Although I have long be a fan of the stage, I have been leery of live action and stage versions of animated films ever since my wife insisted I take our children to the stage version of Lion King, battled 2-hours of traffic each way to get there, and the kids' reaction was they liked the cartoon better. However, I seem to be one of the select few who had not seen the animated version of Frozen before I saw this stage adaptation, so I had no preconceptions or expectations and did not have to spend my time deciding which was "better." I found this stage play perfectly enjoyable. I have been a fan of Samantha Barks for years and she, as usual, was exceptional both in her singing and acting. Laura Dawkes was a revelation; she has a great voice and is a born comedian. Craig Galavan operating the puppet snowman also provided comic relief. In fact, after watching the animated film, I actually preferred the stage play version in many ways. I am not a great fan of CGI animated people, and the humor struck me as funny when presented by live actors rather than "cute," as is generally the case with CGI animated figures. As with most musicals, there were only a few "hits", but the other songs were more than adequate to move the action forward.
Keep in mind while watching that an inherent problem with filmed stage shows is that the actors are projecting to an audience, not a camera, so they might look like they are overacting somewhat in the closeups.
