Full casting for Broadway hopeful Frozen has been announced. The names have been trickling out for months but now it's all official. The out of town tryouts begin in August in Denver (so if you live there, do report back!). It's quite a high profile gig for all of the cast members none of whom have been Tony nominated and many of whom are in early stages of their careers.
This image, headshots for the two leads Caissie Levy and Patti Murin, is going around and though accidental I couldn't help but giggle a little. Do they share a hairdresser and colorist? Hopefully the differences in the stage sisters will be easy to read via acting and costuming. It's going to be weird to have it on Broadway where Wicked, which Frozen rips off so liberally from, is a Broadway mainstay. We'll see. One assumes Disney will add songs by already EGOTed team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez to the second half or that's going to be one lopsided stage musical with all the songs sung before intermission! [More on the cast after the jump.]
THE CAST
If there's one song that needs to stop the show with stage craft magic AND belting, it's "Let it Go"
Caissie Levy as Elsa. Levy played Fantine in the recent Les Miz revival, was in the boisterous great ensemble of the revival of Hair, and headlined Ghost the Musical in 2012. [Alyssa Fox will understudy Elsa]
Here's Patti doing "Love is an Open Door" with Andrew Rannels
Patti Murin as Anna. Her most high profile gig to date is a series regular role on Chicago Med. She was also the Broadway lead of the shortlived Lysistra Jones (2011). [Aisha Jackson will understudy Anna]
Jelani Alladin as Kristoff. He's never been on Broadway but he's done theatrical productions including a well received performance in Choir Boy (a glimpse of that above). Hopefully Kristoff gets a real song for the stage show because it was ridiculous that Jonathan Groff didnt really get to sing for the movie.
Hildreth with Steven Pasquale doing a really fun twist on "Gaston". I'm sure I've mentioned that Pasquale is one of my fav Broadway men. Like... ♥︎♥︎♥︎
Greg Hildreth as Olaf. He's been featured in the original casts of three shows this decade: Cinderella, Peter and the Starcatcher, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.
John Riddle as Hans. His only Broadway credit to date is Kander & Ebb's recent The Visit but he was really good in it. Here he is singing that undervalued show's moving number "You". Such a gorgeous tenor!
Robert Creighton as Duke of Weselton. He's been in seven shows on Broadway in the past 14 years and was Drama Desk nominated for his leading role in the Off Broadway musical Cagney.
Kevin Del Aguila as Oaken (2 Broadway shows to date, also a writer)
Timothy Hughes as Pabbie (1 previous Broadway show)
Andrew Pirozzi as Sven
Audrey Bennett (understudied young Amélie in the recent Broadway musical) / Mattea Conforti (previously played Matilda on Broadway) as Young Anna
Brooklyn Nelson (previously in Matilda on Broadway) / Ayla Schwartz as Young Elsa
ENSEMBLE
Alicia Albright, Tracee Beazer, Wendi Bergamini, Ashley Blanchet, James Brown III, Claire Camp, Lauren Nicole Chapman, Spencer Clark, Jeremy Davis, Kali Grinder, Ashley Elizabeth Hale, Zach Hess, Donald Jones, Jr., Nina Lafarga, Ross Lekites, Austin Lesch, Synthia Link, Travis Patton, Adam Perry, Jeff Pew, Olivia Phillip, Noah J. Ricketts, Ann Sanders, Jacob Smith and Nicholas Ward
While Frozen will obviously be a huge hit at first, do you think it will last or be any good? The Disney shows have been hit or miss qualitatively. All of them open well (pre-sold brand, don'cha know) and get a least a full year run (the shortest were, I think, Tarzan and The Little Mermaid which each closed far short of two year runs) but only Beauty & The Beast (13 year run) and The Lion King (nearing its 20th anniversary) turned into behemoths. Aladdin has been open for 3 years now and still sells very well so it might join them.