FROZEN Reviews- Page 3

[Fanboy99]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 1:18am

ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "Fanboy99 said: "broadwayboy223 said: "ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "I think these reviews are to be expected. In order to get really bad reviews, the Frozen team had to do something daring and creative. Sounds like they just sought for low mediocrity and achieved it. As long as it looks like the movie then the tourists will be happy."

I suspect Timbers was fired because he wanted to go daring and creative."

Why wouldnt Disney want to go daring and creative? I mean thats why the Lion King is still such a huge success!!"

Because The Little Mermaidwent creative and deviated from the original look of the filmand that scared Disney forever after."

Im guessing the little mermaid didnt do well with critics and audiences?

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 1:24am

BroadwayConcierge said: "I haven't been to the show yet, but it's disappointing to see that "boring" is a common word among many reviews. Doesn't exactly get me all that hyped!"

Do you always listen to what everyone says about shows?

I didn't find it boring at all. I did find The Lion King to be super boring though after the first 5 minutes and that's been running for how many years now.

My point is don't form an opinion about the show from reading reviews on here or wherever.

Updated On: 3/23/18 at 01:24 AM

[Elegance101]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 1:27am

Fanboy99 said: "broadwayboy223 said: "ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "I think these reviews are to be expected. In order to get really bad reviews, the Frozen team had to do something daring and creative. Sounds like they just sought for low mediocrity and achieved it. As long as it looks like the movie then the tourists will be happy."

I suspect Timbers was fired because he wanted to go daring and creative."

Why wouldnt Disney want to go daring and creative? I mean thats why the Lion King is still such a huge success!!"

Disney definitely wanted this to be the movie onstage. The movie was their biggest hit arguably ever. Why would they want to mess with that? Frozen works (clearly) so messing with it in any way is a huge risk.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 1:29am

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 1:31am

I think it is hard to say. Timber is a great director, but his past shows have been quite all over the place. Certainly he loves the neon look, and he loves that Brooklyn quality, but Rocky was kind of different, so I'm kind of curious what his Frozen would have looked like. I think this is a very tame, boring version of the show. I think it's fine, but nothing that is taking risks or pushing the material. It sounds all safe and boring. I think the theme park version is probably the more WOW inducing versions. 

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 2:35am

Fanboy99 said: "ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "Fanboy99 said: "broadwayboy223 said: "ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "I think these reviews are to be expected. In order to get really bad reviews, the Frozen team had to do something daring and creative. Sounds like they just sought for low mediocrity and achieved it. As long as it looks like the movie then the tourists will be happy."

I suspect Timbers was fired because he wanted to go daring and creative."

Why wouldnt Disney want to go daring and creative? I mean thats why the Lion King is still such a huge success!!"

Because The Little Mermaidwent creative and deviated from the original look of the filmand that scared Disney forever after."

Im guessing the little mermaid didnt do well with critics and audiences?"

They would've eaten all the fish if they had a chance to make it stop.

 

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 2:40am

RippedMan said: "I think it is hard to say. Timber is a great director, but his past shows have been quite all over the place. Certainly he loves the neon look, and he loves that Brooklyn quality, but Rocky was kind of different, so I'm kind of curious what his Frozen would have looked like. I think this is a very tame, boring version of the show. I think it's fine, but nothing that is taking risks or pushing the material. It sounds all safe and boring. I think the theme park version is probably the more WOW inducing versions."

It's Timbers and I'm not sure what you mean his past shows have been all over the place. At least in New York City, he has a pretty good track record. Sure there was Rocky, but that was an overall mess; it wasn't his direction that made it awful, but the material and the unnecessarily huge production. 

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 2:45am

Once word of mouth gets out, this won't last more than 18 months. It lacks magic, and worse of all it lacks repeated viewers.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 2:56am

Fanboy99 said: "Im guessing the little mermaid didnt do well with critics and audiences?"

don't you remember it was a complete disaster and closed pretty quickly?

[Elegance101]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 2:59am

rosscoe(au) said: "Once word of mouth gets out, this won't last more than 18 months. It lacks magic, and worse of all it lacks repeated viewers."

Eh, I don’t know if all audiences agree about the lack of magic. I think critics have a different standard for theatre than the target audience for this show...

Unless, all the children are actually sleeping or wailing because they’re bored. If children actually dislike it, they might have more problems, but I wouldn’t put money on the quick closing.

Updated On: 3/23/18 at 02:59 AM

[Fanboy99]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 2:59am

gypsy101 said: "Fanboy99 said: "Im guessing the little mermaid didnt do well with critics and audiences?"

don't you remember it was a complete disaster and closed pretty quickly?"

No, I'm pretty new to Broadway lol. 

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 4:16am

Elegance101 said: "rosscoe(au) said: "Once word of mouth gets out, this won't last more than 18 months. It lacks magic, and worse of all it lacks repeated viewers."

Eh, I don’t know if all audiences agree about the lack of magic. I think critics have a different standard for theatre than the target audience for this show...

Unless, all the children are actually sleeping or wailing because they’re bored. If children actually dislike it, they might have more problems, but I wouldn’t put money on the quick closing."

 

Parents and children have the choice to see the musical playing at Disneyland included in the entrance ticket. If they have sat through that, the Broadway show should be very different and an experience of substantially better quality to make it worth paying hundreds of dollars.

There are also three Disney shows on Broadway; I don't see this turn into a mega hit that runs for years if it's such a literal adaptation. 

