Top Five Songs: Frozen (Broadway)

I’m finally coming back around to this post, which I’d initially planned to write at the end of May, the day I’d been supposed to see the Broadway touring production of Frozen, back before COVID-19 upended everyone’s plans for the foreseeable future. I’ll admit that I’ve never seen a stage adaptation of an animated Disney film, but I’ve listened to a lot of cast recordings, and it seems like filling out the score is always a difficult thing. I don’t quite know why, but even with the exact same composers doing the writing, the added songs rarely equal the originals from the movie. It’s not like most shows written for the stage feel like overkill with 15 or more songs, so why is it that so many of the added numbers in Disney-on-Broadway adaptations feel extraneous? As such, this post, in which I’m focusing specifically on the non-movie numbers, isn’t the usual Top Five where I’m working to winnow my favorites down to five. Still, even if the score for Frozen the musical isn’t as impressive to me as the score for Frozen the movie, that doesn’t mean there isn’t some good stuff here.

“Dangerous to Dream” – Even though the film shows how Elsa’s isolation and the resulting distance in her relationship with Anna affects both sisters, Anna is the one who most articulates her feelings about that. The stage show gives Elsa this chance to voice her longing to be truly close to Anna again, juxtaposed of course with her fear of losing control and hurting her. It’s a pretty good song – the melody on the verses is really lovely, and I like the exploration of Elsa’s feelings.

Best lyric: “I can’t be what you expect of me, / And I’m not what I seem. / But I would love to know you. / Is it dangerous to dream?”

“What Do You Know About Love?” – I feel like my affection for this song probably outweighs its quality, but I’m okay with it. This song basically takes Kristoff and Anna’s “how do you get engaged to someone you just met?” conversation in the movie and turns it into a musical number that isn’t as snappy or funny. What it does have, though, is Jelani Alladin’s Kristoff, who I’m very much in favor of. He and Patti Murin’s Anna demonstrate some fun love/hate chemistry, and Alladin’s voice is just excellent.

Best lyric: “Love’s not a thing you get - / It’s work and tears and sweat.”

“For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)” – Okay, so this isn’t even a new song for the musical, but the opening is new, and I kind of love it. That opening verse from Elsa is gorgeous. Everything about it just works – the delicate melody, the understated lyrics, Caissie Levy’s wistful vocals, and the way it ties back to “Let It Go” without feeling cheap. No lie, it’s maybe my favorite piece of music written for the stage show.

Best lyric: “Standing frozen / In this life I’ve chosen, / Please don’t find me - / The past is all behind me.”

“Monster” – Another big solo for Elsa. This time around, she wrestles with the way both she and others view her powers as something to fear. She wonders if she should give into that perception and become the “monster” they want to make of her, or if she can stop the storm and save them by running from it, but this is the part in the Disney story when the hero has to face up to their mistakes, not hide from them. It’s not as well-written as “Dangerous to Dream,” and certainly not as well-written as “Let It Go,” but Caissie Levy performs it well, and it’s a nice way to dramatize this moment.

Best lyric: “Were they right? / Has the dark in me finally come to light?”

“When Everything Falls Apart” – Technically, this song isn’t even in the show – it was cut in the pre-Broadway tryouts, but it’s included on the cast recording as a bonus track. While its inclusion on this list is definitely reflective of my pro-Jelani-Alladin agenda, it’s also a fun friendship-romp of Olaf and Kristoff bolstering Anna in a moment when she’s discouraged. Between the movie, the musical, and Frozen II, this is probably the song that feels most like a family-friendly version of Robert Lopez’s earlier work – I enjoy the bouncy melody, and even though I know Kristen Anderson-Lopez didn’t write lyrics for Avenue Q or The Book of Mormon, the playful rhymes here are a little reminiscent of those shows (albeit decidedly G-rated.) Not to mention, it’s a good showcase for Greg Hildreth’s Olaf, who quite impressively channels Josh Gad, and we get more of Alladin’s terrific voice.

Best lyric: “What I’m most afraid of / Shows me what I’m made of.”

Top Five Disney Princes

Today, I’m staying home for all the sanitation workers out there.

Is it sexist that I’m compiling a Top Five of princes before I get to princesses? I’d say no – I’m starting with the princes because it’s easier for me to just pick five. I’m not sure when I’ll get around to doing a similar post for the Disney princesses, but I know I’m going to be debating long and hard to winnow down my list to my absolute favorites.

Phillip (Sleeping Beauty) – Going old-school for the first name on this list. If I were basing this on my initial memories of this movie, I wouldn’t have included Phillip, but rewatching the film in recent years made me remember how cool he is. After a couple mostly-blank-slates in Snow White and Cinderella, Phillip is fun and energetic and dashing. It’s easy to see why he and Aurora get so caught up in one another (“love at first sight” tropes notwithstanding,) and I still get a kick out of his declaration, “Now, father, you’re living in the past. This is the 14^th century!”

Best Musical Bit: Gotta go with the classic, “Once Upon a Dream.” I like the ending, with Aurora and Phillip singing together. “If I know you, / I know what you’ll do. / You’ll love me at once / The way I did once / Upon a dream.” Lovely.

The Beast (Beauty and the Beast) – More so in the live-action version, even though I did always enjoy him in the original. The Beast is someone who’s had a long time to feel sorry for himself, punished for his past cruelty but reflecting on how hard it is for him rather than recognizing that he needs to change his ways. It’s not until Belle comes along, someone who doesn’t capitulate to his growling and his tantrums, that he starts to uncover the man he could be.

