The Frogs (musical)

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Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove "freely adapted" The Frogs, an Ancient Greek old comedy by Aristophanes, into a musical performed in Yale University's gymnasium's swimming pool in the mid-70s.

Dionysus, despairing of the quality of living dramatists, travels to Hades to bring George Bernard Shaw back from the dead. William Shakespeare competes with Shaw for the title of best playwright, which he wins. Dionysus chooses to bring Shakespeare back instead, thereby improving the world, and its political situation. This original production is most famous for having Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver and Christopher Durang in its ensemble. Sondheim compared the acoustics of the original production to "performing in a urinal."

A considerably expanded revival production, "even more freely adapted" by Nathan Lane, opened on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in July 2004, with Nathan Lane and Roger Bart headlining. (Chris Kattan had co-starred in previews, but was replaced by Bart a week before the show opened.) John Byner, Daniel Davis, Peter Bartlett, Burke Moses, and Michael Siberry all appeared in supporting roles, with a young and attractive chorus dancing and performing acrobatics, including a frog ballet on bungee cords. Both the original and the revised versions were orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick.

Songs

Songs include:

"Invocation and Instructions to the Audience" ("Let's not be too straight laced, the authors reputation wasn't based on taste.")
"I Love to Travel" ("Who needs to travel? I say to leave the world alone. It may unravel, but it's the mess we've always known. All right, okay, it isn't perfect, but it's perfectly okay, and if it's gonna go to hell -- then let it! Why should I as well? Forget it!")
"Dress Big" ("And don't say 'lower back problems'. Say: I HAVE A SPINE OF STEEL!!")
"All Aboard" ("All aboard! Hades Express! Non-stop, just a short hop, to the bottomless pit -- this is it!")
"Ariadne" ("And the years filled with joy, and my heart filled with pride, just to know Ariadne was there at my side. Then she died . . . being mortal, she died . . .")
"The Frogs" ("Brek-kek-kek-kek, Brek-kek-kek-kek! Whaddaya care the world's a wreck? Leave 'em alone and send a check. Sit in the sun and what the heck, whaddaya wanna break your neck for? What for? Big deal! Big bore!")
"Hymn to Dionysos" ("We are come to thank you for the gentle tendrils that intertwine to produce the grapes that produce the wine. . . . Out of wine comes truth, out of truth the vision clears, and with vision soon appears a grand design. From the grand design we can understand the world. And when you understand the world, you need a lot more wine.")
"Hades" ("Everybody dumps on Hades, people yelling 'Go to hell!'. Well! Let me tell you, life in Hades is just swell!")
"It's Only a Play" ("Words are merely chatter, and easy to say. It doesn't really matter, It's only a play. It's only so much natter which somebody wrote, and the world's still afloat, so it's hardly a note for today.")
"Shaw" ("We still need Shaw! I'm bringing back Shaw! The world will have an orgy of Georgie -- Shaw!")
"Fear No More" ("Fear no more the heat o' th' sun, nor the furious winter's rages, Thou thy worldly task hast done, home art gone, and ta'en thy wages.") (The words of this song are from Act IV, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's Cymbeline.)

Recordings

There are two recordings of the score available, both starring Nathan Lane. The first is a concert performance with Lane, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Davis Gaines released in 2001 by Nonesuch Records, and also contains the first complete recording of Sondheim's Evening Primrose songs. The 2004 Broadway production starring Lane and Roger Bart was released by PS Classics.

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