[LightsOut90]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 4:35am

If the secondary market has anything to say this show will be gone by next summer, as it is you can get tickets on stubhub now starting at $60 for most performances, this should be on a harry potter level and its just not and the word of mouth of going to kill it 

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 5:24am

It's depressing that a Company with so much money and power on Broadway can screw up a show like this. If they fill the Broadway Theatres with crap like this, creative Directors like Cromer, Taichman, Timbers and Arden will have a tougher time with future projects. It has to be discouraging for Artists with a vision to survive in a commercial landscape. It's a tale as old as time. 

Updated On: 3/23/18 at 05:24 AM

[stlrod]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 6:25am

The Little Mermaid was skewered by critics and not well-received by audiences.  It still had over 600 performances so any thoughts about Frozen closing  in the next 18 months are unjustified,  What disappoints me most is that when Disney Theatrical announced the Broadway version, they were almost apologetic to the movie's fan base about how long it would take to get it to Broadway, stating they wanted to "get it right."  Didhelikeit shows Times as on the fence and then 4 others as thumbs up.

Updated On: 3/23/18 at 06:25 AM

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 8:45am

Yes, this may be a more straight-forward take on the show, but I don't know how creative you can get with something like this. The Lion King, yes. You need to find a way to make animals and the African Savannah come to life. These are people, a snowman, and a reindeer. I think there could have been more creative ideas for the castle (hehe), etc. But I don't see how much more creative this can be. 

I will say that after seeing a regional production of The Little Mermaid, I feel the weakest part of the show was the book. You can set it in space, with puppets operated by dogs, and the show will still play bad, because its just not written well for the stage.

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 8:45am

I rarely if ever care what the professional critics say and never do I let them influence my decision to attend a show or avoid it. I do find amusement in reading them though. The NY Times review does fall in line with my assessment of the show I attended this past Sunday with my 7 year old daughter who, big surprise, is infatuated with Frozen. I've seen the animated feature. We've attended Frozen on Ice - which sort of made sense considering that much of the plot taken place covered in ice. However, until seeing this new incarnation I have never given a damn about the characters, their problems, or the amount of love needed to thaw the frozen heart. Yes for the first time ever (pun intended) at the end of this production I did feel my heart warm up! By no means am I now a Frozen convert! I still do NOT like the show or the music hahaha BUT if you are a fan of Frozen you will be enthralled. I didn't love all the new songs but the 'nude' spa scene was hilarious and my daughter is still giggling over it. I was underwhelmed by John Riddle and although he IS dashingly handsome and vocally brilliant his lack of a villainous ego came off more as goofy and too immature to pull off what he was planning. Cassie was amazing. Then "In Summer" by Olaf was poorly executed with cardboard cutout props. But Sven the reindeer was off the charts spectacular. This vacillation of value is not what a fan of Disney would hope to obtain from paying the price they are charging for this show but Disney fans tend to overlook the flaws to reach for the magic. For us lovers of theater this is not a 'perfect' show but we aren't necessarily the target audience. Yes we will pick it apart and dish over the costumes, lack of sets we envisioned, etc BUT Disney's target audience will be eating this up. I imagine this will have a fairly stable shelf life but only time will tell.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 8:49am

Quick question, for those who've seen it: do Elsa and Anna never sing together?

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 8:57am

The film has a three act structure and front loads its best songs. Elsa and Anna sing together in "The first time in forever" and the reprise.

The stage show needed to radically restructure the story and write some killer new songs for act two. It sounds like they have not, though they've tried to promote "Monster" as the new hit single.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 8:58am

Enjoyed reading the reviews but it really does not matter IMO. It will not be a major hit like "Lion King" but it will run about two years and sell tons of merchandise so Disney will still be happy.

[MyLife]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 8:59am

Young Anna and Young Elsa do a little and then Caissie and Patti only do at the very end, along with the rest of the cast, so... no.

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 9:54am

Naw,

The reality is this is gonna run for a very long time.

Frozen, is a product. And easily one of Disney's most guaranteed lucrative ones.

It's not inventive and plays it safe and is just the cartoon onstage? Literally exactly what tourists want.

The only way I saw this folding is had they done some bizarre experimental thing with it that turned mainstream audiences away from the Frozen they know and love.

It's a shame, cause this story did have more to mine, more themes to explore and story elements they could've worked with to improve upon the film.

But they didn't. Cause they knew they didn't even have to.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 10:17am

I heard the radio ad this morning and it was pretty hilarious (of course announcing the new tickets going on sale at 10am this morning) and it was pretty funny that they just used quotes from articles, not even reviews, to make it sound like it got some kind of advance raves. Not that it matters. That sucker ain't going nowhere.

[GoblinKing2]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 10:51am

This may be giving too much credit to all parties involved, but I wonder if the lack of ambition and creativity that's been discussed is because with a Frozen movie sequel in process (and likely more after that), Disney does not want any new elements added or avenues explored because they want to ensure that nothing in the stage version would ultimately contradict or even touch on themes that could be reserved for a movie.  

[newintown]

Posted: 3/23/18 at 10:59am

"It's Timbers and I'm not sure what you mean his past shows have been all over the place. At least in New York City, he has a pretty good track record."

Really? He's directed only five commercial productions in NY; of those, two were limited run celebrity acts, needing little to no development. One ran less than three months, so it's unlikely it recouped; the other recouped, but only just. Of the other three projects, two were significant flops, and the third was somewhat well-received but didn't recoup. His longest running show lasted only eight months.

I don't think I would call that a "good" track record (at least not commercially)...