Samantha Barks to Let It Go as Elsa in West End Premiere of Frozen

Samantha Barks will play Elsa in the West End premiere of Disney’s Frozen when it premieres in October 2020, according to The Daily Mail. The previously announced production will reopen the refurbished Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and will feature the new song “I Can’t Lose You,” which is premiering in the musical’s new national tour.

In 2018, Barks made her Broadway debut with a year-long run as Vivian Ward in the Broadway musical Pretty Woman. Previously, she was best known for playing Eponine in the 2012 big screen adaptation of Les Miserables, a role she first played in the West End as well as in the 25th Anniversary Concert of the well-loved musical at The O2. She first made a name for herself as a contestant on the U.K. reality show I’d Do Anything, competing to play Nancy in Oliver!, a part she wound up playing on a tour with the show. She played Velma Kelly in Chicago at the Hollywood Bowl in 2014, the leading role in Amélie at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Cathy in The Last Five Years at the St. James Theatre in London and Betsy in the U.K. premiere of Honeymoon in Vegas at the London Palladium. Prior to Frozen, Barks will lead a tour of the musical Chess in Tokyo opposite Ramin Karimloo.

Adapted by the film's screenwriter and co-director Jennifer Lee and featuring a score by the film's Oscar-winning music makers Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, Frozen centers on two sisters who are pulled apart by a mysterious secret. As one of them, Elsa, struggles to find her voice and harness her powers within, the other, Anna, embarks on an epic adventure to bring her family together once and for all.

The Broadway premiere of Frozen began previews at Broadway's St. James Theatre on February 22, 2018 and opened on March 22, where it continues to play. The production is directed by Michael Grandage and choreographed by Rob Ashford, with musical supervision/arrangements by Stephen Oremus.

Further casting will be announced for the London Frozen at a later date.