July 31 through August 17
Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:00 PM
Sundays at 2:00 PM
GREEK GODS and SONDHEIM and SHAW! OH, MY!
THE FROGS HOPS INTO CAIN PARK JULY 31
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH (JUNE 19, 2014)—What happens when present times meet Ancient Greece, Dionysian drama meets Shakespearean tragedy and the black comedy of George Bernard Shaw meets the melodious wit and theatrical wordsmithery of Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove? Throw in some short-bodied, tail-less amphibians and the dirty business of party politics, set it against the backdrop of war and insert a mission to the underworld and you have The Frogs, Sondheim and Shevelove’s little-known musical that premiered in 1974, and was revised in 2004 by Nathan Lane, while Aristophanes’ original work that started sticky tongues flapping premiered in 405 B.C. But the jokes and the themes are still relevant today. Experience the Athenian amusement, madness and mayhem that await you in Cain Park’s 2014 production, running in the Alma Theater July 31 through August 17.
Tickets for July 31 preview performance and for the matinees are available for $15 in advance (no discounts apply) and tickets for the evening performances August 1-17 are available for $24 in advance, $26 day of show; they can be purchased via Ticketmaster (800-745-3000) or by calling the Cain Park ticket office (216-371-3000). Cain Park is located at Lee Road and Superior Road in Cleveland Heights.
The Cain Park Production is directed by Martin Friedman. Musical director Nathan Motta is assisted by pianist and conductor Jordan Cooper. Martín Céspedes (member of SDC) choreographs. The design team includes set designer Ron Newell, lighting designer Trad A. Burns with assistance from associate Ben Gantose, costume designer Tesia Benson, and sound designer Stan Kozak. Equity stage manager is Tom Humes*, assisted by Ben Danielson and stage management intern Rachel Slack. THE FROGS stars Dan Folino* as Dionysos, Caitlin Elizabeth Reilly* as Xanthius, Eric Fancher as Charon/Aekos, Darryl Lewis* as Herakles, Nicole Sumlin* as Pluto, Neely Gevaart as Ariadne, Sidney Perelman as Virilla, Michael Regnier as Shaw, and Mitchell Fields* as Shakespeare. Trey Gilpin, Meg Wittman, Kelly Smith, Lydia Hall, Tom Sweeney and Nora Culley make up the ensemble.
Dionysos, deity of drama and drink, weary of mankind’s hopeless complacency—and the decline of playwriting and theater arts generally—in the face of the ongoing Peloponnesian War, a war in which Athens, the strongest city-state in Greece prior to the war's beginning, was reduced to a state of near-complete subjection, while Sparta became established as the leading power of Greece. The economic costs of the war were felt all across Greece; poverty became widespread, while Athens found itself completely devastated, and never regained its pre-war prosperity.
The conflict between democratic Athens and oligarchic Sparta made civil war a common occurrence in the Greek world. Greek warfare, meanwhile, was transformed into an all-out struggle between city-states, complete with atrocities on a large scale. (In other words, the Greeks were dealing with a devastating war, endlessly raging on with no end in sight.).
So, in the face of this conflict, and given the deplorable state of the theater in present day Ancient Greece, Dionysos decides to undertake the saving of humanity. And so, with his trusty—and not so willing—sidekick Xanthius by his side, journeys far south to Hades to find the one man who he is sure can deliver us from evil, George Bernard Shaw, Nobel laureate of Ireland. Along the way, of course, they encounter gods and lost souls, famous playwrights and poets, and the requisite trials and tribulations, mainly of the web-footed sort. These frogs figure more prominently in the modern incarnations of Aristophanes’ tale, and possess a certain menacing mob mentality, content to remain in the malaise of the immovable masses. They indeed pose a particular threat to Dionysos, who suffers from ranidaphobia (you guessed it: the fear of frogs, and, in this case, all that they represent). To escape the clutches of these shuddersome—if slothful—creatures, and their subterfugenous strategies, it takes daring, disguise, deception, and doing, which means change—the thing that the frogs fear and abhor most of all.
Sondheim fans will not want to miss this rarest of rare opportunities to see a production of The Frogs, and Cain Park’s production will likely be the only one to pass this way until Saturn returns. So, analyze and dissect the jokes if you must, but be sure to reserve your lily-pad for this ribbit-tickling musical that pokes a little fun and makes a little fuss, sings a little song and does a little dance, takes a little trip and a little mud bath—if only to avoid a blood bath.
Cain Park 2014 season sponsors include Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, Ohio Arts Council, Severance Town Center, Intercontinental Hotels – Cleveland, and Motorcars Honda/Toyota/Scion.
Cain Park, a municipally owned and operated summer arts park and one of the nation’s oldest landmark outdoor theatres, celebrates its 76th season in 2014. Cain Park is produced by the City of Cleveland Heights and is located on Superior Road between Lee and South Taylor roads.