FROZEN: THE MUSICAL - Mark Reviews Movies

Frozen: The Musical, Disney+

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Review by Mark Dujsik | June 20, 2025

Frozen: The Musical isn't a live-action adaptation of the 2013 animated film in the traditional sense (One imagines that version will come sooner or later). Instead, it's a filmed production of the stage-musical adaptation of said film, recorded at the Theatre Royal in London in front of a packed house (and, hopefully for that audience, without one for certain camera setups).

That means the most important element of director Brett Sullivan's movie is the show itself. For better and worse, the musical, written by the original film's screenwriter Jennifer Lee and with songs from the same duo (Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez) who wrote the films songs, is a straightforward re-telling of the film's story for the stage. There are new tunes, which mostly get in the way of story's momentum, and the script assumes everyone in the audience will have seen the source material at least once or, if the audience member is bring a child or two along, several dozen times.

It is a nice (or, for those who have been coerced into seeing the film more times than anyone should probably watch a single piece of media, potentially unfortunate) reminder of what a legitimate cultural phenomenon Frozen was upon its release and for years after. The film earned that position, of course, as a great piece of entertainment—at once sincere about its roots as a fairy tale and a sly satire of that kind of storytelling, filled with impressive visuals, and containing several songs that are far more than catchy. No one will forget "Let It Go," of course, and the makers of this stage show make triply sure of that.

One of the challenges of the musical, with particular production directed for the stage by Michael Grandage, is that the film was so popular and, at the point the show was originally conceived and produced, had remained such a fixture of popular culture. To stray too far from the source might be to alienate those wanting as close to a copy of the film on stage as possible. To stick too close to it would be to make other people wonder what the point of the musical could possibly be, except to charge more money to a smaller audience to have actors essentially recite something people could watch at home.

Regardless of what the script actually does, the biggest challenge, perhaps, is trying to bring the visuals of the film's striking aesthetics to the stage. The musical's prologue, which covers a lot of narrative ground and includes a few songs, makes one think the production at least might get that right.

Indeed, the entire first section of the show is an incredible bit of stagecraft, captured by Sullivan's cameras without too many close-ups to break up what the extended sequence pulls off (Such techniques do that later, though). That includes introducing the world, by way of a painted curtain that fades as the stage lights rise, and the characters, by way of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" and a vignette of a tragedy at sea, and some sense of the magic possessed by Elsa (Samantha Barks). That last part is portrayed by some simple but nifty trickery, including some basic sleight of hand by the actors, lighting effects, and pieces of set that seem to erupt from the wings.

The prologue is such a frantically moving bit of staging that it's kind of impressive the cast, especially the chorus, and crew have any wind left in them by its conclusion. As for the remainder of the plot, it once again follows Elsa and her sister Anna (Laura Dawkes, playing the role with aplomb and an amusing naughty streak) as the former embraces her ice powers and the latter tries to bring her back to the kingdom. Along for the adventure are Kristoff (Jammy Kasongo), along with his trusty reindeer friend, and Prince Hans (Oliver Ormson), who is Anna's rather-quick love interest (It's still a good joke), and Olaf (Craig Gallivan), a snowman brought to life by Elsa's magic. Gallivan acts with a puppet that looks exactly like the film version of the character, which means it's not quite expressive enough to keep our attention from being drawn to the actor.

The original film seemed perfectly suited to a stage show. One of its few shortcomings was that its role as a musical ended too early in the narrative, so new songs would seem to be a possible benefit. They might have been, except that too many of these new songs simply take the place of dialogue. The most effective ones add to Elsa's self-doubt ("Monster") or give the sisters a tender moment ("I Can't Lose You") before a climactic showdown. In other words, the songs that lean in to the source material's strengths—its strong characters and thorny relationships—are the ones that stand out here.

Then, there's "Let It Go," which remains a highlight, especially with the costuming and set tricks that transform Elsa and the world around her. Listening to and watching Barks perform that signature song in Frozen: The Musical, however, is to hear the same vocal quality and see the same movements that defined the anthem in the animated film. Even at its high point, the stage show can't escape coming across as a copy of its source material and feeling a bit trapped by it.

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