Patti Murin sees a lot of herself in Princess Anna, who she plays on Broadway in the Disney musical “Frozen.”
“I related to Anna very much,” the 37-year-old actress says. “When ‘Frozen’ came out, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s me.’ A socially awkward girl who is still positive — when she does something wrong, she just charges forward to fix it up. And so I saw a lot of those qualities in myself.”
amNewYork spoke with Murin about the show, now playing at the St. James Theatre.
How did you get into the character?
The character of Anna is not difficult for me to get into, just the depth of the trauma that she goes through was a challenge — her parents died when she was very young and her sister stopped speaking to her and she essentially spends 12 years by herself in a castle.
Do you have a favorite moment from the show?
I feel like it changes every day. I love doing all of them. Some of them are harder than others, like “Love Is an Open Door.” I love doing that number so much, but it’s not easy. It’s probably the hardest song in the show that I have to sing. So the moment after we’re done is definitely one of my favorites.
Have you bonded with the young actresses in the show?
All four of those girls are the easiest to bond with because they’re just so full of life and love. My goodness, everyday, when I come into the building, they all run over in a group and give me a group hug. They just love people, they love their jobs and they love being there. I have the two of them. Mattea [Conforti] is a spitfire, kind of sassy. And Audrey [Bennett] is … bright-eyed and innocent. I’ve always loved watching them.
Any fun experiences meeting fans?
Yeah, I have a super fun one. It was the first week of previews. … We can’t really see into the audience too far, but we can see the first couple of rows and there were these two guys, like dude bros in Rangers jerseys. I don’t think they’re with anyone. They were so enthusiastic and cheering — great audience members. … After the show, at the stage door, they were the last in line. I was like, “What are you doing here?” … One of them was like, I was supposed to have a blind date today at noon and she didn’t show up. When she didn’t show up, I called up this guy, and then I went to the box office and got the last two tickets for today’s show. So it wasn’t that he had tickets for his blind date. His blind date didn’t show up and then he calls his buddy and got tickets to see “Frozen.” They loved it. They were going to the Ranger’s game that night. … That was sort of the biggest lesson — this show is for every single human.
‘Frozen’ plays an open run at the St. James Theatre. 246 W. 44th St., frozenthemusical.com
