Djavan van de Fliert and Emily Lane in Frozen at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London. Picture: Michael Wharley © Disney
Frozen continues at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
After a year of magic in the West End, Frozen has had some cast changes. What a splendid excuse to open up the gates for a celebratory media night. Along with many other excited theatregoers, we enjoy blue ‘Fixer Upper’ cocktails at the bar, marvel at the displays of Christopher Oram’s masterful costume work, and take in the opulence of the renovated Theatre Royal Drury Lane, before taking our seats in the auditorium for this stunning musical.
Making his West End debut is Arts Ed grad Djavan van de Fliert, who brings sleds of charm to the sometimes-curmudgeonly Kristoff. His interplay with his reindeer Sven (played alternately by Mikayla Jade and Ashley Birchall) is downright adorable and he comes alive when given the opportunity to show off his incredible dance skills and powerful voice. If he harbours any nervousness about making his debut in such an enormous show, he hides it well. On the strength of his performance I am looking forward to seeing him in many future West End roles.
More familiar with the West End stage is Emily Lane, now starring as Anna. Lane has an impressive CV featuring stints in Les Misérables and The Sound of Music but has most recently spent time in the Frozen ensemble and as second cover for Anna.
Despite presumably having performed the role numerous times before, she plays Anna with all the freshness and wide-eyed joy that you could hope for. Every line delivery and every movement is well-considered, and several of her scenes could honestly serve as a West End comedy masterclass. Like in most of their musicals, Disney understands that it is important to keep the adults entertained just as much as the younger attendees. Lane embraces this philosophy fully and gets away with some brilliantly grown-up comedy moments amidst the wholesome puppets and princess magic swirling around her.
Enriching the incredible work of Samantha Barks as Elsa, Craig Gallivan as Olaf, Oliver Ormson as Hans and Richard Frame as the Duke of Weselton, is the show’s superb ensemble. They are currently a mix of newbies making their Frozen debuts and veterans, but all are so polished it is impossible to tell which is which. With frequent costume changes – some of which must be almost as fast as Elsa’s unforgettable ‘Let It Go’ transformation – they make the stage as lively and exciting as anything a Disney artist could animate. And, of course, special mention must go to the astoundingly talented rotating cast of young Elsas and Annas who carry the show’s opening scenes almost entirely on their backs.
Like many, I can’t help but get frustrated by audience interruptions during a show. Theatre is an ancient tradition in which we let go of our ego and surrender ourselves to the shared experience: the communality is what elevates it above sitting at home with some YouTube videos. When somebody breaks that fragile spell – that shared commitment to the magic – it disappears, and what a selfish, unforgivable act that is.
Somehow though, it’s a little different at Frozen. It is impossible to feel anything but joy in your heart as a young child at their very first West End show shouts, “Olaf! It’s Olaf!” when the hilarious Gallivan first brings out his snowman puppet. It doesn’t happen as much as you may worry, but when it does it is surprising how wholesomely joyful it is.
The happiness this show, directed by Michael Grandage, brings to younger audience members is palpable. They dress up, they clutch their Elsa dolls, and on the way out of the theatre they sing the songs with all the passion that the cast did just minutes earlier. Before the show begins, a voiceover on the PA extends a special welcome to those in the audience experiencing their first West End show, and expresses our shared hope that this will be the start of an incredible theatre journey for each.
On Frozen’s West End opening, Tom Martland wrote an excellent and thorough review for this website. Apart from the cast, has the show really changed since then? Anything new to report? Well, no and yes. No, there doesn’t appear to have been any major changes made to this production since the first time I saw it – though this performance ran with such polish, the entire on and offstage team has clearly mastered the running of this enormous and technology-heavy beast. Miraculously, magic is made eight times a week. So no, other than the cast, no great changes as such.
However, last week the UK Home Office reported that recorded hate crime has gone up by more than a quarter since last year. Sexual orientation-based hate crime is up 41%. Transphobic hate crime is up 56%. Theatre isn’t a holiday from the real world to an unchanging fantasy land of escape: our understanding of art evolves concurrently with our society.
So yes, this year there will be more children seeing this show who feel the pressure to conceal, not feel. Yes, more children who worry that they are a monster who might hurt the people they love just by being who they are. And yes, beyond any of its many theatrical achievements, Frozen in 2022 has a potentially life-changing message of love and acceptance that any child – or adult – would be lucky to experience.
Ian Bowkett
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