The Frogs (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

Original Broadway Cast

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The Frogs (Original Broadway Cast Recording) Review

by Patsy Morita

The Stephen Sondheim of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is back, sort of, in The Frogs. Burt Shevelove, who wrote the book for Forum, updated Aristophanes' play, and Sondheim wrote both music and lyrics for its first production at Yale in 1974. Thirty years later, Nathan Lane expanded the original story, and Sondheim wrote six new songs for a limited Broadway run of The Frogs. Lane is excellent in the role of Dionysos in this cast recording, and the supporting players are great as well. It starts out as funny and fast-paced as anything in Forum, giving hope to those who don't like the overly serious and intellectual nature of Sondheim's usual work, but it can't seem to sustain that spirit through to the end. It opens in a similar fashion to Forum, in fact using an address directed at the audience that had been tried as the opening to Forum. Then follows the journey of Dionysos and Xanthias as they go to the Hades to find George Bernard Shaw (rather than Euripides), and return with Shakespeare (rather than Aeschylus). A pseudo-ancient-sounding fanfare opens the proceedings, with quirky harmonies that also accompany the snappy repartee in the "Instructions to the Audience." The repartee is quick-witted, at times stinging and sparkling, and carries on through "I Love to Travel," "Dress Big," and "Shaw." The last plays on the song "You Did It" from My Fair Lady and quotes Shaw's epigrams, further layering the referential humor. "Ariadne," one of the new songs, is slower and much more like what is expected from Sondheim, although it is not nearly as emotionally concentrated as his typical narrative ballads, at least as it is sung by Lane. And it is immediately followed by the ingenious chorus of "The Frogs," which combines Aristophanes' original onomatopoeic lyrics, "Row, row, row your boat," and lines from "Old Man River." However, by the end of the play, the more serious-minded Sondheim has returned, philosophical and reproachful, and essentially quashing the humor. True, Aristophanes' original does not have a laugh-a-minute ending either, but as Sondheim tries to match the ending with the beginning, using another address to the audience, the temperament is so opposite that it seems as if it is from a different play altogether.

Track Listing

Title/Composer Performer Time Stream
The Frogs, musical play
1
Opening Fanfare
Stephen Sondheim
The Orchestra 01:18 SpotifyAmazon
The Frogs, musical play (revised version)
2
Invocation and Instructions to the Audience
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Ryan L. Ball / Bryn Dowling / Rebecca Eichenberger / Meg Gillentine / Pia C. Glenn / Tyler Hanes / Francesca Harper 03:45 SpotifyAmazon
3
It Is Time We Start Our Journey
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Roger Bart / Nathan Lane 00:38 SpotifyAmazon
4
I Love To Travel
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Ryan L. Ball / Roger Bart / Bryn Dowling / Rebecca Eichenberger / Meg Gillentine / Pia C. Glenn / Tyler Hanes / Nathan Lane 04:03 SpotifyAmazon
5
Dress Big
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Roger Bart / Nathan Lane / Burke Moses 03:52 SpotifyAmazon
6
I Love To Travel (Reprise)
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Roger Bart / Nathan Lane 01:13 SpotifyAmazon
7
All Aboard
Stephen Sondheim
John Byner 01:36 SpotifyAmazon
8
On the River Styx
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Roger Bart / Nathan Lane 01:21 SpotifyAmazon
9
Ariadne
Stephen Sondheim
Nathan Lane 03:35 SpotifyAmazon
10
The Frogs
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Ryan L. Ball / Bryn Dowling / Rebecca Eichenberger / Meg Gillentine / Pia C. Glenn / Tyler Hanes / Francesca Harper / Nathan Lane 07:26 SpotifyAmazon
11
Hymn to Dionysos
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Ryan L. Ball / Bryn Dowling / Rebecca Eichenberger / Meg Gillentine / Pia C. Glenn / Tyler Hanes / Francesca Harper 06:00 SpotifyAmazon
12
Hades
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Peter Bartlett / Bryn Dowling / Meg Gillentine / Francesca Harper / Jessica Howard / Naomi Kakuk 04:11 SpotifyAmazon
13
It's Only A Play
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Ryan L. Ball / Bryn Dowling / Rebecca Eichenberger / Meg Gillentine / Pia C. Glenn / Tyler Hanes / Francesca Harper 04:33 SpotifyAmazon
14
Shaw
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Daniel Orion Davis / Rebecca Eichenberger / Meg Gillentine / Tyler Hanes / Francesca Harper / Nathan Lane / David Lowenstein / Win 04:16 SpotifyAmazon
15
The Contest
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Daniel Orion Davis / Nathan Lane / Michael Siberry 01:40 SpotifyAmazon
16
Fear No More
Stephen Sondheim
Michael Siberry 02:05 SpotifyAmazon
17
All Aboard (Reprise)
Stephen Sondheim
John Byner 00:42 SpotifyAmazon
18
Hymn To Dionysos (Reprise)
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Ryan L. Ball / Bryn Dowling / Rebecca Eichenberger / Meg Gillentine / Pia C. Glenn / Tyler Hanes / Francesca Harper 02:48 SpotifyAmazon
19
Final Instructions To The Audience
Stephen Sondheim
Original Broadway Cast feat: Company / Nathan Lane 01:42 SpotifyAmazon
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The Frogs (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

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