Frozen Broadway Updated

[Luminaire2]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 3:02pm

Hey everyone,

 

We had a thread regarding casting news, but I thought it would be good to start a thread to discuss the show as it is from today onward. Some big changes implemented during the tour development are being added to the show today with the three new leads, as outlined here:

https://broadwaynews.com/2020/02/18/a-new-frozen-comes-to-broadway/

"The biggest example of that is in the new duet “I Can’t Lose You,” which was first seen on tour, in which Anna and Elsa directly sing to each other and express their respective fears of being apart again and causing harm to the other. The song replaces “For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)” in which the two women were singing at the same time, but in isolation.

The new version also clarifies Kristoff and Anna’s relationship, giving Kristoff a reprise of “What Do I Know About Love?” to better indicate his romantic feelings before the finale. And after audiences appeared to express confusion over the fates of the King and Queen of Arendelle, the team restaged the scene with added choreography and a new visual to more clearly depict their deaths at sea. 

Most of the other changes, including additional alterations to the choreography and shortening “Hygge,” were made to make the piece cleaner and more succinct. The elimination of Anna’s song, “True Love,” which she originally sang late in the second act after being left to die in the castle, also fell into that category. 

“It was a very, very beautiful song, but we were very, very aware that it came at exactly the point in the evening where audiences were ready to start heading toward the conclusion of the story,” Grandage said. 

These changes will be included in upcoming productions in London, Japan, Australia and Germany, so that all versions will match."


We also have photos of the new cast:

https://twitter.com/FrozenBroadway/status/1229776710532554759?s=20

https://twitter.com/FrozenBroadway/status/1229778257207320578?s=20

https://twitter.com/FrozenBroadway/status/1229778257207320578?s=20

 

and new art/playbill for the show:

https://twitter.com/FrozenBroadway/status/1229854154127966208?s=20


Anyone attending the show in the next bit, would be great to get some reviews of the updates.

 

[sparksatmidnight]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 3:56pm

They had the money to hire someone to make this gorgeous new art this whole time and kept using the original one? Oooof

Love the new cast, I'm ok with some changes but cutting True Love just hurts me

[Luminaire2]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 3:58pm

sparksatmidnight said: "They had the money to hire someone to make this gorgeous new art this whole time and kept using the original one? Oooof

Love the new cast, I'm ok with some changes but cutting True Love just hurts me"

The new art is truly gorgeous. 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 3:59pm

This did not require a new thread.

 

[Luminaire2]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 4:01pm

JSquared2 said: "This did not require a new thread.

"

This marks a new era for the show. It's nice to have that all in one place versus a casting thread, or the original threads.

 

Agree to disagree. You can ignore this as you see fit. 

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 4:04pm

Love the new Playbill art work, but that Ciara pic looks like something out of Americas Top Model. 

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 4:25pm

JSquared2 said: "This did not require a new thread.

"

K, so don’t read it. 

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 4:31pm

I got an Audience Rewards ticket (1,000 points and $30) to see this in March. I’m really looking forward to seeing the new cast and the changes!

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 4:40pm

I too think that ditching "True Love" is a mistake. There are plenty of weaker songs in this score that could be trimmed to accommodate it, and its cutting essentially reduces Anna to a supporting character when this is, in fact, still her story.

And I say that as a big Elsa stan.

Updated On: 2/18/20 at 04:40 PM

[Wildcard]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 4:44pm

I've seen the tour twice and don't find "I Can't Lose You" to be particularly memorable. It's a shame they cut out "True Love". I wish they just kept True Love in its place and turned it into the Elsa/Anna duet about what they're feeling at that point in time instead of adding I Can't Lose You. 

[RWPrincess]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 5:31pm

I've also seen the tour and agree that True Love is the superior song. However, I Can't Lose You advances the show in a way that True Love doesn't. So I personally think that's a bigger priority. There is also a nice reprise with Kristoff and Anna in the spot where True Love was just before Olaf enters the scene so overall I think the revamped show flows much better. When I saw the tour, I felt like I had just watched 2 people fall in love. I also understood Elsa a lot better.

Thankfully, we will always have the cast recording for True Love. I'm sure Patti will also sing it at future concert appearances too. 

[Luminaire2]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 6:06pm

RWPrincess said: "I've also seen the tour and agree that True Love is the superior song. However, I Can't Lose You advances the show in a way that True Love doesn't. So I personally think that's a bigger priority. There is also a nice reprise with Kristoff and Anna in the spot where True Love was just before Olaf enters the scene so overall I think the revamped show flows much better. When I saw the tour, I felt like I had just watched 2 people fall in love. I also understood Elsa a lot better.

