Just saw Frozen @ DCA for the first time over the weekend. Did I go to a different show? My whole family thought the show was TERRIBLE! So bad it was good, laughably bad in fact. For starters, it was dull. So dull in fact that I kept drifting off to sleep. That's where the wierdness started; I'd wake up and WHOA! What the heck? There's be some new, really creepy thing on the stage I was not expecting. The first was the rock creatures when Anna get's zapped in the head. It took me a minute to realize it was suppose to be the same lovable creatures from the movie. The stage version is just really creepy though. I nodded off again, only to wake up about when Sven first appeared on stage. I nudged my son (also asleep) to let him know his favorite character was on stage but - WTH?!? The head was OK, but there was some strange human head sticking up in his back and his feet didn't touch the floor - CREEEEPY!! The next scene at least kept me awake - but can we talk about the wolves? Jeebus - more like creepy, undersized werewolves that looked much more human than "wolf".
Nodded off again, woke up to Olaf...Who couldn't love Olaf? OK, but it was like he was being held hostage at gunpoint by the puppeteer - just weird. Finally we see Elsa in the ice castle which was a high point. THe singing was OK - a little pitchy and out of tune, certainly no Adel Dazeem, but maybe shouldn't expect that for a theme park production (insert the criticism from the Alladin faithful here though). Can I take a minute to talk about casting? I get it, Disney is all into inclusion, but this was just off-putting. The only person on stage that looked remotely Nordic was Oaken, and he was on stage for 5 seconds. I also get that putting little kids into a stage show that runs 365 days a year would be challenging at best, but the age progression of Anna and Elsa didn't work. I think there were younger and older actors? Hard to say from the balcony.
Oh yeah, the balcony - the most baffling thing about this show is it is 3 years in and still plays to a packed house. No need to get there early, but all the seats are full by the opening scene. Huh? I know I'm not the only one who thinks this show is terrible. With all the local AP traffic @ DCA How can that be?
Anyway, more nodding off. Woke up to the scene with the rock people after Anna gets zapped int he heart. I didn't think those could get more creepy, but, sure enough, you fill a stage with them and the creepy is really ramped up. My 5-year-old daughter keeps bugging me, when is it going to end? Finally the finale scene; easily 4 conversations taking place at the same time - super confusing, and yes, I've seen the movie as much as you have. Bad guys get banished, good guys win the day, and we get caught up in the rush of people leaving the theater before the final curtain is dropped. Honestly, that never happened at any of the Alladin shows we went to.
I WILL SAY, it was memorable. The rest of the day we had ourselves in hysterics bringing up different creepy aspects of the show. Bad though, REALLY bad! SERIOUSLY, I'm not one of the Alladin faithful that wishes that show would return. My wife loves the Frozen sing-along at DHS - that would be a much better fit here. Actually, just about ANYTHING would be better here - maybe bring the Country Bears here? They are far more believable and far less creepy - even the movie version.
How can this thread be 3 pages long and I'm the first dissenting opinion?
) who has never seen the movie and hasn’t a clue as to the story?
