Trivia / Frozen (2018)

• Author's Saving Throw: A few people found it odd that they hired Jonathan Groff — a seasoned Broadway and Glee veteran with an amazing voice — for a Disney musical, and then didn't have Kristoff sing that much. The songwriters felt the same, and for the Broadway musical, gave Kristoff a new solo ("Kristoff Lullaby") plus parts in a bunch of other new songs ("What Do You Know about Love", "Hygge," and "Colder By the Minute"). They also wrote him a part in "When Everything Falls Apart," a song used in the Denver tryout run.
• Creator Couple: After writing the soundtrack for the movie, married couple Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez returned to create more songs for the Broadway show.
• Colorblind Casting:
  • In the Original Broadway cast, King Agnarr and Kristoff are played by black actors James Brown III and Jelani Alladin, Queen Iduna is played by Korean-American actress Ann Sanders, and the standby for Anna is black actress Aisha Jackson (whose wig is a darker shade of red).
  • This is also the case in the West End version. In addition, the understudies for young Anna and adult Elsa are both black.
• Cut Song:
  • "Frozen Heart", the film's opening number, was replaced with a new song called "Let the Sun Shine On", which introduces the royal family. The song is still used as a Leitmotif though, and its melody was written into the penultimate number, "Colder by the Minute".
  • "For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)" was originally in the show and even included on the soundtrack. However, a new song was eventually written for the scene called "I Can't Lose You", which serves as a much stronger and more personal duet for Anna and Elsa.
  • "When Everything Falls Apart", Olaf's Act II number - which came right before the "Fixer Upper" scene - was later written out to avoid having two energetic Sidekick Songs play back-to-back. It was replaced with a short reprise of "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?".
  • Anna's solo in Act II, "True Love", was eventually scrapped to avoid Padding.
  • The Dark Reprise of "Hans of the Southern Isles" was originally much longer, being a musical translation of his original monologue. It was later cut down to just the final verse.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Anna is supposed to be eighteen, three years younger than Elsa, who is twenty-one. At the time of the show's debut, Patti Murin, who plays Anna, was thirty-seven, while Caissie Levy, who plays Elsa, was thirty-six.
  • A much lesser case with the Elsa and Anna of the first North American tour, with Caroline Bowman being in her mid-twenties while playing a 21 year old Elsa.
• Real-Life Relative: In the first North American tour's cast, Caroline Bowman (Elsa) is married to Austin Colby (Hans). Essentially, literal Helsa.
• Typecasting:
  • Elsa in the original Broadway production was originated by Caissie Levy, and on the first North American tour by Caroline Bowman. Both are known (much like Idina Menzel) for previously playing the role of Elphaba in Wicked. Both Elphaba and Elsa are powerful witches who initially attempt to suppress their power before embracing it. Levy had also previously played Penny, the suppressed daughter of an overprotective parent, in Hairspray.
  • The role of Anna is originated by Patti Murin, who is known for playing plucky and optimistic characters, such as Annie Oakley in a regional production of Annie Get Your Gun, Lysistrata Jones in a musical of the same name based on the Ancient Greek play and Glinda in the first national tour of Wicked.
  • The role of Prince Hans was originated by John Riddle, who's not a stranger to playing charming Disney princes before, having previously co-starred as Prince Eric - to Patti Murin's Ariel yet - in the Muny St. Louis production of The Little Mermaid.

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