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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.
PHOTOS: The Making of Disney’s Animated Oscar Contender ‘Frozen’
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?”
See the video below:
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.
PHOTOS: Disney’s ‘Frozen’ and 19 Other Wintry Movies
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.
Twitter: @ScottFeinberg
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