Freaky Friday The Musical to receive U.S. stage premiere

Following its developmental workshop last year, it has been announced that Disney are producing the U.S. stage premiere of Freaky Friday The Musical.

Directed by Christopher Ashley with choreography by Sergio Trujillo, the musical comedy has book by Bridget Carpenter and a score by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey who wrote Next To Normal and IF/THEN. 

Freaky Friday The Musical will play a limited run  at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA between 4th October and 13th November 2016. 

Disney's Enchanted sequel announces title & director

According to Collider.com, the sequel to Disney's 2007 film Enchanted will be called Disenchanted.

J. David Stem and David N. Weiss are writing the sequel which will be directed by Anne Fletcher. Further information regarding the film's release date is yet to be announced.

Amy Adams, who starred as Giselle in Enchanted has reportedly "been enthusiastic about reprising her lead role" but no casting has been confirmed.

Disney confirm Frozen 2

Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee

At last it is official... Disney are working on a Frozen sequel! According to Deadline, Disney's Bob Iger made the announcement at a shareholder meeting yesterday (12th March).

Frozen directors and co-creators Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck will work on Frozen 2, although story details are yet to be finalised.

Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell aren't confirmed for Frozen 2; however, the pair recently reprised their roles of Elsa and Anna for a new short film Frozen Fever. 

Featuring a new song called 'Making Today a Perfect Day', Frozen Fever will be shown in cinemas with Disney's new live-action adaptation of Cinderella, released today (13th March). Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad also return to reprise their roles of Kristoff and Olaf the snowman. Chris Williams voices the owner of Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna.

Disney releases new Frozen song featuring Idina Menzel & Kristen Bell!

Disney have released a brand new Frozen song on iTunes. The number features Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell reprising their roles of Elsa and Anna. 

Entitled 'Making Today a Perfect Day', the song is from the forthcoming short film Frozen Fever which will be shown in cinemas with Disney's new live-action adaptation of Cinderella, released tomorrow (13th March). 

Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad also return to reprise their roles of Kristoff and Olaf the snowman. Chris Williams voices the owner of Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna.

Frozen is the highest-grossing animated film of all time, having taken $1.274 billion at the box office. Its soundtrack has sold over seven million copies worldwide.

GOSSIP: Frozen stage musical update - creative team aiming for 2017 premiere?

The Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye has revealed that the creative team working on a stage adaptation of Disney's Frozen are looking at the possibility of opening the musical on Broadway in 2017.

Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (who wrote Frozen's musical score) have reportedly met with Jennifer Lee (writer/co-director), Thomas Schumacher (head of Disney Theatricals) and Alex Timbers (director of Here Lies Love).

Lee is apparently writing the show’s book, whilst Anderson-Lopez and Lopez are working on new songs. 

Film Review: Disney's Into The Woods

Lilla Crawford as Little Red Riding Hood

Into The Woods
Disney
Released 9th January 2015
★★★★★

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's dark and twisted musical Into The Woods seemed an unlikely choice for a stage to screen adaptation from squeaky clean Disney. Intertwining several fairytales, Into The Woods tells a cleverly pieced together story that translates well on the big screen.

The film sees Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) fleeing from the ball, Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) being pursued by the big bad wolf (Johnny Depp), Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy) letting down her hair and Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) being chased down his beanstalk by the giant.

Frozen returns with short special next spring

According to Broadway.com, it has been revealed that a new animated short based on Disney's Frozen will premiere next spring.

The film, called Frozen Fever, will include a new original song by Frozen's composers Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

Variety report that Frozen Fever will take place on Anna’s birthday, as Elsa and Kristoff plan to throw her a perfect celebration. However, Elsa’s magical powers get in the way, putting more than just the party in jeopardy. It is suggested Olaf will also make an appearance. 

Frozen becomes 5th highest-grossing film of all time & announces live ice skating stage show

Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee 

Frozen has become the fifth highest-grossing movie of all time worldwide, after reaching nearly $1.22 billion. 

Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee (pictured right), the animated musical is now the second-highest grossing movie for Disney, just behind The Avengers. The Marvel superhero epic is third on the overall list, after making $1.5 billion globally. 

Frozen has also overtaken Iron Man 3 in the chart. The Robert Downey Jr film took $1.2 billion during its run, and is now left in the sixth spot, while Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is in fourth with $1.34 billion. 

Frozen has already become the highest-grossing animated film of all time, surpassing Toy Story 3, which took $1.06 billion worldwide. 

Further casting announced for Shakespeare in Love

On William Shakespeare's 450th birthday, further casting has been announced for the forthcoming stage production of Shakespeare in Love. The show is produced by Disney and Sonia Friedman Productions.

Ian Bartholomew will play Tilney, Tony Bell will play Ralph, Anna Carteret will play Queen Elizabeth, Paul Chahidi will play Henslowe, David Ganley will play Burbage, Richard Howard will play Sir Robert De Lesseps, Harry Jardine will play Sam, Abigail McKern will play Nurse, David Oakes will play Marlowe, Patrick Osborne will play Mr Wabash, Alistair Petrie will play Wessex, Doug Rao will play Ned Alleyn, Ferdy Roberts will play Fennyman and Colin Ryan will play John Webster. 

