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Idina Menzel gave concerts in Chicago (Ravinia) and Milwaukee (Performing Arts Center), shortly before the appearance of "Frozen." I was given a front-row ticket to the Milwaukee concert and was struck, above all, by the numerous young people (college age and slightly older) who were obviously familiar with practically every sung word, eagerly joining Menzel on stage upon being invited to perform numbers from recent Broadway musicals ("Rent," "Wicked"). As a jazz fan (and musician) I must admit the music wasn't my "bag" (with the exception of "Avenue Q," which knocked me out). To my ears, most popular songs of the past 50 years sounds infinitely inferior to the music of Jerome Kern ("Showboat"), Rodgers and Hammerstein ("Oklahoma"), Gershwin ("Porgy and Bess), Rodgers and Hart ("On Your Toes"), Cole Porter ("Anything Goes"), Bernstein and Sondheim ("West Side Story")--in terms of structural integrity, melodic inventiveness, lyric wit, and range and depth of emotional expression (perhaps the reason these are the songs that constitute the library that has come to be known as "The Great American Songbook").
In any case, my opinions were rendered meaningless by the profound effect this movie had on my 3-year-old grand-daughter. Although I didn't observe much of a response from her at the theater (either during or immediately following the movie), a mere 3 months later she's singing every single note, every word of the score of "Frozen" (I couldn't even tell you the name of the composer-lyricist). Granted, in that time she's had a birthday, but I'm no less impressed. And it's quite apparent that this "blockbuster" out of the Disney studios is having a similar impact on thousands of other children--of all ages.
The tunes from "Frozen" and, for that matter, most other recent musicals, don't lend themselves to jazz improvisation, but neither does much operatic music. Only the passage of time will tell us whether this music will endure like Kern's "All the Things You Are" or Johnny Greene's "Body and Soul" or Harold Arlen's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (to name just a few examples of "classic" American tunes that are part of an inarguable "canon" of American popular song). But I'll be far more hesitant about criticizing it. And even if it eventually sinks into the oblivion of so much pop emphemera, a musical like "Frozen" leads in a musical direction that's considerably more professional and sophisticated than the folk, rock and country music (mostly by guitar-playing singer-songwriters) that has dominated American popular music since the 1960s.
Come to think of it, Menzel exhibited a "Broadway voice" that was not all that unlike Ethel Merman's (minus the vibrato--Ethel was the favorite of the early great composers because of her power and elocution, both essential to Broadway shows before the development of the microphone, which was not even a factor in vocal performances until the late 1920s and the emergence of the creative genius who knew to use it-- Bing Crosby). Near the beginning of practically any course that I teach--literature, music, and film--I warn my youthful troops (learning is a risky adventure) that they all possess a bias against anything that is perceived as "old," "past," "before their time" and that one of their greatest challenges will be to surmount their pre-existing bias in favor of the "modern," or "contempotrary" for education (which means "moving out" of restrictive confines) to occur.
Education is more about covering epochs of "time" (in teaching linguistics, I endeavor to go back some 50 million years!) than vast expanses of "space." Traveling--even in outer space--is of great interest and even a potentially transformative experience for some, yet it's extremely limited compared to the traveling in time that is possible only through the study of texts from the past. In other words, they'd better be prepared to read, and have an open mind to, a lot of "dead white guys" (not excluding some black ones, like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, both of whom produced music that resonates in consciousness with the creative brilliance of a Shakespeare sonnet or a Homeric epic poem).
Already, as a teacher-student, I've no doubt alienated myself from not only some of those "present-bound" youth that occupy my classroom but from of the narrow-minded and rigid Americans on the far right who have condemned "Frozen" as a propaganda piece supporting modern "liberal" notions such as women who can overcome formidable obstacles and attain the kind of powerful automony we like to see in our great national leaders. We're told that such empowerment of women defies all of the patriarchal examples of the past not to mention the teachings of the Bible and other religious texts. Moreover, we're told that by showing us two women who are capable of loving, above all, each other, "Frozen" is brainwashing our youth into approving of homosexuals if not becoming one!
Who would have "thunk it"!! (I confess these ideas never occurred to me until I bagan reading and hearing reports about the controversy stirred up by this movie, which had initially left me largely indifferent and about $50 poorer). It occurs to me that we can all "learn" from these alarmists as the vert antithesis of a genuine student, with a mind open to learning. Rather than learning how to interpret a "text" (literary, film, musical, etc.) they're "hardened idealogues" who have become all too well practiced in their habitual litmus tests (i.e. "witch hunts"). I encourage them all to take a few classes in "higher learning," for their own good and the communities they attempt to serve.
In the meantime, I'm enjoying my grand-daughter's extended arias-recitatives, lifted from the soundtrack of "Frozen," and being sung with such joyful abandon and power ("mostly" on pitch) that I can feel my house's foundation moving and witness my cats frozen in trepidation as they cling to their preferred perches in the four-story trees (ordered from Amazon). It's enough proof for me to conclude my grand-child (who had just recently conquered "the potty") was, indeed, "liberated," and at the age of 3! Who knows where she'll go from here? I'm simply relieved to know that she won't have limits placed upon her by some perhaps well-intentioned by sadly misinformed hard-liner. If you wish to learn about music, you might do well to talk to and hang out with a musican. If you want to learn about "morality," the last person to consult is a "moralist."
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From the manufacturer
Frozen Collector's Edition / Blu-ray + DVD
Fearless optimist Anna sets off on an epic journey—teaming up with rugged mountain man Kristoff and his loyal reindeer Sven—to find her sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom.
- Directors: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee (XXX)
- Writers: Jennifer Lee (XXX), Chris Buck, Shane Morris, Hans Christian Andersen
- Starring: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Santino Fontana, Alan Tudyk
- Producers: Peter Del Vecho, John Lasseter, Aimee Scribner
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