You may well have seen the first UK performance on last years Royal Variety from the musical Frozen, if not, try and catch it, it was awesome. The show itself may not be playing here, but the incredible FROZEN: THE MUSICAL will be a very big theatrical deal when it eventually opens. In fact it should have been up and running now, but the pandemic had delayed the opening to April, and I’m afraid now another delay was announced, along with the brand new dates, starting in August.

Disney made this latest statement about the opening……

We are all excited about the time when we will be back in the theatre together enjoying the magic of live performance and are in the process of contacting existing ticket holders with new dates for Frozen, which will open in August 2021.

Whilst we work through this extensive reschedule, the show will remain off-sale. You can sign-up here to be the first to learn more about when tickets will become available again. Gift vouchers are also available – click here for more information.

Existing guests do not need to do anything at the moment – you will be contacted in the next few weeks with your revised performance date. You can view our calendar to see your new date. If the new date is not suitable, once you have received your new confirmation email, you will be able to request an exchange into an alternative performance or to request a credit voucher, or a refund if necessary.

We would like to thank you for your ongoing patience and understanding – we are doing everything we can to cause as little inconvenience to you as possible. We promise the wait will be worth it.

If you already have tickets, head to THIS PAGE and you can use the interactive calendar to see what your new date will be. If you haven’t got yours as yet, they are now on sale, head to the bottom of this page for all the details.

To tease us even further, Disney have released a short peek ‘behind the scenes’. An incredible group of people has been working together to build Frozen for the West End.

If you do have tickets you don’t need to do anything at the moment – you will be contacted at the earliest opportunity with your revised performance date. They will do this in chronological order so that customers booked into performances in April and May will be the first to be notified of their new date. If your new date is not suitable, you will be able to request an exchange into an alternative performance or to request a credit voucher, or a refund if necessary. 

The show is of course based on the smash-hit Disney film of the same name. Frozen was released in cinemas in 2013, winning multiple awards, including two Academy Awards® for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song (“Let It Go”), the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film and the BAFTA for Best Animated Film.

FROZEN: THE MUSICAL arrives in London at the soon to be refurbished Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Sisters Elsa and Anna both struggle with Elsa’s uncontrollable magical powers after they inherit the kingdom of Arendelle. When Elsa accidentally freezes their kingdom and endangers Anna, she must discover the meaning of true love to save the day.

Will she be able to melt Arendelle, and her heart along with it? Featuring the iconic songs ‘Let it Go’ and ‘Love is an Open Door’, FROZEN: THE MUSICAL adapts the beloved animated film into a magical stage spectacular that will delight us all and melt even the most FROZEN of hearts.

The lead cast has now been announced and they are in full rehearsal mode, for what is a technically challenging show. Samantha Barks (known for her roles in Pretty Woman, Oliver and Les Miserables) and Stephanie McKeon (Beautiful/The Commitments) will play Elsa and Anna in Frozen when it reopens next year.

We are promised incredible special effects, jaw-dropping scenery, and all the songs you know and love, it’s going to be an unmissable experience that will stay with you long after the curtain falls.

Even the biggest FROZEN fans will be in for some surprises, as the production features brand-new music from Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, writers of the unforgettable Let it Go.

Here’s a look at the entire cast announcement…..

So, let’s give you the SOUTH WALES LIFE Frozen facts as we have them. Just bear in mind that a lot of what we say is only based on the information we have on the Broadway production….

• The story is inspired by “The Snow Queen”, a story by beloved fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen. The musical features music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, with a book by Jennifer Lee, the three of whom wrote the music and screenplay for the original 2013 film.
• A running time for the London production is to be confirmed, but the Broadway production runs for 2 hours and 15 minutes, including an interval.
• The Broadway production was recommended for ages 8+ and not recommend for anyone under the age of 4. Exact London age recommendations are yet to be announced.

The opening times and performance schedule for the UK is now confirmed (new dates) and is at the bottom of this page.

The truly remarkable thing about Frozen is that in a musical that features a song as poignant as ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman?’, as uplifting as ‘For the First Time in Forever’, or as funny as ‘In Summer’, there is one song that towers above them all, glittering like a freshly made ice palace.

We are talking, of course, about ‘Let it Go’, the song which, when Frozen was released in the winter of 2013, became a sensation among anyone with ears. It reached the top five in the charts here and the States, sold 10.9 million copies in a year and won the Academy® Award for Best Original Song. Adults loved it, but it was a track that bewitched children – causing them to drive their parents to the brink of insanity by obsessively playing it over and over again.

So, like almost 2 Billion people have done, let’s sing it all over again. Turn up the volume now and LET IT GO………

It was the kind of magic about which pop song producers could only dream. After all, if it was that easy to make a catchy song, then everyone would be doing it. But what made ‘Let it Go’ work where so many others have not? What is the secret to its sorcery? Disney asked two music experts for their thoughts.

One theory for the incredible catchiness of ‘Let it Go’ is that it’s a musical number that owes more to pop music than to Broadway.

Dr Vasco Hexel who teaches composition for screen at the Royal College of Music……

“‘Let it Go’ is basically a hit single that we get in the middle of a Disney film. “It’s not as lush or as complicated as a musical theatre piece might otherwise be. The structure is quite streamlined so you get a very clear sense of verse / chorus / verse / chorus and that’s what makes pop songs so catchy – the immediate accessibility. They’re immediately catchy because there’s an economy of style – there is so little material, but in the best possible way. An effective pop song has to feel familiar the first time you hear it.”

Yet while it’s true that ‘Let it Go’ shares similarities with pop music, its success cannot simply be attributed to the fact that it sounds like a pop song. Instead, its power lies in occupying a space somewhere between pop and musical theatre.

Dr Christopher Wiley is a Senior Lecturer in music at the university of Surrey……

“It eludes classification. It does owe a lot to pop music, but you can’t ignore the strong musical theatre credentials. It’s written by Robert Lopez, who has worked on Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon, and his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez. We’ve also got Idina Menzel singing it, who is well known to musical theatre audiences from Rent and Wicked. ”

“It is unusual for a Disney song, because it does have this journey but starts very bleakly, in a minor key. It sounds like it’s going to be a piano ballad, like it’s going to be a quiet, reflective number. It doesn’t sound like the kind of thing that might close the first half of a musical theatre show and leave the audience singing it during the break.”

I can tell you that the stage musical has around 14 new songs, so even more for us to sing a long too.

So let’s get onto FROZEN: THE MUSICAL, how you can get tickets and when is it being performed. We’ve removed the schedule for April as that is now cancelled. The new dates will be announced in the next few weeks. If you need more details go to the FAQ Page.

And now the all important question, how do we get tickets? And it’s a simple answer really, make your way over to the website for all the information. The Disney FROZEN: THE MUSICAL site is brilliant and has so many behind the scenes videos included. To check out and sign up, go here. FROZEN

SOUTH WALES LIFE will be at the very first performance of the show, whenever that may be, and will let you know what we think then. I think we all know what we’re going to say.