Review: MASTERVOICES' THE FROGS Made a Little-known Sondheim Score Soar at Jazz At Lincoln Center

The Frogs has always been a footnote on Stephen Sondheim’s career.  An adaptation of Aristophanes’ play of the same name, with a book by Burt Shevelove, it was performed at a swimming pool at Yale in 1974 and mostly forgotten. Years later, Nathan Lane convinced Sondheim it could be expanded into a full-length. Lane revised the book, Sondheim added more songs, and it became a bigger footnote on Sondheim’s career, with a 2004 production at Lincoln Center starring Lane.

The MasterVoices concert production of The Frogs makes a great case for revisiting this obscure work, with a stellar cast, a full orchestra, and an amazing 100-person chorus comprised mostly of MasterVoices volunteers. The first of three performances, on Friday November 3rd at 8 p.m., was completely sold out. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s spacious Rose Theater provided the perfect acoustics to highlight the wonderfully full orchestrations reverberating Sondheim’s hauntingly strange and beautiful score through the room. Jonathan Tunick, a frequent collaborator with Sondheim, provided orchestrations, and the performance was directed and conducted by the masterful Ted Sperling. Nathan Lane hosted the evening, providing plot synopsis and commentary, including how amazing it was that he had really written a show with Stephen Sondheim himself.

At the start, Dionysos (Douglas Sills) introduces the play saying, “The time is the present. The place is ancient Greece,” prompting Xanthias (Kevin Chamberlin) to say, “Already I’m confused.” They then sing the funny “Instructions to the Audience.” “Don’t go ‘Oh,’, Each time you see an actor that you know.”  And we’re off. From nearly the first chords, the MasterVoices volunteer choir began singing, revealing themselves to be not just more audience members in the round but a thrilling addition to the show. With creative staging, they were seated in rows atop the stage, seeming to almost engulf the show in a way.

The plot’s a little thin, as acknowledged in “Instructions to the Audience.” Dionysos, god of theatre, goes on a quest to bring George Bernard Shaw back from Hades, so he can write more plays and make the world a better place.  Dionysos mostly plays a straight man to his comic slave Xanthias (played by the inimitable Kevin Chamberlin) and the other characters he encounters along the way. His muscle-bound half-brother Herakles (Marc Kudisch) is appropriately pompous. Chuck Cooper has excellent comedic deadpan as the boatman Charon, who has one of the best songs, “All Aboard” (“Club Dead, straight ahead.” “Get your kicks on the river Styx.”).

Pluto (Peter Bartlett), the Lord of Hades, gets many of the best lines (“You’re not afraid to die once you’re dead”) and managed to crack up Douglas Sills with his deadpan delivery. Pluto offers up Shaw (Dylan Baker), a dry wit, and or Shakespeare (Jordan Donica), who sings the beautiful “Fear No More.”

What of the Frogs themselves? The Frogs do not like change. “What do you care the world’s a wreck? Leave ‘em alone, send them a check.” The Frogs are represented by an ensemble on stage, assisted by energetic dancers, and the MasterVoices choir, who were sonically overwhelming, singing Sondheim’s frog-like nonsense syllables (“Brek-kek-kek-kek!”) The choreography by Lainie Sakakura (original choreography by Susan Stroman) was utterly enchanting. The dancers moved themselves so fluidly and gracefully, they became frogs on stage, leap-frogging across one another, doing froggish jumps and other amphibian acrobatics, while maintaining the creepy mood of the number.

All told, The Frogs is a humorous piece of fluff, with great character songs, and lush choral works. MasterVoices hit it out of the park with this exquisite staging of an interesting work that’s unlikely to get a revival like this anytime soon.

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