Turning a much loved animation into musical theatre gold is a rare alchemy that demands trusting your creatives.

Fortunately Disney have made some great hires to translate the film into magical live theatre that will please more than just Princess-struck six-year-olds.

Partly inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen, the Nordic tale of sisters Anna and Elsa divided by the elder's uncontrollable magic, already had a feminist undertow. Here it gets a potent boost as Samantha Barks' isolated, tortured Elsa tries to suppress the powers which might harm her sister, then gives way in a joyful burst of self-expression and ice crystals with the anthemic Let It Go.

Islington Gazette: Disney's Frozen - Samantha Barks (Elsa), Stephanie McKeon (Anna), EnsembleDisney's Frozen - Samantha Barks (Elsa), Stephanie McKeon (Anna), Ensemble (Image: ©JOHAN PERSSON)

That men demonise her power to grab her kingdom - and the sisterhood rescue each other - makes it a tale for our times. Original screenplay writer Jennifer Lee and veteran director Michael Grandage have a talent for lucid storytelling, that leavens sadness and jeopardy with wit and comedy.

The best of these is an un-Disney-like celebration of Hygge complete with conga-ing sauna worshippers enacting a burlesque fan dance with birch twigs. All the well known movie songs are here, memorable among Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez' new numbers is the anti-romantic What Do You Know About Love? as Anna and Kristoff cross a seemingly unending ice bridge.

Islington Gazette: Disney's Frozen - Craig Gallivan (Olaf)Disney's Frozen - Craig Gallivan (Olaf) (Image: ©JOHAN PERSSON)

Craig Gallivan's charming snowman Olaf makes simultaneous singing, dancing and puppetry look easy, while Obioma Ugoala's bear-like ice-seller Kristoff warms the cockles even if his reindeer companion Sven is under-used. And Stephanie McKeon Anna is a loveable tangle of high-spirited goofy wisecracking and heart-on-sleeve naivety.

Islington Gazette: Disney's Frozen - Sven and Obioma Ugoala (Kristoff)Disney's Frozen - Sven and Obioma Ugoala (Kristoff) (Image: ©JOHAN PERSSON)

They are aided by Rob Ashford's choreography, which mostly eschews cheesiness for visually arresting dance theatre, summoning a shipwreck, or a statue from whirling bodies, or lends an expressionistic tinge to the ballroom scenes. Against a backdrop of shimmering northern lights, Christopher Oram's eye-grabbing designs conjure an ice palace, or flower-bedecked terrace (although not sure about the Trolls as dreadlocked Shamen).

And Jeremy Chernick's special effects pull off seasonal transformations, snow flurries and lightning costume changes. Some might cavil that Frozen leaves little to the imagination, but my 10-year-old was entranced by its theatrical wizardry and the live spectacle of stirring storytelling. 4/5 stars.