Schumacher issued a terse statement confirming only that the songwriters were working on the show and that Lee would be writing the book of the stage version, then stressed that "no other staffing or dates have been announced".[12]

On July 23, 2015, The New York Times reported that among various projects, the songwriters were "writing about a dozen new songs" for the Frozen musical.[13]

On February 9, 2016, Disney Theatrical announced that the musical was scheduled to open on Broadway in spring 2018.[14] At that time, Disney also confirmed that several additional people were now part of the musical's creative team, including Timbers as director, as well as Stephen Oremus, Peter Darling, Bob Crowley, and Natasha Katz.[14] Two days later, it was confirmed that the musical would first go through a pre-Broadway tryout in August 2017 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.[15] In April 2016, it was reported that Betsy Wolfe had been cast as Elsa,[16] but a Disney spokesperson said on April 26 that no roles have been officially cast.[17]

On April 25, the songwriters mentioned to an interviewer that they were about to head into a developmental lab next week for the musical.[17] Anderson-Lopez explained that while "the movie only has seven-and-a-half songs ... we’ve written about 23" for the musical," in the sense that they doubled the number of original songs and then there are reprises of those.[17] Lopez explained that the musical would follow the same story as the film, but they were adapting all the iconic moments from the film to the musical theatre environment.[17] It was later reported that the musical's first developmental lab was held over two weeks during May 2016 in New York City, with Betsy Wolfe as Elsa, Patti Murin as Anna, Okieriete Onaodowan as Kristoff, and Greg Hildreth as Olaf, and that Iger himself attended the lab at one point.[18] However, Disney had not yet committed to a cast for the Denver tryout production.[18]

On September 27, 2016, Disney announced the new creative team: Michael Grandage is the director and Christopher Oram is the scenic designer. Christopher Gattelli had been previously announced as choreographer. (Alex Timbers and Bob Crowley are no longer involved.) The musical will open on Broadway at the St. James Theatre.[19] On April 17, 2017, Disney on Broadway announced that Caissie Levy will star as Elsa and Patti Murin would portray Anna. Other cast-members will include Jelani Alladin as Kristoff, Greg Hildreth as Olaf, John Riddle as Hans and Robert Creighton as the Duke of Weselton. Rob Ashford also joined the creative team as the show's choreographer.[20]

Musical numbers

Characters and original cast

Character Workshop
(2016) 		Denver
(2017) 		Broadway
(2018)
Elsa Betsy Wolfe Caissie Levy
Anna Patti Murin
Kristoff Okieriete Onaodowan Jelani Alladin
Olaf Greg Hildreth
Hans — John Riddle
Duke of Weselton — Robert Creighton
Grand Pabbie — Timothy Hughes
Oaken — Kevin Del Aguila
Sven — Andrew Pirozzi
Queen Iduna — Ann Sanders
King Agnarr — James Brown III
Bulda — Olivia Phillip
Young Anna — Audrey Bennett, Mattea Conforti
Young Elsa — Brooklyn Nelson, Ayla Schwartz

References

  1. ^ Paulson, Michael (August 9, 2017). "Disney's Challenge: Keeping It 'Frozen,' but Still Fresh". The New York Times. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
  2. ^ Lanz, Michelle (November 18, 2014). "Why it took Disney 18 years to bring 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' to the U.S. stage". Southern California Public Radio. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  3. ^ a b Reingold, Jennifer (January 13, 2014). "Disney CEO Iger: Frozen has restored our mojo". Fortune. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  4. ^ Cox, Gordon (January 13, 2014). "Disney Considering "Frozen" for Broadway, Obviously". Variety. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  5. ^ Rothman, Lily (February 24, 2014). "Ice, Ice, Baby: Frozen inspires a totally chilled-out cult following". Time. 183 (7): 48–59. Disney has already announced plans to bring a musical version to Broadway, and theme-park incarnations have been hinted at.
  6. ^ Emery, Debbie (January 13, 2014). "'Frozen' Musical Is Headed to Broadway". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  7. ^ a b The Walt Disney Company (February 5, 2014). "Transcript of the Walt Disney Company Q1 FY14 Earnings Conference Call" (PDF). Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  8. ^ Lee, Hyo-Won (March 31, 2014). "'Frozen' Producer Talks Franchise Rumors, Disney Strategy, Bizarre Popularity in South Korea (Q&A)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 5, 2014.
  9. ^ Williams College (June 30, 2014). "Exploring the Songs of "Frozen" with Kristen Anderson-Lopez '94". YouTube. Williams College. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  10. ^ a b c Rooney, David (October 16, 2014). "Disney's Top Theater Exec on 'Frozen' Musical Plans: "I'm Talking to Directors". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media LLC. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
  11. ^ "Cinderella's Lily James back with Richard Madden in Kenneth Branagh's Romeo and Juliet". Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers Ltd. February 12, 2015.
  12. ^ Lee, Ashley (February 13, 2015). "'Frozen' Stage Musical Recruits Film's Co-Director, Songwriting Duo". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  13. ^ Fung, Lisa (July 23, 2015). "Fresh Off 'Frozen,' Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez Prepare a New Musical". The New York Times. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  14. ^ a b Cox, Gordon (February 9, 2016). "'Frozen' Musical Sets Broadway Timeline, Creative Team". Variety. Retrieved February 9, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ Crowley, Joanne (February 11, 2016). "Pre-Broadway version of Disney's "Frozen" coming to Denver". The Denver Post. Digital First Media. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  16. ^ Viagas, Robert (April 21, 2016). "Coronation Day! Disney's Frozen Stage Musical Picks Its Elsa". Playbill. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  17. ^ a b c d Clement, Olivia (April 26, 2016). "Exclusive: Frozen Songwriters Announce Stage Musical Will Have Over 20 Songs". Playbill. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  18. ^ a b Paulson, Michael; Barnes, Brooke (June 6, 2016). "Let It Go Go Go! Three Stage Versions of 'Frozen' Are on the Way". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  19. ^ Hetrick, Adam. "Disney’s 'Frozen' Names Tony-Winning Director and a Broadway Theatre" Playbill, September 27, 2016
  20. ^ "Frozen Musical Announces Full Broadway Lead Casting". broadway.com. April 17, 2017.

External links

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