If the end goal of theatre, at its core, is to entertain, leave a message or two with its audience, and create community amongst those presenting it and their audience, then A Year with Frog and Toad checks all the boxes and then some.
Opening May 17 at Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre, and continuing with 17 performances thereafter, the musical brings American author Arnold Lobel’s beloved four-book series to the stage.
Written by Willie Reale, with music penned by his brother Robert, A Year with Frog and Toad was first produced in Minneapolis in 2002. It opened on Broadway the following year, breaking new ground as the first children’s theatre production to do so, earning three Tony Award nominations in the process.
The play’s storyline centres around two friends — the very chipper Frog and the rather grumpy Toad — and follows them through four fun-filled seasons. Joined by other animals of their forest habitat, the pair plant gardens, go swimming, rake leaves, go sledding and, more notoably, learn life lessons.
Directing the Capitol Theatre’s production of A Year with Frog and Toad is a Canadian theatre heavyweight in the form of Fiona Sauder. A multiple Dora Mavor Moore Award recipient, the George Brown Theatre School alum co-founded Toronto-based Bad Hats Theatre in 2015.
According to its website, the theatre company emphasizes programming for young people and families with a mandate to stage “new theatrical works and adaptations that empower multi-generational audiences to access the curiosity and intuition of their childhood.” The desired outcome is the creation of community amongst adults and children co-experiencing its productions.
A Year with Frog and Toad, says Sauder in an interview with kawarthaNOW, is wholly in line with that mission statement.
“At Bad Hats, we kind of thinks ourselves as the Pixar of theatre,” she says, referring to the American animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films.
“I’ve watched Toy Story many times as an adult. So have my parents and my grandparents. It’s a universally loved story because the core tenets of it surround really human things that never really stop being important no matter how old we get.”
“That’s true of A Year with Frog and Toad as well. At its core, it’s a story about soul mates and finding people in our lives who will be there for us through every season and make us feel more like ourselves. Also a little bit about how we can build community and build our families, in any way we please, with people who feel like they are our people.”
Sauder says she was drawn to the musical for a couple of reasons.
“One, it’s screamingly funny and, two, it’s a big explosion of joy,” she assesses.
“It feels like the kind of show where the audience will want to get up and join in. That’s usually the kind of story I’m drawn to, where it feels like a game that the ensemble is playing together — a game that the audience is going to want to get involved in.”
Sauder draws a parallel with the arts community in which she is involved.
“So many folks in the arts are really only getting by because of the support, camaraderie, and kindness of their community. Without the community that you build in theatre, you wouldn’t do theatre at all. It’s a really taxing and ever-changing media. In the span of a year, you enter into hundreds of different universes.”
“The through line is your family of friends and community and the other artists that you work with. This (play) reminds me a lot of the meaning and the importance of my friends in my life, and how they get me through a year.”
As for the venue, Sauder says she was sold upon meeting Capitol Theatre’s artistic director Rob Kempson, who she describes as “a phenomenal leader who has brought so many incredible artists through the doors of the Capitol.”
“I arrived early to go to the (Red Carpet) gala (on April 27). The energy was electric. The professional artistry that’s happening in this building is something I really wanted to be a part of. I was invited and it was a very easy ‘yes’ for me. There’s something growing here in a really exciting way.”
The venue, adds Sauder, is a perfect fit in an aesthetic sense.
“When our set designer (Brian Dudkiewicz) and I met at the Capitol — neither of us had ever worked there (before) — we noticed these great historic houses (on the walls) and there’s star lights in the ceiling. It’s a preserved nod to a different era. Brian didn’t want to ignore that. He’s incorporated the theatre into his design. The historic parts of the theatre bleed into the world of Frog and Toad. It feels like we were meant to be here. It sort of belongs.”
Sauder also lauds the actors bringing A Year with Frog and Toad to life — Joel Cumber as Frog and Haneul Yi as Toad, with support from fellow actors Yunike Soedarmasto, Taylor Lovelace, and Ben Page.
“There’s only five of them, but they play a score of characters. They never really stop moving. I’ve been calling it a team sport. It’s quite athletic, quite busy. In the book, in this chapter, they go swimming. In this chapter, they make cookies. In this chapter, something else happens. The show works similarly, with vignettes of days throughout a year, so there’s always a new chapter.”
“Theatre is often a love letter to making theatre. That’s how this feels. I can’t tell you how much we’ve been getting along. I think that the show, if nothing else, will be a sort of Rolodex of all the fun we’ve had making it. People will notice that, I think. They can tell when it has been a joyful process.”
Sauder also raves about the “incredible” music of Robert and Willie Reale’s Tony award-nominated score, with Jeff Newberry providing musical direction for the Capitol Theatre production.
“It spans a bunch of different genres. It’s very upbeat. It’s very jazzy. There are two people sort of creating the sound of a whole band together. The music is basically the sixth cast member. When you listen to the Broadway recording it sounds simple, but as we started learning it we realized it’s incredibly complex. It’s been really fun for the ensemble to dig into.”
AUDIO: “Opening” from “A Year With Frog and Toad” (original Broadway cast recording)
Not lost on Sauder is the number of young people that will be part of each performance audience, and how the influence of their being enthralled by what they see and hear may set them on their own theatrical trajectory.
“I’ve had the experience, many times over, of someone who’s young approaching me and saying ‘I saw a show of yours four or five years ago and it made me made me want to work in the arts. It made me want to make theatre. It made me want to become a storyteller. It made me want to become a writer. It made me want to go to the theatre more.’ That’s a massive point of pride.”
Now, as opening night draws nearer, Sauder says her work is nearly done.
“There comes a moment where you’ve done all you can as a director,” she says.
“The cast stays with the show and performs in it. I’m leaving the thing and trusting that it will work. Trusting that audiences will love it. Trusting that the cast will continue to bring their all to it. This is a cast I couldn’t possibly trust more to deliver every time throughout the whole run.”
“This is a huge musical that we’re putting on with only five actors. Hopefully people will come thinking ‘Oh, this is the sweetest little thing’ and then be blown away.”
And how will Sauder know that the ensemble’s hard work has paid off?
“I’ll see people of many generations smiling and laughing in the audience,” she says. “We really sorely need bursts of joy.”
“One of the great gifts of theatre is it’s an hour, an hour and a half, during which you’re not looking at your phone. You aren’t worried about the outside world. The lights go down and we’re engaged in storytelling together. The entire audience becomes one living organism.”
“A Year with Frog and Toad is about true kinship between two people. I think we all have those people in our lives. I’d love it if people left the show wanting to call their person and tell him or her how much they mean to them.”
Suitable for all ages and most loved by children under the age of 10, A Year with Frog and Toad will be performed in the evening at 7:30 p.m. on May 17 and 18, May 23 to 25, and May 30 to June 1, with 2 p.m. matinee performances on May 19, May 25 and 26, and June 1 and 2.
Tickets are priced on a sliding pay-what-you-can scale from $5 to $50 plus fees, and are available at the Capitol Theatre’s box office in person at 20 Queen Street (10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday), by phone at 905-885-1071, or online at capitoltheatre.com.
Matinee performances on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are also available for school groups, with student tickets priced at $16. For inquires, email groupsales@capitoltheatre.com.
The presenting sponsor of A Year with Frog and Toad is Furby House Books in Port Hope.
