Glittering dresses and wide eyes greeted the return of Broadway’s “Frozen” on Wednesday night at the Buell Theatre, reflecting the pageantry and joy that leapt from the stage.
The touring Broadway show is a high-energy master class for the heavily young-skewing audience, ranging from adolescents to preschoolers, and their equally excited parents. As with my 7-year-old daughter Lucy, this was undoubtedly the first touring Broadway musical they’ve experienced, and the rapture in the audience hinted it won’t be their last.
Adapted from the 2013 Disney animated movie (itself inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen”), the musical follows the branching paths of sisters Elsa and Anna in the fairytale kingdom of Arendelle. The Broadway version diverges from the movie’s plot at times, and certainly adds song-and-dance that wasn’t in the film. But it was rare for the soaring songs (with music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez) or the book (by Jennifer Lee) to feel padded for the stage’s sake.
Anna (Lauren Nicole Chapman) sings “For the First Time in Forever” in the Disney Theatrical musical “Frozen,” based on the 2013 animated movie. (Photo by Deen van Meer, provided by Denver Center)
In fact, the musical packs a host of themes in its opening minutes, quickly tackling songs such as “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” and “For the First Time in Forever” while introducing our main characters and the townsfolk-chorus.
Young Elsa (Avelyn Lena Choi) and young Anna (played with boisterous relish by Norah Nunes) set a tone of merriment in advance of the tragic scenes to come. Anna possesses a dangerous magic with which she can not only create snow with the flick of a wrist, but also freeze people’s hearts and heads (literally and figuratively).
When she accidentally does so while playing with Anna, her parents enlist forest trolls to thaw her. Their creepy, yellow eyes blink electronically from the back of the stage, and parents may want to anticipate some discomfort or alarm on the part of their kids.
Like some of the rapid-fire lyrics, the jumble of backstory may also seem arcane for those not familiar with the plot. But the musical soon falls into a natural rhythm with grown-up Elsa (Caroline Bowman) and Anna (Lauren Nicole Chapman) on stage. Their parents were lost at sea, Elsa is now being coronated as queen, and Anna is considering an uncertain future.
Elsa has been hidden away most of her life, given her parents’ fear that she would hurt others or be seen as a monster. Anna’s memory has been wiped of this information. But the secret doesn’t last long as Elsa’s control slips after Anna tells her of a last-minute engagement to Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. He’s played with overwhelming charm and vigor by the buoyant Preston Perez, although the same could be roundly said about any of the cast members.
With Elsa’s ice-powers on the loose and the townsfolk in horror, she flees to a nearby mountain, her parents’ warnings having been fulfilled. Projection-mapped animations of ice crackling its way around the proscenium and sets are bolstered by a digital backscreen, confetti snow and gorgeous lighting by Natasha Katz. The every-trick-in-the-book approach works beautifully, and I wondered several times during the show where the crew could possibly be storing all these huge, intricately detailed sets.
The show-stopper, of course, is the smash-hit song “Let It Go,” which Elsa belts out from her ice castle. It’s Bowman’s high point in an otherwise carefully restrained performance as Elsa, perfectly pitched and jaw-dropping in its intensity.
Some audiences may have seen the pre-Broadway run of “Frozen” in Denver in 2017, when Disney Theatrical tested it here. It’s evolved since then, having played internationally, but still resembles the animated movie in tone and pace. Notably, there’s a bit more sexual innuendo and playful, faux-nudity in this version (hidden behind tree branches), with Anna coming off as more horny than lonely. In Chapman’s hands, she’s also hilarious and impressive in both song and choreography. The latter finds her performing Rob Ashford’s wide, swing-dancer movies in unwieldy dresses or layers of fur. Truly, a feat.
Hans, who doesn’t turn out to be such a great guy, is contrasted with Kristoff (Nicholas Edwards), a hard-working ice peddler, and his reindeer Sven. The reindeer is realized on stage by a dancer inside a costume on stilts — an illusion that works surprisingly well, just like the puppeteer who controls and sings for the magical snowman Olaf. As Olaf, Jeremy Davis offers some of the cheekiest moments in the show, including “In Summer,” which finds him obliviously wishing a snowman could take a beach vacation.
This is one of the best movie-to-stage adaptations out there — certainly compared to the so-so “Aladdin” and other, overexposed Disney fare — and both the scale and attention to detail are stunning. In addition to the appreciably diverse casting, director Michael Grandage highlights the best of “Frozen” in this roundly lavish, heartwarming production. Embrace it while you can.
If you go
“Frozen.” Touring Broadway musical based on the animated Disney movie. Running time: 2 hours and 15 minutes, including 20-minute intermission. Playing through July 3 at the Buell Theatre, 1350 Curtis St. in Denver. Tickets: $35-$175 via 303-893-4100 or denvercenter.org