Thankfully, we will always have the cast recording for True Love. I'm sure Patti will also sing it at future concert appearances too."

I think you have landed on a good point. Although the superior song, it didn't really advance the story or propel anything. It was at that time in the show where you want the energy to be high and things to flow, and it made everything sleepy and drawn out in that moment.

The real story has always been the sister relationship, and something the movie always lacked was a sister duet that wasn't a quick reprise.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 6:51pm

I’m still hoping we get a recording of the new song or maybe a London cast recording.

[JuneJune]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 11:13pm

I don't read up a lot on Frozen. Saw it once a few months after opening and enjoyed it, but I don't actively follow the show or see what people have to say about it, so hearing about the tour changes are all new to me.

That being said, I actually enjoyed Hygge a lot (I'm assuming I'm in the minority...). It was one of my favorite numbers, so I'm a bit sad to see it abridged. Though I get why.

Not too sad about True Love. Thought it slowed down the pace of the show where it shouldn't have. Though my memory of Frozen is foggy, so maybe a second watch would've changed my opinion.

[Luminaire2]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 11:16pm

First curtain call with new cast as posted by the official twitter:
 

https://twitter.com/frozenbroadway/status/1229969029735075840?s=21

Updated On: 2/18/20 at 11:16 PM

[treblemakerz]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 11:17pm

True Love is a gorgeous song that I felt added some more depth to Anna as a character so I'm very sad to see it go.

Posted: 2/19/20 at 10:00am

"updating" the show is just polishing a turd. Shut it down, you already ruined a perfectly good movie and showed no creativity or imagination. This is such a colossal Disney eff up. Alex Timbers would have done wonders to the show. This is a pathetic PR stunt. Changing songs, and effects doesn't make it better. Sorry, had to be said. 

[Lot666]

Posted: 2/19/20 at 10:26am

Mercades said: ""updating" the show is just polishing a turd. Shut it down, you already ruined a perfectly good movie and showed no creativity or imagination. This is such a colossal Disney eff up. Alex Timbers would have done wonders to the show. This is a pathetic PR stunt. Changing songs, and effects doesn't make it better. Sorry, had to be said."

Did it?

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 2/19/20 at 11:08am

Cutting Anna's only moment of true introspection is a CHOICE.

Love the new artwork - should've been that from the start.

[windowwaving]

Posted: 2/19/20 at 11:36am

Mercades said: ""updating" the show is just polishing a turd. Shut it down, you already ruined a perfectly good movie and showed no creativity or imagination. This is such a colossal Disney eff up. Alex Timbers would have done wonders to the show. This is a pathetic PR stunt. Changing songs, and effects doesn't make it better. Sorry, had to be said."

Have you seen it with the updates? I saw the tour twice (after seeing it on Broadway twice) and felt like it was a much faster-paced production and it really made everything come together a lot better than the original did. These changes are definitely for the better. I would say give it another shot. 

[Justin D]

Posted: 2/19/20 at 1:41pm

I still cant decide if I liked the show or not. Usually I go in for technical wizardry in shows but this and Aladdin just felt sterile to me.

I do however like to see how far projections and video screens have come, I would have never known the back wall was a video screen if i didn't have binoculars, and freezing the theatre was a nice touch towards the end.

I did however question the turntable, unless I remembered wrong, I can only recall it being used twice the whole night, once in Monster and again in the finale where the 2 get raised up slightly. Seems like a waste of turntable to me.

 

But pacing is everything and this is also a problem I have had with Wicked for example, where the times I saw it on Broadway they seem to be rushing through everything and not letting jokes land or important moments of dialogue/plot register before ploughing through, whereas when I saw it in London, things were slowed down a bit and everything was clearer.

 

Also I don;t really get this recent trend to try to almost try as hard as you can to reinvent the movie's storyline because you are doing it on stage.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 2/19/20 at 1:47pm

That new artwork reminds me of Starmania

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 2/19/20 at 5:19pm

If anyone happens to notice an updated window card with the new artwork at the merch stand, please report back!

Updated On: 2/19/20 at 05:19 PM

[Luminaire2]

Posted: 2/19/20 at 6:37pm

Okay, Ciara's Let it Go is incredible. Wow. 

[hicaesar]

Posted: 2/19/20 at 11:04pm

"I did however question the turntable, unless I remembered wrong, I can only recall it being used twice the whole night, once in Monster and again in the finale where the 2 get raised up slightly. Seems like a waste of turntable to me."

I've yet to see Frozen on Broadway, but the "Broadway style musical" playing at Disney's California Adventure uses the turntable several times in some clever way.