Frozen Broadway Review (Original Version)



The Broadway musical is a transfer of the hit animated film of the same name, but this is not the same story you remember.

It is almost double in length and includes many new songs and scenes to build a more complex storyline and the trolls are replaced with the hidden-folk.

So the question remains, were the changes for the better?

The answer...sometimes.

The new songs are spotty with some real hits, specifically Elsa's act II solo Monster, which shows the emotional battle inside Elsa following discovering that she was to blame for the eternal winter. This is act II's Let It Go moment as Elsa is deciding whether it is better for her to live or die as she is being hunted down like a monster.

Other notable songs are Oaken's song which is a hilarious way to open act II and the song Hans of the Southern Isles which gives Hans some much-needed character development.

The songs from the movie are all there except Frozen Heart, which kind of appears in Act II as a transition song with different lyrics but not at all in the way it is in the movie.

Some songs have some notable lyric changes, specifically, Do You Want To Build a Snowman and For the First Time in Forever, but it is all mainly due to plot changes such as the parents died earlier in the timeline and has no effect on the actual song.

All of the actors give great performances but Patti Murin's Anna is the standout. Her performances include Anna's signature quirks while also showing a more deep look at how her upbringing affects her life in the film.

The set special effects are also the stars of this show, with projection mapping (Think Happily Ever After theme park fans) creating the northern lights and Elsa's powers, fiber optics creating the snow and crystals creating Elsa's ice palace.

Overall this is a worthy adaptation of a great film. While not Disney's best Broadway show (Still looking at you Lion King) it is far from Disney's worst show (let us all forget about Tarzan). This is definitely one of their better productions yet.

Originally Published: 4/26/18

Last Updated: 2/26/20

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