Frozen: stage vs screen

Frozen came to Broadway in 2018, five years after Disney's animated film won the Oscars for Best Animated Feature and for "Let It Go." The same team wrote both: Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez wrote the songs, and Jennifer Lee, who co-directed and wrote the film, wrote the book. The story is the same, but the stage version adds a lot of music and a few new ideas.

Stage

Broadway musical (2018)

Screen

Frozen (2013), Disney's animated film directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee

1. Many more songs on stage

The film has only a handful of songs. For Broadway, Anderson-Lopez and Lopez wrote about a dozen new ones, including "A Little Bit of You," "Hans of the Southern Isles," "Dangerous to Dream," "What Do You Know About Love?," "Hygge," "I Can't Lose You," "Kristoff Lullaby," "Monster," "True Love," and "Colder by the Minute."

2. Film songs that stay

The stage show keeps "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?," "For the First Time in Forever," "Love Is an Open Door," "Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People," "In Summer," and "Fixer Upper." "Let It Go" still closes the first act, with Elsa's dress transforming on stage.

3. "Frozen Heart" and young Kristoff are cut

The film opens with ice harvesters singing "Frozen Heart" and shows Kristoff as a boy among them. The musical drops that song and that introduction, so audiences meet Kristoff as an adult, and opens instead with "Vuelie" and the new "Let the Sun Shine On."

4. The Hidden Folk replace the trolls

The film's rock trolls, led by Grand Pabbie and including Kristoff's adoptive mother Bulda, become the Hidden Folk on stage, a name borrowed from Scandinavian folklore. Pabbie and Bulda are still there, and they still sing "Fixer Upper," joined by Olaf.

5. Elsa sings more about her fear

On screen, Elsa's inner life is carried mainly by "Let It Go." On stage she also sings "Dangerous to Dream" on her coronation day, worried that her powers will be found out, and joins Hans and the men of Arendelle in "Monster" as she wonders whether she really is the danger they fear.

6. Hans gets his own theme

In the film, Hans's only real number is "Love Is an Open Door" with Anna. On stage he gets "Hans of the Southern Isles" and two reprises. In the second, sung with Anna, he lays out his plan to take Arendelle's throne by letting her freeze and blaming Elsa.

7. Anna and Kristoff get duets and a ballad

Anna and Kristoff argue about romance in the new duet "What Do You Know About Love?," and Anna and Elsa have a new sisters' duet, "I Can't Lose You." Late in the show, Anna sings "True Love," a ballad in which she looks back on her mistakes while still believing in love.

8. Sven on stilts

Sven, an animated reindeer in the film, is played on Broadway by a dancer in a full-body costume, walking on tiptoe while holding stilts to act as the front legs. Olaf is a puppet worked in full view by the actor playing him.

Frozen movie vs musical: FAQs