Frozen

St. James Theatre, NYC, April 6, 2018

Reviewed by Elizabeth Ahlfors for Cabaret Scenes

Disney’s musical nor’easter, Frozen, storms into Broadway on the wheels of an animated film and its valiant power ballad, “Let It Go,” the anthem of female independence with all the belting and glory notes of a woman stepping out. 

Frozen is an event aimed at Disney fans, elaborated with the special thrill of dazzling staging and energetic performances, amiable leads, some charm, and a bit of Broadway magic. For two and a half hours, young girls, many dressed in sequined finery, sit engrossed by the likable sisters, Elsa and Anna, in their sparkling world of ice and snow—and the music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. 

But, the book written by Jennifer Lee is another thing. Under the astute direction of Michael Grandage, with some delightful choreography by Rob Ashford, Frozen takes place in a melodramatic long-ago time in a principality called Arendelle. There live two young royal sisters who are besties in braids and happiest together as sincerely expressed in “A Little Bit of You.” In this performance, they are portrayed by Audrey Bennett as spirited young Anna and Brooklyn Nelson as young Elsa, who has inherited supernatural powers that she cannot control. Instantaneously, she can freeze the world with an eternal blizzard. It is a power that finally forces the girls’ desperate parents to separate them, making Elsa to always wear gloves and avoid her beloved Anna. 

Flash forward. The parents are dead, the sisters are grown, and Elsa (now played by Caissie Levy) is about to be crowned Queen. Anna (Patti Murin), spunky and down-to-earth, is thrilled to be reunited with Elsa, now stately and responsible. At the coronation, Anna meets and falls in love with handsome Prince Hans (John Riddle) and asks the Queen’s blessing to marry.

And here, you can tell, is where the plot falters. Queen Elsa flies into a rage and unleashes her power, turning the land into ice and snow and then, feeling guilty, flees the castle into the storm. Plucky Anna sets out in the blizzard to find her. 

Wandering, Anna meets a solitary ice-seller, Kristoff (Jelani Alladin) and his bedraggled lovable reindeer, Sven (Andrew Pirozzi). With numerous new songs added to the score, they roam through the snowscape, singing “Reindeer Are Better Than People,” and a clever duet wondering “What Do You Know About Love?” Anna and Kristoff are cheered when they meet Olaf (Greg Hildreth), the popular snowman the sisters had made when they were children. Designed by Michael Curry, the puppets, Sven and Olaf, seem to be particular audience favorites. 

At one point, they run into a trans-Scandinavian group, (you’ll spot Norwegian sweaters, Finnish saunas, and a Swedish blue/yellow cap), and all sing “Hygge,” bringing it home with a mock-naked chorus line high-stepping out of the sauna, body parts hidden with swishing birch branches. It is a wacky moment, but why not? Another song is dedicated to handymen of the North, sort of trolls or Icelandic Huldufólk, who are called on in moments of indecision as with “Fixer Upper,” reminding everyone that “The only fixer upper fixer/That can fix a fixer upper is/True, True, True, True/Love.”    

However, for Elsa, while love is an answer, it is not the answer she seeks.  In “Monster,” her second power song, she wonders, “How did I end up with this frozen heart?” and finally vows “…before I fade to ice/I’ll do all that I can/to make things right”.  In Anna’s lonely “True Love,” she realizes, “you can’t find love/If you don’t know what it is”.

Along with the slight book, there’s little depth to Anna or Elsa beyond the obvious personality traits invested by the talented Murin and Levy. They share a strong love for each other but, even more, each needs to discover her place in the world. Christopher Oram’s staging is less theatrical than you’d expect from Disney, but it has striking segments emphasized by stylized lighting by Natasha Katz and Peter Hylenski’s sound design. Finn Ross designed projections on the scrim. Oram dressed the young sisters in northern European-style dresses and later, aids in a coup de théâtre for Queen Elsa’s transformation from regal frock and to dazzling silvery pants suit. 

More sisterly love than searching for the white knight, the core of Frozen essentially speaks for female empowerment, and that’s encouraging to see in a Disney theater production.