Lincoln Center Theater Review

The Frogs Summer 2004, Issue 38

A Leap of Fate by Nathan Lane Buffoonery & Bathos: Aristophanes' The Frogs by Charles Rowan Beye Savoring a Moment: A Conversation with Stephen Sondheim The Slippery Art of the Score by Mark Eden Horowitz A Picasso Twist An Interview with Susan Stroman The Beauty of Survival: Tim Rollins and K.O.S. The Big Splash: 1941 by Thurston Twigg-Smith A View from the Chorus: 1974 by Christopher Durang How High Should I Jump?: A Visit with William Ivey Long The Fearless Bernard Shaw by Michael Holroyd The Bright Young Light: Rembering Burt Shevelove by Larry Gelbart and Dominick Dunne

We cant imagine a better way to cap twenty years of presenting theater at Lincoln Center Theater than with a production of the ultimate play with a pastThe Frogs. The journey of this provocative, irreverent show includes a history that jumps from the ancient Theater of Dionysos carved into the rock of Athens to the resounding tiles of the Yale University swimming pool to our very own Vivian Beaumont Theater here in New York City. In the pages that follow, distinguished writers and scholars, former cast members, theater luminaries, old friends and brilliant collaborators join in an animated conversation about how this hilarious and touching musical came to be, its deep connection to periods of war and how the power of the written word might save the wretched world. With so many Tony Awardwinning artists creating this newest incarnation of The Frogs while our nation is again at war, surely this production is akin to Ariadnes crown flung into the heavensa constellation of stars to wish on and ease our hearts in the night sky. Those of you who have seen our two great Shakes-peare plays in contrasting productions this season may especially appreciate this bawdy, funny musical in which Shakespeare emerges as a possible savior of humankind.

The Editors

LCT CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF PRODUCTIONS
	Prairie du Chien/The Shawl The House of Blue Leaves Juggling and Cheap Theatrics Terrors of Pleasure Sex and Death to the Age 14 Swimming to Cambodia Asinamali! Bopha! Children of Asazi/Gangsters Born in the R.S.A. The Transposed Heads The Front Page Bodies, Rest and Motion Danger: Memory! Death and the Kings Horseman The Regard of Flight The Comedy of Errors Anything Goes Sarafina! Boys Life Speed-the-Plow Ill Go On Road Waiting for Godot Our Town Measure for Measure Ubu Oh, Hell The Tenth Man Some Americans Abroad Six Degrees of Separation Monster in a Box Township Fever Mule Bone Mr. Gogol and Mr. Preen Two Shakespearean Actors The Most Happy Fella The Substance of Fire Four Baboons Adoring the Sun The Sisters Rosensweig My Favorite Year Playboy of the West Indies In the Summer House The Lights Abe Lincoln in Illinois Grays Anatomy Hello Again Carousel subUrbia Hapgood The Heiress Arcadia Twelve Dreams Chronicle of a Death Foretold Northeast Local Racing Demon A Fair Country A Delicate Balance Sex and Longing Its a Slippery Slope Juan Darién Gods Heart An American Daughter The Little Foxes Ivanov Prides Crossing Ah, Wilderness! A New Brain Twelfth Night Parade Far East Via Dolorosa Ancestral Voices Ring Round the Moon It Aint Nothin but the Blues Contact Marie Christine Morning, Noon and Night The Time of the Cuckoo Rose Spinning into Butter Matters of the Heart Old Money Ten Unknowns The Invention of Love Chaucer in Rome Thou Shalt Not Everett Beekin QED Barbara Cook in Mostly Sondheim The Carpetbaggers Children Mornings at Seven A Man of No Importance Dinner at Eight Observe the Sons of Ulster... Vincent in Brixton Elegies: A Song Cycle A Bad Friend Henry IV Nothing but the Truth Big Bill King Lear Barbara Cooks Broadway The Frogs