Kristen got to perform songs from Frozen live yesterday with co stars, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad and Santino Fontana. Below is a recap of the event yesterday from a couple of articles.
From Variety
“Apparently Disney didn’t realize they have a concert (hall) named after them so we’re here at this Bat Mitzvah venue,” joked Josh Gad as he kicked off an evening in which the cast of Disney’s Oscar-nominated “Frozen” performed songs from the animated hit live inside Bel Air’s’ Vibrato Grill on Sunday night.
The tribute to the songs and score from the film, which has passed the $900 million mark at the global box office, included Gad performing “In Summer,” while Menzel ended the evening with the Oscar-nominated “Let It Go.”
Timed during the Oscar voting period, event was a rare opportunity to see a film’s cast perform songs from a production that not only came out in November, but doesn’t have its cast sing the songs on a regular basis. While there are Broadway plans for “Frozen,” it isn’t there yet.
Menzel did ask to restart “Let It Go” after saying snow instead of cold. “A lot of girls say ‘a cold never bothered me anyway.’ I’m not blaming the little girls…,” she joked.
Kristen Bell, in particular impressed the small gathering with her live performance of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” during which she also sang the younger versions of her character Anna from the film, sung by others on the film’s soundtrack.
Bell also performed duets of “Love Is an Open Door” and with co-star Santino Fontana, while Christophe Beck was given a portion of the evening to perform portions of the film’s score.
In introducing Bell, Gad said she was “already crowdfunding the sequel” to “Frozen,” referring to the way her upcoming “Veronica Mars” movie was financed.
Bell was elated on stage to have been able to work on “Frozen” and become a Disney princess, a dream of hers since she was five years old.
“Thank you for not casting Jonah Hill,” said Gad to Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios chief John Lasseter while hosting the evening, considered “a love letter” to everyone who worked on the film. Lasseter was also celebrating his 26th wedding anniversary Sunday night. He’s a man “who thinks every day is a luau,” Gad said.
With “Frozen” continuing to generate strong box office domestically and abroad, and through sing-along-versions which are generating repeat business, “our creative team has decided to repurpose all of the characters as Lego figures” said Gad on the weekend that “The Lego Movie” opened in the top spot this weekend and broke records for Warner Bros. in the animation genre.
Attending the event were “Frozen” co-directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, the film’s songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar president Ed Catmull, and thesps Darren Criss, Jane Lynch and Ariel Winter.
Fellow “Frozen” castmenber Jonathan Groff also was set to perform Sunday evening, but couldn’t attend due to an illness.
“Thank you for spending the night with us,” Gad said. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
From USA Today
The cast of Frozen did something for the first time in forever on Sunday night. They sang together live onstage.
Kristen Bell (voice of Anna), Idina Menzel (Elsa), Josh Gad (Olaf the Snowman) and Santino Fontana (Hans) all joined forces to perform songs from the hit Disney musical, including single Let It Go, at an intimate jazz club in Los Angeles.
“We take for granted since so many people have seen the movie that we have never actually seen these songs performed live — in any venue, in any capacity,” said Gad afterward. “But we performed these songs for an audience tonight. It was a thrill.”
Only Jonathan Groff (Kristoff), who organizers said was ill, was not able to attend.
Gad was the master of ceremonies for the event for 200 people, with a celebrity audience that included Jane Lynch, Darren Criss, Frozen executive producer John Lasseter, directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee as well as songwriters Robert Lopez and wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez.
Bell’s supportive husband, Dax Shepard, was also on hand to wildly cheer his wife as she sang in front of a live orchestra. Bell sang a number of numbers, adding that she was “honored” to do a duet with her onscreen sister Menzel.
“Everyone in this movie is so doggone charming,” Bell said afterward. “It’s what adds to the sparkle of the whole piece.”
She noted that her husband’s shouts of support from the audience were particularly endearing.
“He’s endlessly supportive,” said Bell. “But he cries every time he sees me sing. I think he must have cried three times tonight.”
In theaters, Frozen passed $900 million at the worldwide box office over the weekend while the soundtrack has held the No. 1 position on the Billboard 200 chart for four non-consecutive weeks.
From THR (includes clip of Idina performing Let It Go).
On Sunday night at the Vibrato in Bel Air, Calif., several dozen film industry insiders were the envy of kids the world over as they witnessed a live performance of the songs from the hit animated film Frozen’s chart-topping soundtrack.
All of the principal cast members — Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel and Josh Gad, who served as the night’s emcee — were on hand along with Disney-Pixar chief John Lasseter; the film’s co-directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee; Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson- Lopez , the married, Oscar-nominated writers behind the film’s original songs, including hit single “Let It Go”; and others associated with the movie.
Gad kept the jokes coming as host, riffing on his newfound popularity as a voice star (“know that I am no longer getting live action offers”) and explaining why Jonathan Groff, who voices ice herder Kristoff, was absent from the event (“not because he sings the only Disney song with no beginning, middle or end”) before saying Groff was actually sick.
Bell kicked off the performance portion of the evening saying, “I wanted to be a Disney princess since I was five,” as she opened her rendition of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” That was followed by a duet on which Menzel joined her midway through. Santino Fontana, who plays conniving prince Hans in the movie, joined Bell for a duet of “Love Is an Open Door.”
Gad performed “In Summer” — in which his snowman character dreams of enjoying the hottest season of the year — which garnered considerable laughter. Christophe Beck then led the 10-piece orchestra in a performance of the film’s original score.
But, not surprisingly, the biggest crowd-pleaser of the evening was Menzel’s showstopping rendition of “Let It Go,” which closed the night. Gad introduced Menzel by saying that “Let It Go” is by far his daughter’s favorite from the film, “giving me a complex.” She belted out the song and blew the roof off the place, receiving a standing ovation. In a humorous twist, she stopped the song midway through after misstating the lyric “The snow never bothered me anyway.” She joked, “A lot of girls say ‘a cold never bothered me anyway.’ I’m not blaming the little girls … ” She then asked the orchestra to restart, and the crowd cheered, knowing they’d get to hear it twice.
The Frozen soundtrack has sat atop the Billboard 200 for multiple weeks and remains one of best-selling film soundtracks in recent memory.
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