A Year with Frog and Toad
| A Year With Frog and Toad | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Music | Robert Reale |
| Lyrics | Willie Reale |
| Book | Willie Reale |
| Basis | Frog and Toad children's stories by Arnold Lobel |
| Productions | 2002 Minneapolis 2002 Off-Broadway 2003 Broadway 2007 National Tour |
A Year With Frog and Toad is a musical written by brothers Robert (music) and Willie Reale (book and lyrics), based on the Frog and Toad children's stories written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel. The musical follows the woodland adventures of two amphibious friends, a worrywart toad and a perky frog, with their assorted colorful hopping, crawling and flying companions, over the course of a year. The show broke new ground by bringing professional children's theatre to Broadway, sparking the interest of the age 3-to-10 set.
Arnold Lobel's daughter, Adrianne Lobel, commissioned a musical based on her father's characters. She also designed the set, based on her father's writings. Her husband, actor Mark Linn-Baker, adapted the stories into a theatrical script, and later played Toad in the musical's Broadway debut. The intimate, 5-actor piece is frequently played by community theatre companies.
The musical was workshopped in 2000 at New York Stage and Film (at Vassar College) and first produced by the Children's Theatre Company, Minneapolis, premiering on August 23, 2002, closing on November 2, 2002. It was directed by David Petrarca and choreographed by Daniel Pelzig. It next opened in New York City off-Broadway at The New Victory Theater in November 2002 playing to good reviews and sold-out houses for several weeks.
A Year With Frog and Toad opened on Broadway at the Cort Theatre on April 13, 2003, but after the jump from a $30 off-Broadway ticket to a $90 Broadway ticket, the show closed on June 15, 2003, after 73 performances and 15 previews.
The musical played a return engagement at the Children's Theatre Company November 16-December 31, 2004.
Act I
Frog and Toad are hibernating ("A Year With Frog and Toad"). The birds are ready for spring, as the sleeping friends sing about their friendship and the year ahead ("Spring"). The protagonists awaken, and Toad begins to plant a garden, impatient that his plants grow slowly. He yells at the seeds but then worries that they are afraid to grow ("Seeds"). He sings, dances and plays the tuba to encourage them, which seems to work.
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