They are joined by an ensemble including Daisy Boulton, Ryan Donaldson, Janet Fullerlove, Sandy Murray, Timothy O'Hara, Thomas Padden, Elliott Rennie, Charlie Tighe and Tim Van Eyken who will also be the production's musical director. Gaiety will play Crab the dog. 

Frozen becomes 6th highest-grossing movie of all time!

Frozen has become the sixth highest-grossing movie in box office history. Disney's animation film has surpassed Transformers: Dark of the Moon with a worldwide total of $1.129 billion (£670 million).

Idina Menzel

Richard Harbaugh / © 2013 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.

Frozen was the second highest-grossing film of 2013 after Iron Man 3, which currently sits in fifth place on the all-time chart. Disney/Marvel Studios' Avengers occupies the third slot. With its continuing success in some international markets, Frozen could potentially continue its climb up the list. The soundtrack for the Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell film has spent ten weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 chart.

Disney to release sing-along version of Frozen in cinemas next month!

Idina Menzel
Imeh Akpanudosen / 2013 WireImage

A special all-new sing-along version of Disney’s Frozen will be released in cinemas from 7th February 2014!

Fans will be able to join in with the film's stars Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad and Jonathan Groff with lyrics at the bottom of the screen and a bouncing snowflake to follow along the song. 

"Frozen’s music is at the core of its critical and box-office success,” said Tony Chambers, Head of Studio Sales and Distribution for EMEA and UK/Ireland. “With an Academy Award nomination for Best Song, a chart-topping soundtrack and the multi-language ‘Let it Go’ YouTube worldwide phenomenon, it makes perfect sense to create and release a sing-a-long version for everyone to enjoy“

Frozen continues to be a box-office avalanche and has now passed The Lion King with $810 Million at Global Box Office and a massive £35 million in UK and Ireland. The animated comedy adventure is the biggest title from Walt Disney Feature Animation and trails only Disney.Pixar’s Finding Nemo as Disney’s highest-grossing original animated movie ever.

Gossip: Disney's Frozen for stage adaptation?

Frozen, Disney's biggest animated success in almost 20 years, will one day become a Broadway musical, the company's CEO and chairman has revealed.

Speaking to Fortune magazine, Robert Iger confirmed that early discussions were taking place regarding a possible stage adaptation, though at present the project hasn't been given a set timeline. "We're not demanding speed," he said, "We're demanding excellence."

The film, loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale The Snow Queen, achieved the highest-grossing debut weekend of any Disney animation and has taken in excess of $669m (£407m) worldwide since November. It is being tipped to overtake The Lion King, Disney Animation's current bestseller with a worldwide gross of $987.5m. Adapting that for the stage has raked in more than $1bn on Broadway alone and last year, it took the title of Broadway's biggest seller with approximately $96.9m worth of receipts.

Interview: Disney’s Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, directors of Frozen

Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/2013 WireImage

Frozen is a new Disney musical animated movie which is currently breaking box office records all over the world. The film sledged into the #1 spot at the UK Box Office with a fantastic £4.7 million opening. Frozen broke records at the US Box office last week, becoming the biggest Thanksgiving opening of all time and the largest opening ever for Walt Disney Animation Studios taking $93.5 million for the five-day weekend. The film has now moved to #1 in US and has been #1 in Germany, Spain and France.

The voice cast is led by the queen of Broadway Idina Menzel as well as Kristen Bell, Glee’s Jonathan Groff, and original Book of Mormon cast member Josh Gad. A terrific score has been composed by husband-and-wife song writing team Robert Lopez (who co-wrote The Book of Mormon and Avenue Q) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

Inspired by The Snow Queen, Frozen tells the story of Sisters Elsa (Idina Menzel), who has magical icy powers, and Anna (Kristen Bell). Elsa manages to keep her powers hidden until Anna drops the bombshell that she is marrying a Prince who she has only known for a matter of hours. Understandably this infuriates Elsa (all this just happens to take place on her coronation day) and she loses control of her powers and casts a never ending winter over her kingdom before escaping to the mountains. Anna then sets off to track down her sister, befriending mountain man Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and larger than life snowman Olaf (Josh Gad) along the way.

Frozen is directed by Disney veteran Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee. Chris first joined Disney in 1978 as an animator whilst Jennifer, who joined Disney in 2011, is Disney’s first ever female director. Recently I spoke to Chris and Jennifer about the movie’s incredible score, why they decided to cast theatre stars over Hollywood names and whether they think Frozen could work as a Broadway or West End musical…

How are you feeling now that Frozen has been released and you’re breaking box office records all around the world? You must be relieved?!
Jennifer: Relieved is a good word!

Chris: Relieved is one, overwhelmed is another. We had left town before the final numbers even came in so it’s not like we had time to take it all in! I don’t know where we are [laughs]! I’m sure it will hit us later.

Jennifer: We’re ecstatic!

Chris: We’re thrilled that people are embracing the movie, everybody seems to respond to it in a different way and it’s been great to hear why people are loving it so much.