![]() On May 22, 2000, Lane, with Davis Gaines and Brian Stokes Mitchell, performed a concert version of The Frogs at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. In 1979, Nathan Lane had become interested in the piece. The cast included Anthony Cable, Verona Chard, Bernard Tagliavini and Raymond Sargent. Produced and directed by Keith Taylor who's Community Theatre Group had done 'A Funny Thing.' earlier in the year. In October 1991, the first production in an Olympic sized pool took place in Coventry. The cast featured Richard Zajdlic as Dionysus and Bob Husson as Xanthias, with choreography by Ron Howell and direction by John Gardyne. Ī production at the Old Brentford Baths in London opened on July 24 for a short run. ![]() In 1984, the University Theatre in New York City, staged a production of The Frogs, beginning on April 12, 1984. Subsequent productionsĪ regional production opened in January 1975, but drew little interest. In 1974, Sondheim was becoming interested in contrapuntal writing, and most of the songs in the 1974 version correspond to choral numbers in the Greek." Among those who reviewed it, the musical was a critical success, though it was rarely produced after its premiere. The piece used a Greek chorus: "Sondheim's works frequently focus on an ensemble of characters, a practice which has led one critic to compare his use of the chorus to Greek drama. Shevelove directed, with choreography by Carmen de Lavallade and Larry Blyden as Dionysos. The Frogs was performed by the Yale Repertory Theatre in the Yale swimming pool, opening on for 8 performances. According to Mary-Kay Gamel, "His central production concept involved Charon and Dionysos rowing across the Exhibition Pool in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium, while the Frogs, played by members of the Yale swimming team, swam around the boat." Production history Yale University Box office: 020-7287 2875.Shevelove first wrote and directed an adaptation of The Frogs in 1941, his senior year at Yale University. Whatever the pleasure provided by this larky update, it can never recapture the Aristophanic belief that it is the paramount duty of the artist to make people better citizens.Īt Jermyn Street theatre, London, until 8 April. ![]() ![]() This remarkable comedy was a plea for the moral power of a poet to save a beleaguered culture. It is worth recalling, however, that when Aristophanes wrote his play, Athens was at a point of crisis: the Spartan army was encamped a few miles away, funds were running out and moderates in the Assembly were outnumbered by extremists. Michael Matus as Dionysos, the god of drama, is amusingly flustered and, swapping places with his sidekick in a fit of cowardice, tells him: “You came out here a slave but you’re going to go back a god.” George Rae as Xanthias exudes the practical sense of the comic servant, and there is striking support from Li-Tong Hsu as the Amazonian Virilla and Emma Ralston as a Pluto who, in her lyrical paean to Hades, proclaims that “Hell is hot”. Photograph: David Ovendenīut it’s a show that Sondheim completists will want to catch, and Grace Wessels’s production and Tim Sutton’s musical direction, scored for a four-piece band, do it justice. Nigel Pilkington as Shakespeare and Martin Dickinson as George Bernard Shaw. ![]()
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