‘Frozen’ Warms Up for Broadway with Film’s Creative Team

The Oscar-winning creative team of Disney’s animated blockbuster “Frozen” will adapt the movie for the brewing Broadway musical version, with screenwriter and co-director Jennifer Lee on board to write the book and Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez penning additional tunes to go along with their songs from the movie, which include megahit “Let It Go.”

The news, first reported in the Daily Mail, won’t come as much of a shock, given that Lopez and Anderson-Lopez are stage composers and that Lopez’s credits including Tony-winning scores for “Avenue Q” and “The Book of Mormon.” Lee’s never written for Broadway, but it’s not all that uncommon for screenwriters to try their hand at stage adaptations of their own work: The book for this season’s “Honeymoon in Vegas,” for instance, was written by Andrew Bergman, who also wrote the screenplay.

Alex Timbers (“Rocky,” “Here Lies Love”), the director of Peter Pan prequel “Peter and the Starcatcher” for Disney Theatrical, met with Lopez, Anderson-Lopez, Lee and Disney Theatrical producer Thomas Schumacher for work sessions to develop the musical, which, given the phenomenal success of the film, could become a new stage stalwart for Disney along the lines of “The Lion King.”

Timbers, however, isn’t formally attached to the project. Nor is Idina Menzel, the Broadway favorite (“Wicked,” “Rent”) who voiced protagonist Elsa in the movie (and lent her powerhouse lungs to “Let It Go”).

Despite rumors of a 2017 opening for “Frozen,” that timeline looks unlikely. According to Disney, no production schedule has been set.

“It will come as no surprise that the EGOT-winning Broadway veteran Robert Lopez and the Oscar and Grammy winning Kristen Anderson-Lopez, who wrote the indelible songs for the film, will be working on the show and that Oscar winner Jennifer Lee, co-director and screenwriter of the film, will be working on the book of the stage version,” said Schumacher. “No other staffing or dates have been announced.”

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