A. Encourage your children to see/love/get involved with live theatre,
B. Encourage them to read,
C. Have an entertaining evening for kids that doesn’t leave the adults regretting that they brought their eyeballs with them to the theatre,
hustle them over to Wheaton Drama to see A Year with Frog and Toad. Like You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, this is a deceptively simple musical with incredibly complex, jazzy harmonies.
Based on Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad books, a staple of many grade-school reading curricula, this charming show (book & lyrics by Willie Reale, music by Robert Reale) is an episodic journey of friendship where the title characters deal with everyday occurrences that assume epic importance – much like childhood does.
Carla Mutone’s direction is brisk, sure and hits all the sentimental moments without lingering on them until insulin is required. Tracy Adams’ choreography is ebullient and breezy. The musical direction of Ginger Stephens Terlep guides the actors through some of the toughest harmonies this side of Sondheim.
Steve Schroeder as the gentle, serene Frog and Chris Bruzzini as the dour, worry-wart Toad make a terrific team, complementing each other completely. Schroeder’s warm, assured voice blends nicely with Bruzzini’s comedically emphasized warbling. The nearly non-stop giggling of the children in the audience said that both men hit their targets.
The remaining six cast members all play multiple animals. Lori Skubich stands out as both the Snail (belting the 11:00 number, I’m Coming Out of My Shell) who literally carries snail mail and as the Young Frog in Frog’s scary Halloween story. Stuart Vance, Amy Royle, Geri Larson, Margo Raube and Carrie Pyykkonen all do stellar work in their many roles as birds, mice, squirrels and moles. There is some very fine ensemble work going on here.
Standout songs include the aforementioned Shell number, He’ll Never Know (a soft shoe routine for raking leaves), Shivers (an operatic Halloween story), Merry Almost Christmas (a carol with beautiful harmonies) and the wonderful Getta Loada Toad (a Dixieland ode to both making a mountain out of your own molehill and the wonders of childhood cruelty).
The set design is beautifully done and the set crew does a great job with the numerous scene changes.
The only real complaint would be the recorded music score, on two counts. First, it’s obviously hard for the singers to keep up with some of the tempos and there is no way for the conductor to adjust to the singers – because there is no conductor. Second, don’t charge me a higher admission fee for a musical than for a straight show and then skimp on the live musicians. That’s just rude. And cheap.
Lastly, given the state of the economy, Wheaton Drama might think about cutting back on the rather high ticket prices. There were enough empty seats for a great family-friendly show to say loudly and clearly that it costs too much to come in.
However, if you think the price is doable and you’d like to take your family to a great seasonal show that you haven’t already seen in seventeen different variations, you couldn’t do better than to see A Year with Frog and Toad at Wheaton Drama. It’s a wonderful family show and it’s done very well by Bruzzini, Schroeder and company.
A Year with Frog and Toad continues at Wheaton Drama, 111 N. Hale Street, Wheaton through December 14. Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 3:00 & 7:00 p.m., Sundays at 3:00 p.m. (No Thursday performances for this production.) For reservations and information, call (630) 260-1820 or order online at http://www.wheatondrama.org/.
Posts
