FROZEN to Arrive on Broadway in Spring 2018 — Page 18

I think both Caissie and Patti are perfect for Elsa and Anna but that's just my opinion

I don't mind Levy or Murin but I do hope we get a little more racial variety in the rest of the cast.

QueenAlice said: "Some of the responses in this thread are absolutely insane.

Well meaning but insane.

It's a new director. He picked a different leading lady. That's the story. Book closed. To the general public all these women are unknowns. The show is the star and Disney isn't concerned that a handful of people on a message board are now no longer interested because the non-star actresses they love are no longer attached. They will gladly sell your tickets to the next person in line. I'm sure Miss Levy will be wonderful (as will be all the countless other actress who will eventually play the role).



I was reading through the thread and I noticed some on the board that voiced that they were no longer interested because Wolfe was no longer involved which is certainly their prerogative, but those concerns were minimal compared to those voicing their displeasure with Patti Murin. I didn't understand where all that was coming from but I went back further and got my answer regarding Murin v this message board.

I don't even think it's a question of whether the three actresses in question are famous or household names. Theater fans certainly know who these actresses are, are familiar with their trajectory and they all have their respective fan bases so it's obvious preferences are going to be discussed, expressed and bandied about among board members.

It's really all quite harmless.

There's not much to say about what happened here.

Alex Timbers cast a group of actors who did a developmental lab of the show. He had scheduled another reading using largely the same actors. In the interim, he was let go and Michael Grandage was hired. Out of courtesy, Grandage used the actors put in place by Timbers (including Wolfe and Murin) for the already-scheduled reading. After that reading took place, everyone had to re-audition for the lab happening next month. Patti Murin was cast to continue and Betsy Wolfe was not.

The biggest shame is that Wolfe's involvement in the early development of the show leaked in the first place. Actors do workshops and readings and get replaced all the time. This is a rare instance where it's played out publicly.

Updated On: 3/2/17 at 11:09 AM

KathyNYC2 said: "I think all concerned are very talented but I have the same casting problem as I do with other shows. Elsa is supposed to be becoming queen when she turns 18. Or maybe 21. And Anna is even younger. So maybe they are not hiring teenagers but there must be talented young 20 year olds for the parts instead of someone in their mid to late 30's.

But all of the Disney shows have been like that, haven't they? I think Beauty and the Beast probably cast the oldest compared to the characters' ages. But I think most of the Disney characters are supposed to be teenagers and their stage counterparts... were not.

What makes you think the composers were grooming her?

Call_me_jorge said: "Maybe not grooming is the right word. But they were working closely together."



Are you friends with anyone (Wolfe/creators?). If not, then don't buy (or in your case, invent) the random statements.

KathyNYC2 said: "I think all concerned are very talented but I have the same casting problem as I do with other shows. Elsa is supposed to be becoming queen when she turns 18. Or maybe 21. And Anna is even younger. So maybe they are not hiring teenagers but there must be talented young 20 year olds for the parts instead of someone in their mid to late 30's.

I had the same problem with the recent Fiddler production for example as well. They are marrying off the oldest daughter who was portrayed by someone mid thirties. In reality, she would have been 20 years younger in real life.

I would have just preferred younger actresses to fit the actual age of the characters.



"

In the movie Elsa is 21 when she becomes queen and Anna is 18. I understand what you mean but remember Sierra Boggess was 25 when she played 16 year old Ariel in "The Little Mermaid" musical (24 when she was initially cast). Besides the stage world is more forgiving when it comes to casting actresses who are not the right age for their characters

Wow, nothing surprises me when it comes to Disney but there is a story here. Let's connect some of the dots.

1)Alex Timbers worked for many years on the Lopez's show Up Here, then they brought on Betsy Wolfe as their female lead for the La Jolla run in 2015. So these four Timbers, B and K Lopez and Wolfe have been connected for many years.

2)Timbers is officially hired as director of Frozen after two years of working without a contract last winter. Timbers has auditions and casts Wolfe and Murin in the first lab. Clearly there was a consensus between Disney, Timbers and the creatives that this was the direction they wanted the show to move in.

3)Timbers puts up a very successful first lab last spring which was reported on in the ny post to have been very well received by Disney and even quoted Disney executives saying that Wolfe blew them away.

