Reflections on Frozen: the Musical on Broadway

While writing this post (20 Feb 2020), I found out that the actresses Patti Murin and Caissie Levy, who acted as Anna and Elsa respectively, have left the production – in fact, they left this month. I wish them all the best in their future endeavours, and I wish the incoming actresses all the best in their future performances. It is difficult to act multiple times in one day (take it from me), and many times a week, and many times a year at that – and the actresses, and the rest of the cast, have my full respect and gratitude.

It also seems that the plot has changed (https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2020/02/18/disneys-frozen-on-broadway-debut-tweaked-version-new-principal-cast-join-production/), but I will be writing this post based on my viewing experience.
—

I had the privilege of watching Frozen: the Musical in New York in March 2019. It inspired the whole theme of this blog, Queendom of the Crocus, and this poem, if you will indulge me. I left the theatre with the soundtrack and a mug. (Damn, if/when I watch it again, I’ll have to buy the new soundtrack…)

A more mature version of Frozen, and my inspiration

The musical was an expanded version of the film, and was significantly darker and more adult. The whole atmosphere was more mature, even if the audience was 50% little girls. The writers said so too – I remember reading somewhere that the writers were going for more psychological drama as opposed to physical drama, and therefore certain combative scenes were removed while more songs dealing with the internal monologues of the characters were introduced. Listen to this one: ‘Dangerous to Dream’. It’s a beautiful song that Elsa sings at her coronation about how she hates her emotional imprisonment and how she longs to connect with Anna – but she can’t, just can’t! And then there’s the section from another song, ‘Queen Anointed’: the grandeur the scene invoked was a catalyst for this Queendom blog and sowed the seeds for the concept of my Saga.

The whole maturity of the musical and general focus on Elsa – notice that Elsa’s silhouette appears on the snowflakes? – makes the musical the true precursor to Frozen II. My opinions on Frozen II‘s songs are likely a result of watching the musical – I mean, Frozen II has a lot of characters just singing about their intentions and feelings (‘Into the Unknown’, ‘Lost in the Woods’, ‘Show Yourself’, ‘The Next Right Thing’), and I saw nothing wrong with that. Some other reviewers did, though, but as I’ve said in this post, it’s a musical. Of course it should have songs for days! Just like this one – there are 21 songs over 2 hours! And you see ‘Dangerous to Dream’ – it’s 5 minutes!

Big shout-out to Jaime/Jamie (oh my goodness, I don’t even know how to spell your name) who also told me that Frozen: the Musical was meant to pre-empt Frozen II: you told me to notice that in the musical, Queen Iðunn wears gloves, and why???

Come my darling homeward bound / When all is lost then all is found…

The Songs

I have already gushed about one song. The rest are worth gushing over as well. Songs about Anna and Elsa’s childhood inseparability? Check. (‘A Little Bit of You’) Songs about Elsa’s inner torment? Check. (‘Dangerous to Dream’, ‘Monster’). Songs about Anna’s learning about love? Check. (‘True Love’ – which they are removing) More songs for Hans? Check. (‘Hans of the Southern Isles’, and its reprise) More songs for Kristoff? Check. (‘What Do You Know About Love?’, ‘Kristoff Lullaby’) Song for Oaken? Check. (‘Hygge‘). All are wonderful! And available on the DisneyMusicVevo.

Here’s another song that I loved. Clearly, Disney loved it too, since Caissie Levy (Elsa) is front and centre in the video:

In this song, Elsa even asks if she ought to just die: ‘If I die, will they be free?’

Oof. Also, foreshadowing? Dive down deep into her sound…

‘Monster’ also has a 7/8 time signature that occasionally switches into 4/4 (I think. I’m not a music person, but that’s what my clapping along tells me.) The kind of complexity in the songs carried over somewhat into Frozen II – although Frozen II doesn’t really have wacky time signatures, the lyrics don’t always nicely fall into a simple rhythm like in ‘Let It Go’ or something.

Sisters of Light and Snow

Despite the musical’s greater focus on Elsa, Anna and Elsa still have a really powerful dynamic between them. There’s a new song coming out for the musical, which was apparently also teased in the North American tour version of the musical, called ‘I Can’t Lose You’. I found it on YouTube somewhere…and it’s meant to replace ‘For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)’?

Well, they do convey the same message, but ‘I Can’t Lose You’ feels a bit too blatant…’For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)’ is more subtle – Elsa pushes Anna away because she doesn’t want to hurt her, but she doesn’t exactly say so. ‘I Can’t Lose You’ basically has the sisters share their internal monologues with each other, which I think doesn’t quite fit Elsa’s character at this stage. She’s still guarded and reserved toward her sister, despite ‘Let It Go’. Also I prefer some continuity between songs…

Did I mention that ‘For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)’ incorporated a part of the pop (Demi Lovato) version of ‘Let It Go’?

This sidetrack back into the songs aside, the song that really strikes home is ‘A Little Bit of You’, where young Elsa and Anna sing a duet as they build Olaf (and the child actresses are superb. They have great things ahead of them – not least of them being a voice part in Frozen II! https://www.insider.com/frozen-2-cast-disney-2019-11#young-elsa-was-voiced-by-mattea-conforti-2)

Anyway, here’s the song. Sadly, there’s only this screen without the acting:

It’s so sweet. So sweeeeeet!

And dark.

The events in this sequence change the plot of the musical in one small, but thoroughly devastating way. In the musical, Elsa gets too careless with her powers and strikes Anna, who was standing by just watching. The accident did not happen because Anna was jumping on the snow pillars (I mean, that’s a hazard for child actresses on stage). Instead, Elsa was the sole cause of the mishap. As the music reaches its climax and Elsa delivers the mortal attack, she screams. Not the best scream, but it was still a shock for me in the theatre.

This drastically affects her character – she’s no longer the elder sister who couldn’t rescue her sister in time, she’s the elder sister who struck her sister down from her own pure negligence. Ouch.

Much more heart-wrenching, and would explain why she’s so cautious toward her sister better, in my opinion. Therefore I tried to convey this in my Saga.

Finale

I loved the musical, more than I loved the movie. Perhaps it was because they turned what was essentially a kid’s movie and turned it into a rather relatable older-kid’s musical. The fact that it has been the catalyst for my works should convey how highly I regard this musical.

As a heads up, if anyone is interested in the musical, it will be in Japan for a while starting 10 Sep 2020…

Not sure if it’ll be in Japanese. But it’s the same snowflake, with Elsa’s figure in each of them, and with the silhouettes of two faces visible in each spoke of the snowflake. You’ll see it more clearly in the YouTube video I embedded, though. (Go listen to the songsssssssss!!!!!!!)