Frozen on Tour
With its unforgettable tale of sisterly heroism, impossibly catchy songs cowritten by one of The Book of Mormon's creators, and $1.2 billion in box office revenue, Frozen was practically fated to become a Broadway smash. But that doesn't mean it's easy to translate all of that ice and magic and emotion and overeager reindeer-ing to the stage. While "Let It Go" remains the perennial showstopper, original songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez added a dozen new numbers to the film's eight, specifically aiming to delve deeper into the psyches of princesses Elsa and Anna. Meanwhile, fantastical CGI-enhanced lighting, retracting jagged "ice" spears and whirling blurs of dancers evoke all of Arendelle's unusual weather patterns. And as for everyone's favorite furry fellow Sven, two stilts-wielding, tiptoeing actors take turns playing the role because it's so physically strenuous. But the end result not only brings Frozen to life, it enriches the story in ways that both die-hard kiddos and curious grown-ups can enjoy.
What is Frozen?
The origin of Frozen dates back to 1844, when Danish fairy-tale master Hans Christian Andersen published "The Snow Queen." In one form or another, Disney worked on adapting that story into animated film for the better part of a century, from 1937 until they landed on the nearly wholesale reinvention that became an inextricable part of children's and parents' lives when it debuted in 2013. Frozen not only broke sales records for animated films and musicals (unseating Toy Story 3 in both categories), but also scored Oscars and Grammys, won critical praise for its feminist moral, was hailed as Disney's return to greatness, and launched "Let It Go," a song that became lodged in the hearts, minds and vocal cords of kids the world over. But even more than an eight-times platinum girl power anthem, Frozen gifted us the story of the intrepid princess Anna (played by Kristen Bell) and her ragtag gang — selfless iceman Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), his labrador-like reindeer Sven and naive snowman Olaf (Josh Gad) — embarking on a wild journey to rescue sister Elsa (Idina Menzel) from a literal prison of her own insecurity and, in the process, save their entire kingdom from a never-ending winter.
