Coming Soon: "Frozen" vs "Wicked" On Broadway
Thursday, February 11, 2016 at 6:30PM As you may have heard Frozen will be coming to Broadway in the Spring of 2018. The original composers will write additional new songs which is smart since the second half of Frozen the movie is weirdly not a musical at all. The songs abruptly end after "Let It Go"
It will be curious to have two versions of Wicked on stage simultaneously, though.
Shade. (I couldn't resist.)
No matter how much one loves Frozen, it's hard to deny that it shamelessly rips off of Wicked. When Wicked's producers rather dimly dragged their feet on a film version of their 3 billion dollar smash (they should have started immediately since it takes years to get a picture made properly and now a picture will feel "old" when it arrives) Disney swooped in with their own version of Wicked called Frozen -- even using the same leading lady with the huge pipes (Idina Menzel) and had their own billion-dollar smash (with endless revenue yet to come in merchandising).
Consider:
- Sisters / Besties. One is good and likeable. The other is secretive and perceived as "Wicked"
- The "Wicked" girl is strong with magic and this scares people and she hides herself away from the fearful citizens of Arendel/Oz
- During her escape/rise into her power she sings an athem of self-actualization "Let It Go"/"Defying Gravity"
- And then the villagers come after her and the good girl has to intervene. (From their the stories diverge... as they do with the supporting cast, too)
Wicked will obviously still be selling out in 2018 when Frozen arrives. 12 years and a few months into its run it's still always near the top of the box office charts. It will be so strange to see them side by side. Do you have a preference?
Broadway and Stage, Disney, Frozen, Wicked, musicals
Reader Comments (9)
I always thought Frozen was pretty bland in the music department. (Including Let It Go - ubiquity does not equal quality.) Certainly no songs to rival Wicked's best.
Wicked has the better songs - no doubt about that, but I think "Let it Go" had some funny scenes.
I hope both co-exist on Broadway happily providing employment to female singers, musicians, and large numbers of production design people.
Frozen = Broadway Employment - yay.
Teehee, exactly what I mentioned when I wrote about FROZEN on the blog two and a bit years ago :) http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2013/11/26/is-frozen-the-closest-we-will-get-to-wicked-the-movie.html
They hit many of the same notes for me, but I do love both. I'll be excited that there will be a musical about the bond of sisterhood.
I'm interested in what they do with it on a technical level. There are many scenes I'm curious how they will translate to the stage. "Let It Go" I'm curious about specifically. I'll also wonder what they will be doing with Olaf. How will they do Elsa's ice powers?
Of course I'm very excited to hear about which actresses will get to play Anna and Elsa. In a weird way I would personalily love it if they were relative newcomers.
I'm excited to hear the new songs too. I sometimes wonder why animated musicals never seem to have the traditional amount of songs a musical would normally have.
I'm so sick of everything to do with Frozen that i'm DEEPLY dreading the TV commercials that are sure to blast Let It Go.
When I finally watched Frozen, I was disgusted with it. Not just because of how it ripped off Wicked (*), though that was a component. I just couldn't see any reason for its mega-success, as everything about it struck me (and my twentysomething kids as well) as second-hand and utterly mediocre - apart from Menzel's killer performance of Let It Go.
(* I don't think Wicked is a masterpiece, but it's pretty good, with some excellent songs and great understanding of female friendship/rivalry courtesy of Winnie Holzman [who I've venerated as a genius since My So-Called Life first aired]. I like the musical way more than its source novel.)
Anyway, I continue to be mystified by the love and devotion Frozen inspires in anybody older that 12. But I'm not surprised that it's getting a Broadway production, that's the Disney Way nowadays. They'll milk it until the end of time.
Frozen >>>>>>> Wicked
Although I may or may not be biased because of the watered-down hatchet job done to Gregory Maguire's novel.
Doctor Strange you should not be disgusted just because something is popular you do not like or understand.
And "Let it Go" is not Frozen's last song Nathaniel. "For the First Time in Forever" reprise and "Fixer Upper" happen later. And then there is the mediocre Demi Levato end credits version of "Let it Go".
Ups, Nathaniel, I made a mistake as well, "Reindeer Are Better than People" and "In Summer" both come after "Let it Go" as well. So I do not know how you though the songs ended with it. Frozen has 9 songs which is actually more than Disney's average 6 but there is only "Fixer Upper" in the last third.