FROZEN THE MUSICAL // F1 & F2 (+ theories about F3): Why Colder By The Minute is a very important song.
"Colder By The Minute" is one of my favourite songs from Frozen The Musical, not only because it's the climax of the story in song-form, but also how the couple Kristen & Bobby Lopez came to realize how this whole situation works as two parallel duets:
"And the other thing we realized, that really helped us, [...] was that we realized that it was two duets: it was Anna and Kristoff, and it was Elsa and Hans, in a duet. Once we realized that, and those were the pairs we were trying to connect, then we were able to put the puzzle piece together in Bobby's computer, bit by bit."
Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Colder By The Minute - Commentary)
After the ensamble (rappresenting the snow storm), we have Anna, and then Elsa, taking the center of the stage and singing their lyrics, while Kristoff and Hans sing respectively as the "other-half" of these duets.
For me, this song is amazing because it reflects pefectly that "narrative balance" in Anna & Elsa arcs that the Musical manages to do, compared to the movie, which's mainly Anna's story (but this is for obvious reasons: more time, more songs etc etc). What the Musical enforces even better is Kristoff & Hans role, with their arcs becoming, the more time passes, perfectly parallel to those of Anna & Elsa.
"Colder By The Minute" summs up this narration, showing how insecure and desperate these two girls are, "supported" in opposite ways by these two male characters (Kristoff out of his genuine love/Hans out of his lust for power), who are much more experienced with the outside world.
As we know, the sisters will disprove these "fairy-tale archetypes", each one solving their own issues themselves, thanks to each other, with Anna performing the act of true love by sacrifying herself to save Elsa, and Elsa finding the way to control her powers and freeing Arendelle from the Eternal Winter, all thanks to Anna's proof that she deserves love:
Frozen 2 gives me the idea that, working on the Musical in general (this song afterall it's the climax), than the next step was for Anna & Elsa to follow a even clear parallel path, something that would focus entirely on THEM as individuals, making their own choices, rediscovering their own family heritage, under the more self-defining concept of "destiny":
In a way, I see the two sisters following "under a different light" the paths that Kristoff and Hans took in the 1st movie, with Anna facing the changes that are coming in her life and choosing to do what is right despite the cost (just like Kristoff chose to lose her forever to ensure her safety ) and Elsa searching for her true self, risking to cross a "determined line" for her own good (just like Hans schemed in order to plan her demise and take the throne).
The resolution shows then Elsa saving Arendelle from the tidalwave, helped by Nokk and being granted with the full power of Ahtohallan, thanks to Anna freeing the Enchanted Forest from its curse by destroying King Runeard's Dam, also thanks to the help of Kristoff and Lieutenant Mattias:
This is why my main clue in case of a Frozen 3 lies in the sisters "Balance", and in the idea that Kristoff & Hans can be the key to a new story now that our two protagonists have found their "roles in the world", going through a common journey where they both hold the responsability of this whole situation, of course in opposite ways, but it was truely about THEM (the sister central discussion happens in front of the remains of their own parents ship):
While Kristoff & Hans were the "experienced figures" in F1, Anna & Elsa are now the two "in charge" of this new status quo thanks to F2.
Even if less impactful, Kristoff has an arc, an evolution where we can see him letting some of his "inner-walls" down and finally express his feelings more openly, after a life-time used to be a nobody, living in the woods with only Sven and the Trolls giving him company, and now he's engaged to the Queen of Arendelle herself, that would clearly put him more under the spot light. Hans is not present, but it's clear that the "13th son of a king" everyone was looking at has now become a complete nobody, mocked and deprised, and with none caring about what was of him even after 3 years from his terrible actions.
Even if it's not as explicit as someone would expect (or hope for), there's actually a very strong, thin line of potential that the best way to handle Anna & Elsa status quo, to subvert things, and not losing the "Two world dynamic", may come from the only two other main human characters that actually had great importance in shaping their own present when they were struggling with their own past.
After all, Anna's relationship with Kristoff and their engagment resonates with the love of her own parents, which is now a symbol of the unity with the Northuldra, a new path she is leading Arendelle through, and Elsa's role as the Fifth Spirit is to connects the magic of nature and humanity, bringing balance through her powers and protecting the Enchanted Forest from threats like their own grandfather was:
Maybe I'm wrong ... but the logic seems to add up pretty well, considering what direction they took Frozen 2 on, how it parallels with F1 and how much the Musical was important in its development. The characters on a path that was meant to view the 1st Frozen itself under a different light, so that could be the next step in order to carry on certain themes and concepts, which doesn't mean we wouldn't get new things.
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FROZEN THE MUSICAL (2017, Denver): Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Hans during "Colder By The Minute"
The quality sucks, but at least it's the only bootleg with the whole coreography recorded, instead of focusing only on Anna and Elsa (Patti Murin and Caissie Levy here), with Kristoff and Hans (Jelani Alladin and John Riddle) acting as :
This rendition of the movie climax for me seriously enlights even better that sense of parallelism between all four the characters arcs, most importantly because Anna and Elsa roles are more balanced compared to the movie, while Kristoff and Hans get more exploration and their own themes, which connect them more directly to the sisters:
Even better when they then get to the "KRISTOFF! ANNA! MONSTER! ELSA!" moment, with all four of them on front stage singing:
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