Shows · The Frogs
The Frogs
Opened 2004
92 performances
Musical, Modern
The god Dionysos, disillusioned with modern theatre, journeys to the underworld with his slave Xanthias to bring back a great playwright. He must cross the River Styx, endure a chorus of croaking frogs, and judge a contest between George Bernard Shaw and William Shakespeare to determine which writer deserves to return to the living.
- Music
- Stephen Sondheim
- Lyrics
- Stephen Sondheim
- Book
- Burt Shevelove, Nathan Lane
Productions3 productions: 1 on Broadway, 2 in the West End
Recordings 3 recordings
Licensing 1 entry
| US | Music Theatre International The Frogs matched on title alone: a lead, not a confirmed licensor |
The Frogs is a musical "freely adapted" by Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove from The Frogs, an Ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes. In the musical, Dionysos, 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. Dionysos brings Shakespeare back to the world of the living in the hope that art can save civilization. The musical was originally performed in Yale University's gymnasium's swimming pool in 1974. The show was produced on Broadway in 2004 with the book revised by Nathan Lane and the score expanded by Sondheim. This version was revived…
Xanthias complains about traveling and sings a fifth leap from A to E each time to “the grippe”/“my hip”/“my lip”/“the pip,” provoking Dionysus to...
Sondheim In Our Time and His W Anthony Sheppard Editor Oxford University Press U, p. 412Something wrong here? Correct a field or report the problem. Every change is recorded in public under the contributor licence.