Last week, in part 1, we lobbied for Santino Fontana to reprise the role Hans in the Broadway-bound Frozen musical. Today we’ll look at choices for Elsa and Anna.
First up, Elsa. The producers held a workshop for Frozen last spring with a full cast. Betsy Wolfe played Elsa. We’re going to stick with their casting for now. She has the right energy for Elsa: intelligence, sadness, isolation, strength that at the same time seems fragile. It’s believable that she could either end up a mad, evil queen or a strong benevolent one, depending on which way she decided to direct her energies and what kind of support she had around her. As an alternative, or for the replacement cast, we pick Phillipa Soo, the original Eliza Hamilton (when she’s done starring in Amelie). The first video is Betsy Wolfe singing Let It Go. The second is Phillips Soo singing Fallin’ by Alicia Keyes during a Ham4Ham pre-Hamilton-lottery street performance with her fellow Schuyler sisters from the original cast of Hamilton.
Patti Murin played Anna in the Workshop. We’re sticking with her, too. She has a sweet, perky energy that can turn sad and moving. It’s perfect for Anna. Anna walks around acting like she’s unaffected by her terrible childhood, trying to hold her sister and her kingdom together. In reality, Anna’s most likely on the edge of crumbling from the weight of her own loneliness, grief, and royal burden, just like Elsa. She’s just better at putting up a front, and asking for help. For an alternative Anna, we pick Komiko Glenn, from Waitress (Dawn) and Orange Is the New Black. The first video below is Patti and Andrew Rannells singing Love Is an Open Door. The video at the top of the post is Patti with the Lopez sisters (daughters of the Frozen composers) singing Do You Want to Build a Snowman. The second video below is Komiko singing You and I Both by Jason Mraz.
Other Frozen news:
According to
BroadwayWorld.com, Disney-owned ABCTV will air the original flavor Frozen film during prime time on Sunday, 12/11. Immediately following, they’ll be showing “The Making of Frozen: A Return to Arendelle,” a behind the scenes special which includes a sneak peak of next year’s holiday special that reunites the original cast. ABC is expected to air the Frozen Holiday Special in December, 2017.
According to the
Wall Street Journal and
Variety, Disney has initiated a profit sharing deal with all of the actors who take part in developing the Frozen musical, and who originate the roles in Denver and on Broadway. The artists will split 0.5% of the profit from the first 3 English language productions for 10 years. The Hamilton originating actors had a similar deal. This is fantastic and deserved for the actors. It recognizes and compensates their contributions as artists to the development of the ongoing production, and could mean a substantial amount of money if the musical has even a fraction of the popularity of the film. It’s something all shows should consider doing.
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Published by Metacrone
Retired teacher, homeschooling mom and lifelong film, television and theater enthusiast living in Albuquerque, NM.
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