Entertainment

How Does 'OUAT's Elsa Stack Up To Idina Menzel?

by Christine DiStasio

Let it go, let it go. That's what ABC and Once Upon a Time creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz are singing to fans who hoped Kristen Bell would make a guest appearance on Season 4 of the fairytale-inspired series. Because on Tuesday, OUAT cast Elizabeth Lail and Scott Michael Foster as Anna and Kristoff from Frozen, respectively, for its upcoming season, and on Thursday, fans finally got an answer to a question that's plagued them since OUAT's big Season 3 finale reveal: Georgina Haig will play Elsa from Frozen on OUAT Season 4. So how do these actors stack up next to the transcendently perfect Bell, Idina Menzel, and Jonathan Groff?

First of all, these castings are SPOT ON — if not from a musical point of view, but from a very practical, aesthetic point of view. (We're not sure what these actors' singing voices are like just yet.) Lail, Foster, and Haig are all dead ringers for 2014's most popular Disney characters IRL. But can we possibly love them as much as we love Idina Menzel and the rest of the voice actors from film we've seen so many times that we can sing all of the songs backwards?

Unlike the three actors that brought the film to life, these new OUAT stars don't have quite as much star power under their belts — so do they and will they measure up? Let's see.

Idina Menzel vs. Georgina Haig as Elsa

OUAT isn't going to morph into an hour-long weekly musical, so at least Haig doesn't have to compete with Menzel there. So here's what we've got: 1) Both studied drama in college — Menzel has a BFA in Drama from New York University, while Haig is a graduate of the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts. 2) They've both done the doctor show-thing — Menzel guest-starred on Private Practice back in 2009, around the same time that Haig was starring on Rescue: Special Ops.

3) Google loves their feet — One of Menzel's top searches is "barefoot at the symphony," while Haig's is just a search for her feet.

Kristen Bell vs. Elizabeth Lail as Anna

Is Lail adorkable enough to play Anna as well as Kristen Bell did? I mean, the girl can sing:

She might just give Bell a run for her money. Aside from that, Lail is essentially a newcomer, but she and Bell have similar acting roots. Bell attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for musical theatre before debuting on Broadway in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Lail is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina's School of the Arts where she studied drama and starred in a handful of classic plays, including As You Like It and The Glass Menagerie. And, I'm going to say there are huge points to Lail for being closer to Anna's age than Bell.

Jonathan Groff vs. Scott Michael Foster as Kristoff

On the basis of irresistible floppy hair alone, it's a tough call between the wildly talented Groff and adorable Foster. Not to sound shallow but, just look at this hair:

And this hair:

But on a more serious note, Groff and Foster are the same age and were both born in March of 1985, according to their IMDB profiles. That must've been a great year for hair. The pair also share a love for singing on stage — but not in a way you'd expect. Though Groff is a Tony award-winning Broadway star, Foster is the frontman of Siren's Eye. And he's actually pretty great at singing:

So, are OUAT's new stars capable of filling the HUGE shoes of Disney's Frozen stars? Absolutely. But really, the big question here is: Who's going to voice Olaf?

Images: Disney (4), SocialiteLife, fuckyeahscottmichaelfoster/Tumblr