4)Out of nowhere Timbers is cut out of the project. This is where we all know things with Frozen started to crumble. Although we don't know the whole back story the rumors are that this was from Disney and took the whole creative team by surprise. Maybe they even found out the way we did, in the paper. This theory makes sense to me because it then becomes clear Disney had no replacement in place for Timbers, and that is not how Disney usually operates. In addition there are a few months after this that nothing is announced, making it clear that Disney was having trouble replacing Timbers.....as in, many directors were passing on the project.

4) Cut to the fall it is announced that Grandage is taking over, clearly not Disney's first choice. Knowing Grabdage's lack of resume in the musical department how many people did Disney ask before they landed on Grandage? This also sets up Disney having to give whoever the next director is a lot of power. So did Grabdage say yes to the project but only if he could overrule the rest of the creative team in the casting process?

Lets take a moment to acknowledge the Lopez's were clearly on board with Timbers and now he is gone. They obviously know things will change but how much of their show are they willing to see messed with after a successful start and their director being pushed out?

5)A lab is done in the fall keeping Wolfe and Murin, why didn't Grabdage recast right away to make it his own? Rumors on that lab were that it was great and all parties were happy. Then as we all know Grabdage set out for three months to recast all the roles.

6)Fast forward to a few weeks ago and it starts to leak out that things on Frozen are going in a different direction and Wolfe doesn't have the role of Elsa for the next lab.



That is where we are. In the real world an actor being replaced after a new director coming in is no big shock. Grabdage obviously looked around the room and wanted to make Frozen his own and not Timber's. The easiest way to do that? Take out Betsy Wolfe who not only was widely praised for her work before Grabdage got there, she is also Alex Timber's person. They have a history going back to Up Here with the Lopez's. Which brings us to the actual issue.

Do we really think the Lopez's were ok with Timbers being removed from the project? Then to keep another one of their people Wolfe hanging on for months only to have her removed by Grandage?



The story is: Grabdage was way down on the list of people to replace Timbers so when Disney got there they had to give him enormous power to just get him to say yes. Grabdage then pushed out the one remaining Timbers/Lopez's person Wolfe to make it his project, his toy just to stroke his own ego. We all know Wolfe was highly qualified and put in the time to handle a role like this, to even think this was a creative decision makes you look silly. She has been building up to this for years and is a proven talent who was liked by both the creatives and Disney executives.

Now the big question: is there any way Grabdage convinced the other creatives Wolfe was just wrong for the role? Or did he just overrule them in the room because Disney had to give him that power after the Timbers departure? Either way knowing that the Lopez's use Wolfe for a lot of things you have to draw the conclusion that the creative team was split on the decision to remove her. Thus creating an all out fight over the creative direction of Frozen moving forward. Final point, you have the two creators of Frozen sitting there watching their people Timbers and Wolfe being taken away from them, that can't bode well for the creative team moving forward. The story to watch during the lab is who will win the battle on the creative side moving forward because there is obviously a split on the creative team and will Disney just stand by and let this issue potentially fester to the point of where it affects a potential billion dollar piece of business for them? We have all seen Disney shows that were slated for greatness fall apart before.

With ham14s latest post this thread now officially need to go to Foggs asylum. What a novel of pure speculation. Mary Higgins Clark would be proud.

Some thoughts:

1. Don't weep too hard for performers in their twenties. They get tons of opportunities. Plus, lots of shows try first to cast people of accurate ages, only to find that slightly older performers are--wait for it--more experienced and often just a little better. See also: that last WSS revival, for which people in their early- to mid-twenties were not able to get seen for months because they were "too old"...and then they couldn't actually find a teenage Tony and hired Matt Cavenaugh instead. Lotta grinding jaws all over Broadway.

1a: Think this is a big problem in New York? Try checking out the "teenagers" in musicals on the West End.

2: No director, especially a director like Grandage, is going to take on a Broadway show this far out from opening and give up the right to do his own casting. Double that for a show with stakes this high.

3: Betsy Wolfe is great and tons of people are dying to work with her. She'll be fine, and I'm sure there are people around her saying it's just as well that she won't be locked into "Frozen" for the next two years. But she may very well be bummed, so a word of advice? Don't ask her what happened next time you see her come out a stage door.

4: Nobody even knows if "Frozen" will be good. Lots of people assume it will run forever, but then, we thought the same about "The Little Mermaid." Disney swings for the fences with their beloved properties, but not everything is "The Lion King." The expectations for "Frozen" are so high that anything less than "Wicked"-grade success will seem to many like a failure.

Just my two cents.

https://twitter.com/betsywolfe/status/837116874462756864