A Year With Frog and Toad at the Arden
A Year With Frog and Toad is the amphibian Odd Couple. Frog (Jeffrey Coon - who's barely had time to change his Stanley Kowalski costume after a successful run of A Streetcar Named Desire) is a natty dresser. He's an optimist, a pragmatist, a risk-taker, full of energy.
A Year With Frog and Toad
is the amphibian
Odd Couple.
Frog (Jeffrey Coon - who's barely had time to change his Stanley Kowalski costume after a successful run of A Streetcar Named Desire) is a natty dresser. He's an optimist, a pragmatist, a risk-taker, full of energy.
Toad (Ben Dibble) wears nubby handmade sweaters. He is a worrier, obsessed with time. He bakes excellent cookies. He knows that he has to be brave even when he is afraid. He does not use contractions when he speaks.
They are best friends, and this show tells us how having - and being - such a friend is, well, the best.
Arden Theatre's revival of this hit children's musical, based on Arnold Lobel's beloved books, is a pleasure for parents, too. With orchestra music by Robert Reale and smart, sweet, and funny lyrics by Willie Reale, A Year With Frog and Toad teaches us how to be tolerant of other people's idiosyncrasies, flaws, and fears, how to enjoy the pleasures of the seasons, how to be generous, kind, and thoughtful, how to make up after a fight. And director Whit MacLaughlin makes sure there's not a sappy, sugary, sentimental moment in it.
The show begins when the birds return after wintering in the South. Soon, Frog and Toad end their hibernation and sing songs in praise of each other. (It adds to the charm that Dibble and Coon are in real life good friends, as are their sons.)
We spend the year with them, first planting a garden in the spring, swimming in the summer, raking leaves in the autumn, and sledding in the winter. We meet not only the adorable birds, but the moles - all played by the same talented singer/actors who give us Mouse (Danielle G. Herbert) and Turtle (Erin Driscoll). The crowd's favorite was Snail (Nick Gaswirth), who would run away with the show if Snail ever ran ("I put the go in escargot"). He learns another important lesson: Having work that you feel proud of makes you confident and strong. Richard St. Clair designed the clever costumes.
Drew Billiau designed the magical lighting effects - the shadow play of "The Large and Terrible Frog" is terrific - and Donald Eastman's revolving set is a lesson in imaginatively detailed simplicity.
The kids loved it (although why people bring 2-year-olds to an evening show that lasts 13/4 hours is beyond me). After a spat when Toad tells Frog he's never going to speak to him again, children in the audience cried out, "Oh, no!" And sure enough, they make up. Everybody is a frog or a toad, and what a lovable show to make it fine to be either one.
A Year With Frog and Toad
Arden Theatre Company, 40 N. 2d Street. Through April 19. Tickets $14-30. Information: 215-922-1122 or visit www.ardentheatre.org.EndText