The Academy Award winning song “Let It Go” from the colossal hit movie Frozen closes Act I. Memorably staged and sung by Cassie Levy (Les Miserables, Wicked, Ghost) as Elsa, the moment is hugely successful. The audience comes alive and the enormous expectations are fulfilled. I did not see this movie so my review comes largely from a place of fresh discovery or new fallen snow. Overall, I’d say Frozen was just ok.
This musical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen has enjoyable and fun stretches. Both of the non-human animated characters Sven (the reindeer) and Olaf (the snowman) are cleverly rendered and performed. The young men in the center of the story are nicely played by Jelani Alladin (Kristoff) and John Riddle (Hans). Both developed great chemistry with the other sister Anna, who despite being less magical has the far more interesting storyline. In the performance I saw, understudy Aisha Jackson was confident, funny and heartwarming as sister Anna. “Love Is an Open Door,” the duet sung by Hans and Anna is a high point.
Some of the effects that turn our Norwegian town of Arendelle into a frozen winter are quite cool. Given the visual competition this year on Broadway, notably from the watery wonderland that is SpongeBob SquarePants and the magical wizardry of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the scenic design and projections of Frozen suffer a bit by comparison. There are certainly good moments executed. The whole experience though falls a touch flat as if we are watching a really well-executed theme park experience.
Frozen’s creative team is normally top notch, from Director Michael Grandage to Choreographer Rob Ashford. I just wasn’t sure if they committed to the important decision of which cartoon style they were showcasing. The trolls from the movie here are outfitted as the humans from the movie Planet of the Apes with tails added on. Their song “Fixer Upper” would not be out of place in a Lion King spinoff. In that scene, I could not sense Norway anywhere. The ensemble here sing and dance without representing much of anything. They are boring save for the second act opening which was truly surprising and very witty.
All of that puts a lot of pressure on our sisters to carry this show. Ms. Levy is a beautiful singer but Elsa’s brooding needed a bit more sparkle (and edge?) to help enhance what is oddly the far weaker side of this tale. Her sister Anna’s more mortal adventure with her cartoonish companions was clearly the journey I wanted to be on. One sister has the better adventure. One sister has the magical visuals and gets to belt the big song. Frozen never quite pulls everything together. So I have to firmly land on “just ok.”