Almost exactly a year ago, we heard that a sequel to the animated smash Frozen was officially happening. At the time, all we knew was that directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee were developing the movie and that Josh Gad would reprise his voice role as the snowman Olaf.
Now Kristen Bell has confirmed that she will also be reprising her role in Frozen 2. In a new interview, she told Collider that she expects to begin recording dialogue very, very soon:
"They’ve just written it and they’re still doing tweaks, but I think we should be recording this month. The story is great, and they exude quality. What I know about that whole team is that they wouldn’t just put something out to put it out. That’s why it took them so long to even announce that we were doing a second one. Generally when you have a first successful movie you want to make a second one. It took them a while because they wanted to figure out what story they needed to tell and what would be important and engaging and I think they found it."
Bell was cast for Frozen in March 2012, a little more than 18 months before the film was released. We shouldn't necessarily take that as a pattern for Frozen 2, which doesn't have a release date yet, but the mere fact that Bell is starting work on her audio track soon is a good sign that the movie is moving steadily forward.
While the movie sequel moves onward, the recently announced stage version will soon begin its long journey to Broadway. First up is casting for the lead roles of Anna and Elsa for a developmental lab, which is a means for developing the musical on a trial basis.
Auditions begin later this month for the lab and rehearsals will run from April 30 through May 13. Sometime during the summer, casting will begin for the pre-Broadway engagement in Denver, which will kick off in the summer of 2017, and then move to Broadway in the spring of 2018.
Disney first began translating its films into stage productions in 1994, finding immediate success with Beauty and the Beast. The company has brought musical versions of both animated and live-action movies to Broadway. If all goes well, Frozen will arrive on Broadway, to be followed by Frozen 2 in theaters, perhaps later in 2018.
