What would have made Frozen Better — Page 3

Yeah I mean I am not a fan of the puppet design. But Olaf is essential to bringing two sisters back together as well as playing cupid for Anna and Kristoff.

A different director. The tone and aesthetic is wildly uneven and can't decide what it wants to be. From realistic gloomy European castle to ice castles made of beaded curtains to more naturalistic puppets to completely cartoonish puppets to campy "magic native" woodland creatures - it's all over the place.

This might be of interest to those who find the puppet design for Olaf underwhelming in comparison to Sven: designer Michael Curry addressed the difference briefly in a recent interview. Whether one agrees with him or not, this was his reasoning for the different approaches:

"There’s sort of a weird rule that has established itself over the years: When looking at cartoon characters, you can change the funny characters less. They have to remain a snapshot of what the audience saw in the film. But with characters that aren’t completely invested in comedy, you can play with them more onstage, you can make it more avant-garde, you can play with the spiritual aspect of them. Olaf is much more a representation of the film image of Olaf in the movie than Sven is. Sven is a real caricature in the film. He has big, googly, Disney eyes, a big snout. [For the musical,] we were able to get out of the look of the film and find something that was more applicable for the live presentations. He became this really great metaphor—subtext for Kristoff’s spirituality, his shamanistic nature, his primitive nature—without getting in the way."

https://www.backstage.com/interview/why-there-were-only-100-living-actors-who-could-maneuver-puppets-frozen/

JudyDenmark said: "quizking101 said: “I want to know who would be age-appropriate and still be able to deliver the goods that this show requires."

Fresh-faced, wide-eyedmusical theatre girls who can belt high notes show up in NYC by the busloadevery day. It’s a double-threat role (no real dancing),so I think this would’ve been extremely easy to cast. Frozen sells itself on itsIP - you don’t need recognizable names. And I don’t think people outside of this community know who Levy and Murin are anyway."

Ahh yes b/c fresh-faced, wide-eyed girls looking for jobs would really be able to hold a show like this. Frozen is so well known which puts double the pressure on the 2 leads. Bringing 2 young girls who are “wide-eyed” definitely would not be the answer. 

Less grim lighting. Frozen (the film) is filled with bright colors. Even at night when it's dark. I left Frozen with a headache partly because the lighting was so dim.

Also, agree that Patti looks older than Caissie but both are too old anyway. Always thought Idina Menzel's voice was too rough and husky for her character design, but both look like super mature women. Maybe from the balcony it's better.