'Frozen' show at California Adventure sets its opening date: May 27 - Los Angeles Times
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‘Frozen’ show at California Adventure sets its opening date: May 27

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Elsa and Anna have set a move-in date for their new home at Disney California Adventure: “Frozen,” the new live show adapted from the hit 2013 movie, will officially begin performances May 27.

“Frozen -- Live at the Hyperion” is slated to play at California Adventure’s Hyperion Theater, the 1,873-seat venue that was home of “Disney’s Aladdin -- A Musical Spectacular” for 13 years.

Like “Aladdin,” which closed in January, “Frozen” is expected to have a running time of around 45 minutes. The stage show will have an open-ended run at California Adventure.

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The new “Frozen” is different from the planned Broadway musical that Disney is scheduled to open in New York in 2018, with a pre-Broadway run in the summer of 2017 in Denver.

Disney had announced in September that “Frozen” would succeed “Aladdin” at California Adventure, but the company didn’t reveal an opening date until Friday.

“Frozen” will feature music and lyrics by the original movie’s Oscar-winning songwriters, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

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The show has been adapted from the movie by Chad Beguelin, who penned the live versions of “Aladdin” at California Adventure and on Broadway.

“Frozen” will be staged by Liesl Tommy, the South African-born director who last year directed “Eclipsed” by Danai Gurira at the Public Theater in New York. The critically acclaimed play has transferred uptown to the John Golden Theatre, where it is in previews and is set to open on Sunday.

“Eclipsed” is set in Liberia just before the downfall of hardline President Charles Taylor in 2003. The ensemble cast includes Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o as one of a group of women who endure hardships and abuse during the country’s civil war.

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Tommy also directed a 2010 staging for “Ruined,” by Lynn Nottage, that was a co-production of the La Jolla Playhouse, the Huntington Theatre Company of Boston and Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

“Frozen” at California Adventure is being created by Disney Creative Entertainment, an arm of Walt Disney Imagineering.

“While our production of ‘Frozen’ will stay true to the heart and soul of the film, we have adapted it for the stage so it’s truly a musical theatre production that befits our beautiful Hyperion Theater,” said Dana Harrel, creative entertainment executive with Walt Disney Imagineering, in a statement.

Twitter: @DavidNgLAT

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