Best Musical Bit: Again, we’re talking live action, because “Evermore” is worth the damn price of admission. “Wasting in my lonely tower, / Waiting by an open door, / I’ll fool myself she’ll walk right in. / And as the long, long nights begin, / I’ll think of all that might have been / Waiting here forevermore.” Oh, the angst! The way it’s shot, with the Beast clamboring about the castle, is so windswept and dramatic, and the emotion in his voice is really affecting.

Aladdin (Aladdin) –Aladdin is the first Disney movie I have really clear memories of seeing in the theater, and Aladdin will probably always be my favorite. A scrappy and resourceful thief with a good heart, Aladdin brims with potential that he doesn’t fully trust he has. I love watching him come into his own and realize he doesn’t have to be someone he’s not to get the sort of life that he wants. (Also, Mena Massoud was totally the best part of the live-action movie.)

Best Musical Bit: I’m gonna go with the reprise of “One Jump Ahead,” short but very sweet. “If only they’d look closer, / Would they see a poor boy? / No siree. / They’d find out / There’s so much more to me…” You really feel that yearning, and it comes through even more for borrowing the melody of the previous song, which displays such cockiness and charm.

Li Shang (Mulan) – Gotta love Shang. Not technically a prince, but Mulan isn’t a princess either – both get honorary status just ‘cause they’re that cool. A dedicated captain with daddy issues, Shang is brave and principled, and his experiences with Mulan help expand his notions beyond doing what is expected/ordering into doing what is right. Sad we won't see him in the live-action movie.

Best Musical Bit: Obviously “I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” come on now. I especially love those vocals at the start of the last verse. “Time is racing toward us till the Huns arrive. / Heed my every order and you might survive.” A kickass song set to an awesome montage. It’s just *chef’s kiss*!

Kristoff (Frozen) – I get such a kick out curmudgeonly Kristoff being slightly stunned at Anna’s sunshiny naivete. He can be a bit of a grouch, but he has a good heart, and for all that he’s irritated by Anna early on, he still keeps helping her. And when the chips are really down, he’s all in. I don’t think Frozen 2 serves him quite as well, but he delights me as a character in both the movie and the musical.

Best Musical Bit: I do love me some Jonathan Groff, but the first Frozen completely drops the ball on Kristoff singing, and while Groff sings the heck out of “Lost in the Woods” in Frozen 2, it’s a little too cheesy for my tastes. So I’m going Broadway version, with “What Do You Know About Love?” Kristoff’s parts in bold: “Some people know their hearts / The minute true love starts.” – “Some people read a lot of books.” – “Some people simply know / When true love says, ‘Hello!’” – “Some folks are taken in by curly locks and princely looks!” Great contrast between the low softness of the first line and the rising intensity of the second, and it’s a nice demonstration of his cynicism where instant-love is concerned.

Frozen II (2019, PG)

Like a lot of sequels to movies that weren’t really written to have sequels, Frozen II doesn’t strictly need to exist. The results of this can be varied, from movies so bad they retroactively steal a tiny bit of your love for the first film, to surprisingly-sharp movies that are way better than they have any right to be, and everything in between. Frozen II falls in that in-between place, but it’s pretty heavily on the “good” side of the spectrum (premise spoilers.)

Since the events of the first film, Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf have cultivated a nice little family life for themselves, but nothing stays the same forever. Elsa is haunted by a song from a mysterious voice that only she can hear, and it’s somehow tied to an elemental magic that threatens the kingdom. The sisters (with Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf in tow) set out to 1) save Arendelle and 2) find the voice that Elsa is hearing, both learning important things about themselves along the way.

For my money, the plot isn’t put together quite as well as the first one. There’s a lot of good, even great, stuff in here, but not all of it feels cohesive, and it definitely feels overstuffed at points. In particular, there’s a conspicuous-feeling effort to give Kristoff his own separate plot for the sake of him having an “arc,” rather than integrating him more naturally into the main story. However, the main thrust of it is interesting, entertaining, and inspiring, and the interactions between Anna and Elsa are worth the price of admission for me.

I’d say Olaf is used pretty effectively. A little Olaf goes a long way, but here, he mostly avoids overstaying his welcome and one scene of his features the biggest laughs of the movie by far.There are also some new characters (my cousin’s small kid, who adores Frozen and doesn’t have experience with the idea of a sequel, can’t wrap her head around that,) most of whom remain pretty two-dimensional. More exciting are the new creatures/magical sources, which run the gamut from adorable to awesome.

As for the music? I’m still debating how I feel about it. My immediate reaction is that the score isn’t as good as the first film, although I’m not sure how much of that is down to the fact that I’ve had six years (whoa!) to listen to the original songs. I don’t think the score features an obvious slam dunk like “Let It Go” or a delightfully-fitting character piece like “For the First Time in Forever,” but I’m sure my impressions of the songs will change as I listen to them more.

What I will say is as follows. “Show Yourself” undeniably brought tears to my eyes, and Idina tears it up as always. Anna gets a couple strong points in which to shine – I enjoyed “Some Things Never Change” a lot, and “The Next Right Thing” has some beautiful themes. Jonathan Groff gets to do more actual singing as Kristoff, although his big song is kind of goofy. Will need to investigate further before I can say any more.

Warnings

Scary moments for kids, scenes of violence, and thematic elements.