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Take a trip to Arendelle as Musical Theatre Southwest brings 'Frozen: The Broadway Musical' to the stage
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Elsa, queen of Arendelle, is conjuring snow and ice at Musical Theatre Southwest with Disney’s “Frozen: The Broadway Musical.”
Elora Daniels, who plays Elsa, said that a full-length theatrical production adds more meaning to the characters.
“There’s so much more room for that growth and connection and relationships that you wouldn’t have in just a 90-minute movie,” Daniels said. “So I feel like the material definitely does a lot of the work for us, and just giving us all this stuff to dig into.”
The Broadway musical version of “Frozen” adds a few more scenes and songs, including “What Do You Know About Love?” and “Dangerous to Dream.”
Devon Frieder, who plays Anna, said that at the heart of the show are two strong, independent women discovering what makes them who they are.
“It’s about them discovering who they are as people and what they can bring,” Frieder said, “and accepting their own personal quirks that they’ve kind of been led to believe are flaws.”
Daniels has found herself connecting to Elsa through the added number “Monster,” and the iconic song, “Let It Go.”
“Finding those emotional beats and the journey she goes on, just like through that song specifically, has been so fun,” Daniels said, “and just like getting to, I mean, for lack of a better phrase, ‘Let it Go’ by the end, it’s so fun. It’s so liberating.”
Director Marc Comstock said he has enjoyed seeing the actors connect with their roles and has let them find that connection on their own, with little nudges.
“For me, it’s been great to see how each of these actors make the song truly their own, and it’s their voice, and you kind of just let them do their things,” Comstock said, “and then you maybe find a little nuance and kind of nudge them.”
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The show is split into two casts, “Arendelle” and “Enchanted,” and Comstock said that each cast brings unique experiences and methods to their characters.
“How these actors relate to each other as their characters, that’s what will set it apart,” Comstock said.
Daniels said to get to the heart of the relationship between Elsa and Anna, she has been drawing on her own experience as a sister.
“I’ve been, personally, pulling a little bit from that, my own lived experience, and just really relishing and getting to tell a story that is, like, the heart of it is that love between sisters,” Daniels said. “And I think that’s something that just makes ‘Frozen’ so wonderfully special.”
