Photo: Pamela Raith
Music and lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Writer: Aristophanes
Adaptors: Burt Shelvelove and Nathan Lane
Director: Georgie Rankcom
⭐️⭐️💫
Let’s face it, even William Shakespeare had a few bad days at the office, so it should come as no surprise that, among the masterpieces of Stephen Sondheim, there lie some green slimy things. Maybe it is a little uncharitable to remind enthusiasts for the late God of musical theatre of this, but director Georgie Rankcom’s off-West End revival does so and makes a valiant attempt to turn The Frogsinto a prince among musicals.
A big surprise is that The Frogs premiered after Sondheim’s sophisticated hit A Little Night Music; a surprise because it has all the feel of a year-end college revue by a bunch of Classics undergrads. This could be down to the fact that, in its early form, with a book by Burt Shevelove, the show did the rounds of universities, opening at Yale gymnasium in 1974, with Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver in the chorus. The version seen here has a new book by Nathan Lane, who starred in the first Broadway production in 2004. The United Kingdom premiere came at London’s tiny Jermyn Street Theatre in 2017.
We are told at the outset that the time is the present and the place is Ancient Greece. Freely adapted from a BC405 Greek comedy by Aristophanes, the story tells how the ranidaphobic God of Drama, Dionysos (Dan Buckley) and his upstart slave, Xanthias (Kevin McHale) set off for Hades on a mission to retrieve George Bernard Shaw (Martha Pothen), eventually opting for William Shakespeare (Bart Lambert) in preference. The journey is plodding, but Buckley and McHale make up a pleasing double act in the Laurel and Hardy style.
On the road, the pair meet up with Dionysos’ brother, Heracles (Joaquin Pedro Valdes), taking a break from his labours to give guidance on fashion, and an aggressive ferryman, Charon (Carl Patrick overacting towards the point of stealing the show). Things go wrong when Dionysos is kidnapped by frogs and the second act, set in Hades, is much like Hell for the audience, culminating in a seemingly interminable battle of words between the two playwrights.
The show has none of Sondheim’s most instantly recognisable songs, but the ones that are here have much merit and, generally, the lyrics are stronger than the music. The problem with the show is not the songs, they are the highlights as progress creaks and croaks between them. The book is ridiculously self-indulgent, mixing high brow arguments with low-brow topical gags while, at the same time, submerging itself in a sea of silliness where even the hardiest of amphibians would struggle to stay afloat.
Rankcom’s production often feels lifeless between the songs, but it redeems itself when the six-member chorus bursts into action, particularly for The Frogs and Hymn to Dionysos on either side of the interval and It’s Only a Play, later. Here, the work of choreographer Matt Nicholson is outstanding and it stretches to high camp with the appearance of glamour queen Pluto (Victoria Scone), inserted as if a cabaret act, to perform Hades.
In the early 1970s, perhaps Sondheim was still learning how to expand the boundaries of musical theatre and it is interesting to discover some seeds of later successes being sown here. Even so, the highlights of The Frogs are all musical ones and they come as oases in a fairly arid desert.
Performance date: 27 May 2025
The Beast's Pen 