Yesterday, at the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane, about 2000 people (the capacity of the theatre) across 4 levels of seating, watched Frozen the Musical. Here is a (spoiler-free) review!
First of all, the music. Originals of the film were perfectly combined with songs made just for the musical, in particular, “Dangerous to Dream”, “Monster”, and “I Can’t Lose You” stood out. “Hygge” was another original that seemed to be aimed at children with its fun and comedic choreography. Although these were theatre-exclusive, these songs were very well-written and fit incredibly well into the original story, adding more information to the characters and events of the original movie. The orchestra was also very moving, I felt my eyes tear up a little at some moments!
Speaking of strong emotions, the acting of both Anna (Emily Lane) and Elsa (Samantha Barks) was, in my eyes, even better than the film version. Anna had more character and was a little more relatable, looking at the crowd at some moments and making great jokes. Elsa's voice was perfect, and her fear and sadness were so well-conveyed. It was like the theatre version gave her character more time to be explored, which was very interesting. In addition to this, the extra scenes make the experience even better. They added humour and even explained some of the reasoning behind different characters' way of thinking. Even the extras, like the Duke’s guards, being seen talking to each other off to the side added more detail and realism to the story. A lot of parents must have been subject to watching frozen multiple times due to their kids, so the new content was a very welcome way of keeping everyone engaged.
Of course, the set design and costumes were also very captivating. It seemed that the dresses had been made particularly to flow and spin really well. This thoughtful design also came across in Elsa’s iconic blue dress, which sparkled the same way that the ice effects on stage did. The set itself was amazing! The way the stage seemed to get bigger and bigger at times through clever use of screens was shocking, the magic was depicted in varied ways and forms, and you could even see how some set designs related to characters. For example, Olaf had a much brighter and 2D looking set for his song “In Summer”, which might be related to how he doesn’t really know what summer is, and has to make it up.
Some moments of the musical even received early applause. The famous Elsa dress change was the most notable, although Olaf (Craig Gallivan), and Duke of Weselton (Richard Frame) received applause for being great comedy (Richard Frame’s performance as the Duke was definitely a favourite, particularly the dancing). Olaf especially was pretty perfectly tailored to suit the children and the adults in the audience, one sneaky (though relatively innocent) innuendo made its way into the show with ease.
Overall, the experience is definitely worth witnessing, even if you have seen the film ten times, the theatre production offers something new and incredible. It's not hard to understand why people love theatre so much when its light-hearted and full of great songs! The production definitely deserved the standing ovation. 10/10
