Stephen Sondheim "FROGS" Nathan Lane / Roger Bart 2004 Opening Night Playbill

Description

This is a rare
July 22nd, 2004 OPENING NIGHT
playbill from the Original Broadway production of the STEPHEN SONDHEIM and BURT SHEVELOVE musical "THE FROGS" at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York City. (The production opened July 22nd, 2004 and ran for 92 performances.) ..... "Freely adapted" from
The Frogs
,
an
Ancient Greek comedy
by
Aristophanes
,
"THE FROGS" was first performed by the Yale Repertory Theatre Company in
Yale University
's
gymnasium
swimming pool and included among it's cast MERYL STREEP, SIGOURNEY WEAVER, LARRY BLYDEN and CHRISTOPHER DURANG ..... In 1979,
Nathan Lane
became interested in the piece and on May 22nd, 2000, Lane, with Davis Gaines and
Brian Stokes Mitchell
,
performed a concert version of
The Frogs
at the
Library of Congress
in
Washington, D.C
. Shortly after the concert adaptation, Lane began revising and expanding the show's book into a two-act structure typical of
American
musicals; the first act was expanded, the second condensed. Lane explained what drew him to expand
The Frogs
: "after
September 11th ...
I started to think, There's something in this piece right now. There's something idealistic about the notion of someone believing that the arts can make a difference ... I found it moving, in light of what is going on in the world." The new book included references to
George W. Bush
and the
Iraq War. For the new production, Sondheim wrote seven new songs, including ones that focused on individual characters rather than an ensemble. The
Lincoln Center Theater
produced the piece, now titled
The Frogs: A New Broadway Musical
, at the
Vivian Beaumont Theater
.
The revival, labeled as "even more freely adapted" by Lane, starred NATHAN LANE as "Dionysus" and
ROGER BART
as "Xanthias". Others in the cast included RYAN L. BALL, PETER BARTLETT, JAMES BROWN III, JOHN BYNER, DANIEL DAVIS, BRYN DOWLING, REBECCA EICHENBERGER, MEG GILLENTINE, ERIC MICHAEL GILLETT, PIA C. GLENN, TIMOTHY GULAN, TYLER HANES, FRANCESCA HARPER, ROD HARRELSON, JESSICA HOWARD, NAOMI KAKUK, KENWAY HON WAI K. KUA, LUKE LONGACRE, DAVID LOWENSTEIN, JOANNE MANNING, BURKE MOSES, MIA PRICE, MICHAEL SIBERRY, KATHY VOYTKO, STEVE WILSON and JAY BRIAN WINNICK
..... CREDITS: Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM ("A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum", "West Side Story", "Gypsy", "Company", "Follies", "Merrily We Roll Along", "Do I Hear a Waltz?", "A Little Night Music", "Sweeney Todd", "Pacific Overtures", "Sunday in the Park With George", "Into the Woods", "Passion", "Assassins", "Road Show", "Bounce"); Book by BURT SHEVELOVE freely adapted from the original by ARISTOPHANES; Even more freely adapted by NATHAN LANE; Scenery designed by GILES CADLE; Costumes designed by WILLIAM IVEY LONG; Orchestrations by JONATHAN TUNICK; Musical Director: PAUL GEMIGNANI; Directed and Choreographed by SUSAN STROMAN; Produced by ANDRE BISHOP and BERNARD GERSTEN in association with BOB BOYETT ..... DETAILS: The 52 page playbill measures 5 3/8" X 8 1/2" inches and includes full production credits, cast list, synopsis of scenes, list of musical numbers, individual photos and bios of each of the actors and bios of each member of the creative team ..... BONUS: The playbill includes a two-page article on NATHAN LANE and "THE FROGS" (shown in the scanned images) ..... CONDITION: This playbill is in excellent condition and will make a wonderful addition to the collection of any musical theatre aficionado or historian. This item will be carefully packaged in a protective, carded sleeve and backed by stiff cardboard.