Disneyland ResortPress Release

Frozen – Live at the Hyperion – Fact Sheet (Disney Release)

Jason @disneygeek.com
'FROZEN - LIVE AT THE HYPERION' -- A new theatrical interpretation for the stage based on Disney's animated blockbuster film, Frozen is now playing at the Hyperion Theater at Disney California Adventure Park. The show immerses audiences in the emotional journey of Anna and Elsa with all of the excitement of live theater, including elaborate costumes and sets, stunning special effects and show-stopping production numbers. (Scott Brinegar/Disneyland Resort)
‘FROZEN – LIVE AT THE HYPERION’ — A new theatrical interpretation for the stage based on Disney’s animated blockbuster film, Frozen is now playing at the Hyperion Theater at Disney California Adventure Park. The show immerses audiences in the emotional journey of Anna and Elsa with all of the excitement of live theater, including elaborate costumes and sets, stunning special effects and show-stopping production numbers. (Scott Brinegar/Disneyland Resort)

Frozen – Live at the Hyperion

  • This production of “Frozen – Live at the Hyperion” is an international effort with a director from South Africa, wigs from Switzerland, lighting fixtures from the Czech Republic and Wisconsin, and scenery built in England, New York, Pennsylvania and Los Angeles.
  • More than 100 members of the Disneyland Resort Entertainment team have supported the mounting of “Frozen – Live at the Hyperion.” Between them, they have nearly 1,000 years of combined Disney service!
  • More than 2,500 actors/vocalists and 1,000 dancers from across the country were auditioned for “Frozen – Live at the Hyperion.” From this group, 103 were selected to be part of the opening cast.
  • The first table read of the show took place in January 2015 in New York.
  • The orchestra that recorded the music for the show comprised 65 of the top musicians in Los Angeles.
  • All vocals in the show are performed live.

Costumes

  • More than 1,000 costumes have been created for the show, along with 772 pairs of shoes.
  • The fabric and trims for the costumes come from around the world, with sources in England, Canada and India, among others.
  • Costumes were created in Los Angeles, New York and Canada.
  • Reindeer Sven’s mechanics allow the performer to connect with the character and bring Sven to life on stage.

Scenic & Effects

  • All the scenic doors have been faithfully re-created from the animated feature.  It took more than 1,500 hours to design, engineer and fabricate the 7 pairs of doors onstage.
  • The traditional Norwegian folk art painting known as Rosemaling [ROSE-mah-ling] has been used to adorn many of the set pieces and props in the show.
  • Many scenic elements are battery powered and wirelessly controlled, two of which (snow mounds) move about the stage autonomously, using laser scanners and reflectors as their guide.
  • Kristoff’s sleigh is built on a motion base platform similar to a flight simulator.
  • Elsa’s magic is created through the use of dynamic effects, including 20 plumes of CO2, along with liquid nitrogen and evaporating snow throughout the stage and auditorium – in addition to scenic, lighting, video and audio effects.
  • Elsa’s staircase of ice is an automated set piece designed to swing the performer out into and over the first several rows of the audience. To create the staircase, Disney collaborated with partners who have engineered mega-spectacles for major concert events around the world.
  • There are 36 ice spikes built into the stage.
  • The chandelier is made up of 60 individual ice shards and has more than 500 points of light.
  • It took nearly 45,000 sq. ft. of custom-dyed fabric to create the “Aurora” curtain that encompasses the interior of the theater, almost completely surrounding the audience.

Lighting

  • 211 new lighting fixtures were installed for the show, increasing the total number of conventional lighting fixtures in the Hyperion to more than 800. 87% of them are LED sources.
  • There are 117 moving lights.
  • 12 custom patterns were created for the moving lights, many of those designs based on original artwork from the film.
  • Motion capture technology is used to detect where performers are located on stage for lighting and video.

Projection

  • Eight new projectors have been installed, allowing projection onto the stage as well as the House Left and House Right walls.
  • Large format projections can cover up to 8,000 square feet of scenic surfaces in the theater.
  • In producing the show, the video team used more than 80 computers to render all the media seen on the LED wall and projection surfaces.
  • The custom curved video wall covers 2,200 square feet, with more than 4 million pixels producing high-resolution video images.
  • The onstage video wall screen weighs 44,000 lbs, and the stage deck had to be reinforced with steel plates to secure it.

The Hyperion Theater

  • The Hyperion Theater, which opened with Disney California Adventure Park on February 8, 2001, is a state-of-the-art performance space equipped to handle major theatrical presentations.
  • In its history, the Hyperion Theater has played host to a variety of shows:
    • “Disney’s Steps in Time” (2001)
    • “The Power of Blast!” (2002)
    • “Disney’s Aladdin – A Musical Spectacular” (2003-2016)
  • The theater seats nearly 2,000 guests per show.
  • The stage is 120 feet wide and 52 feet deep, with a proscenium stretching 30 feet high.
  • The fly space above the stage reaches approximately 76 feet, with multiple automated lines for fly rigs, scenic drops or other special equipment or set pieces.-more-
  • “Frozen – Live at the Hyperion” utilizes all 6,200 square feet of stage space, plus an additional 1,500 square feet of space that extends behind the stage as well as into the auditorium.