With the exception of parents’ bank balances, cute sidekicks tend to be the primary victims of an animated musical’s transfer to Broadway. Anastasia recently cut Bartok the bat, and now, according to a report from the New York Times, the musical adaptation of Frozen will leave off the trolls. In case you have willfully blocked out that part of the film, the trolls are the ones who raised Anna’s love interest Kristoff, and they have a very cringe-inducing comic song called “Fixer Upper” — basically “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” minus the love. In the new stage adaptation, currently in rehearsals in Denver before it moves to New York in 2018, the trolls will be replaced by hidden folk, tailed creatures from Scandinavian folklore. To add insult to injury, the hidden folk will also get the musical’s opening number, replacing the human workers who sing “Heart of Ice.” Instead, the stage Frozen will open in a “verdant landscape,” with the hidden folk in “scruffy” “sexy” outfits made of greenery. As if the trolls weren’t sexy enough!
