The Frogs. Book by Burt Shevelove & Nathan Lane. Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Based on the play by Aristophenes. Southwark Playhouse, until 28 June 2025, 2☆☆. Review: William Russell.
Photo Credit: Pamela Raith.
The Frogs. Book by Burt Shevelove & Nathan Lane. Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Based on the play by Aristophenes. Southwark Playhouse, the Large, 77 Newington Causeway, London SE1 until 28 June 2025,
2☆☆. Review: William Russell.
“A musical turkey.”
Second rate Sondheim is arguable better than no Sondheim but this production directed by Georgie Rankcom of the musical, which ran on Broadway for only 92 performance in 2004, does nothing to suggest that it is a lost masterwork and not, as it seems, a doomed attempt to follow the successful A Funny Thing happened on the Way to the Forum with another trip to the ancient world. The show was based on a short piece Sondheim had created in 1974 performed in a swimming pool at Yale which they felt could be expanded. Rankcom's production is briskly paced, the ensemble work hard, the choreography is inventive but the set is tatty, Sondheim's score suggests his heart was not in it and it remains as bad as ever it was. Dionysos (Dan Buckley) and his slave Xanthias
(Kevin McHale) embark on a trip to the Underworld their aim, the world being in a desperate state, to bring back George Bernard Shaw – all dramatists apparently have ended up in the Underworld – who, they believe, can save the world by persuading people to change. On the way they meet the frogs, creatures Dionysos loathes, who are opposed to change, encounter Pluto and William Shakespeare, who objects to Shaw being the chosen man and a contest is held. As plots go it is a messy affair which nobody has managed to fix because the show does get revived from time to time without success. The Sondheimites – who are numerous – will go but no coach parties. Dan Buckley is a pleasant Dionysus but he lacks the comic personality the role demands – maybe he should have made his Scottishness more apparent - and all too often, like his sidekick played by Kevin McHale, he fades into the background. Neither give the show the lift it cries out for on larger than life performances. The battle between Shaw – Martha Pothen landed with an impossible task doing her best - and Shakespeare played by Bart Lambert who does get the best song to sing andA sings it well - is fudged so that story has no climax to end with, just a dying whimper. Rankcom has tried to resuscitate it but the impossible, making this a good show, has proved impossible. A turkey is a tur key.
Cast
Dan Buckley – Dionysos
Kevin McHale – Xanthas
Joaquin Pedro Valdes – Herakles
Carl Patrick – Charon
Mike McCarthy – Ensemble
Alison Driver – Aridane
Bart Lambert – Shakespeare
Martha Pothen – Shaw
Evonnee Bentley-Holder – Ensemble
Victoria Scone – Pluto
Danielle Steers – Pluto
Jo Foster – Pluto
Sooz Kemperer – Pluto
Creatives
Director – Georgie Rankcom
Musical Director – Yshani Perinpanayagam
Musical Supervisor – Ben Mcquigg
Choreographer – Matt Nicholson
Lighting Designer – Samuel Biondolillo
Sound Designer – Joshua Robins
Orchestration – Tim Sutton
