I probably could have written this post a lot earlier, but I didn’t really have a reason to. My fate is slowly disentwining from the Frozen franchise in favour of other projects — including a Frozen spin-off?? Nevertheless, three years! Three years since I hoisted this banner. It has been the catalyst for new things, and maybe that’s not so bad.
As you may know, I have watched Frozen: the Musical a few times, and reviewed 2 occasions when I did (review 1 for 2019; review 2 for 2022). This post reviews the 3rd time I watched it, which was in Hamburg, Germany, in May 2022.
There has been a considerable timegap since I watched the performance, and add the fact that I don’t speak a word of German, and the result is that my impression of the German version has been severely diminished. I took notes during the intermission and after leaving, but they don’t really jolt my memory too much.
But before the performance, let me say how cool the theatre is:
Here is the theatre, across the water. To get there, you take a free boat service (show them your ticket to prove you’re part of the audience). You could actually take the boat for the next-door Lion King performance since they lead to the same place, but based on my impressions of Germans, that’s not going to happen. Anyway, it’s a really special feeling
Alternatively, if you’re REALLY bored, there seems to be a way round to the back of the theatre via land (I assume that’s where stuff gets loaded/unloaded). It’s just maybe an hour long detour on foot. It does suit my style of travelling to just wander around somewhere, but I didn’t have the time nor the energy to do that.
The performance itself
At the time I watched the musical in Germany, I had just watched the musical in London about a month prior, and my mind was constantly making comparisons between the 2. My overall assessment was that the German version was better in terms of performance. In particular, I loved the fact that the cast actually bothered to interact with the audience – Olaf soaks in the applause of the audience after “In Summer”, and those short 5 seconds of connection really elevated the performance for me. Aside from that, the actors gave themselves space and time to pause, and then deliver the lines. It felt natural, unhurried, unlike the rushed performance I’d watched just a little before in London.
I have a bunch of notes about which parts I liked and which parts I didn’t, but they have no system behind them, so I won’t bore you with them here. Instead, I’ll just mention 2 unique features of the German performance.
No. 1: “What Do You Know About Love?”
The UK version uses a very looooooong bridge for this song. We watch Anna and Kristoff cross the whole bridge onstage – they walked while the bridge continuously moves towards stage left. Now that I think about it, how big is their backstage area?! But the German version just had half a bridge – the whole song takes place while they are attempting to go up this one side of the bridge. There was, as I remember, also no floor breaking this time. When Anna tells Kristoff to look out, I think this is the part where German Kristoff slides down the bridge and slams his… er… beads on a pole on the bridge’s handrail. Ouch, but very funny – and unique! In all the other versions it’s Kristoff nearly falling off the bridge. In the older US version, at least Anna and Kristoff use the opportunity to get in a desperate hug, then awkwardly break away. I don’t even remember the UK version’s handling of the scene. But getting his bells smacked on the pole? … I hope the actor was okay. ^_^
A very clean performance of the scene. Nothing flashy, just the characters holding it together. And honestly, I liked that better.
No. 2: “Hygge”
The German version of Hygge, as I remember it, was shorter than the US and the UK versions. But more significantly, the German version contains no implied nudity (the sauna scene). Instead, we simply open on a scene with Oaken and his whole family milling around, drinking together, and having a good time chatting. It’s a very down-to-earth scene, and the dance routine takes place as they sit on their stools. I have mixed feelings about this – on the one hand, I really liked Oaken’s family bursting from the sauna in the US and UK versions, which the German version gets rid of. On the other hand, I liked how the German version doesn’t have a completely unnecessary speakeasy-style dance routine at the end of the song – we remain in Oaken’s shop for the whole song instead. It was a breath of fresh air.
But you know what’s not okay?
Cutting the line “IF WE ALL DIE,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,!!!!!!!!!!!!
keep this stuff as a loner
if we all survive,
you owe ten thousand kroner!”
This line lives on in the Original Broadway Cast soundtrack. Bring it back!!!!!!!!
No. A: the stuff that was the same
The phenomenon of the Frozen musicals, however, sometimes feels so standardised, because aside from these two changes, everything else was the same, down to the design of the doorway-shaped thing framing the stage, the design of Elsa’s ice castle’s staircase, Elsa’s quickchange (ok, that one is awesome, and knowing it’s on the way doesn’t make it less so)…
Even the jokes are the same: the “Samantha?” joke in “In Summer” (carried over from F2) is simply replaced with “Hildegard?”; and also in the scene where Anna reunites with Olaf on the way up the North Mountain, Olaf explains who he is, and Anna finishes his sentence with the German equivalent of “BUTT!” (it’s a repeat of the lines in the song “A Little Bit Of You”); and also the joke between “ass/abdomen” from Olaf after he gets flung out of Elsa’s ice castle. I don’t remember what the German version used instead of “abdomen”, but I have a faint impression it was still something to do with “abs”????
Even the stuff I didn’t like is scripted in. At the end of “I Can’t Lose You” (which I still don’t like as much as “For The First Time In Forever (Reprise)”, Anna and Elsa still hug. No! Elsa doesn’t wanna touch her sister!
But of course, maybe all these work because English and German are closely related languages. I wonder what the Japanese version would be like – would the jokes be the same? would the stage directions be the same (ok, they would be)? what would the songs be like?
Here’s to more years of Queendom! I’ll be back, slowly but surely!
Edit: I remember a scene from the German version that I don’t remember from anywhere else. As Hans moves in to execute Elsa, there is a sound of his sword being drawn (which is common to all the shows). It is the German Elsa, though, who most clearly draws herself into a kneeling position, awaiting her execution by Hans. This small detail has resurfaced in my mind as I write my spin-off. I think it says a lot about Elsa’s personality – and, if interpreted in a different way, her love for her sister, and her lack of other attachments in the world at the time. I thought that scene was way more impactful than simply suggesting Hans sneak-attacked Elsa while she was grieving (as in the movie).
Queendom of the Crocus 