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May 1 - June 14, 2024

Best enjoyed by Grades K - 8

Student Matinees

RESERVE YOUR FIELD TRIP

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A Children’s Theatre Company Original Production  

Meet Frog and Toad, best friends who embark upon a year’s worth of adventures with great merriment, comedic agility, and joyful song-singing. Join them as they go swimming (and boy does Toad ♫look funny in a bathing suit♫), rake leaves until they ♫ache, ache, ache♫, and send letters via a real live ♫Snail with the Mail♫! Sing along while Frog and Toad bake ♫cookies, cookies, cookies♫ in the only show from Minnesota ever to be nominated for three Tony Awards®, including Best Musical! 

Based on the books by Arnold Lobel  
Music by Robert Reale 
Book and Lyrics by Willie Reale  
Originally presented on Broadway by Bob BoyettAdrianne LobelMichael GardnerLawrence Horowitz, and Roy Furman.
Directed by Peter C. Brosius  

  • Run time

    2 hours including intermission

  • Best enjoyed by

    Grades K - 8

  • Stage

    UnitedHealth Group Stage

  • EDUCATOR GUIDE

About the Show


  • A Year With Frog and Toad is a large-scale musical performed by a large cast of adults and students.
  • Based on the books by Arnold Lobel, this CTC original musical is the only show from Minnesota to ever be nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Musical!
  • This production takes place on our UnitedHealth Group Stage, which seats up to 745 people per performance.
  • We know that teachers are the best judge to determine the right fit for their unique group of students. We recommend A Year With Frog and Toad for students in Grades K+. Check out the content advisories and synopsis for more information.

Educator Guide


 

Drawing Lessons

At CTC, our mission is to create extraordinary theatre experiences that educate, challenge, and inspire young people and their communities. This Educator Guide is just one of the ways in which we aim to enhance your experience and further your students’ engagement with the shows on stage. It includes pre- and post-show activities and discussion questions, printouts to send home with permission slips, and important information for the day of your field trip.

VIEW EDUCATOR GUIDE

Content Advisories


Language: 0 out of 5 stars

Themes and Situations:  1 out of 5 stars
Turtle and friends sing about Toad looking funny in a bathing suit. Toad worries Frog doesn’t want to be his friend anymore. Birds laugh at Toad as he tries to fly a kite.

Violence & Scariness: 1 of 5 stars
In the song Shivers, a terrible green Frog threatens to eat Frog, Frog then ties the terrible green Frog to a tree and escapes. Toad rides on a sled on a dangerous path with boulders and trees and is catapulted from the sled.

Sensory Advisories:  1 out of 5 stars
There’s the potential for loud sounds when Toad smashes his alarm clock, falls off Turtle into the water, plays the Tuba, and is catapulted from the sled. We will update this section as we know more about production elements. 

Potentially Anxious Moments:  2 out of 5 stars
Turtle and friends sing about Toad looking funny in a bathing suit and wait around to ‘getta loada toad’ even though Toad wants them to leave. Toad worries Frog does not want to be his friend anymore. In the song Shivers, Frog recalls a scary story where he got lost with his family after a picnic and met a terrible green frog who wanted to eat him. Toad rides a sled on a dangerous path and is catapulted into a snowbank.

Full Plot Description

THIS IS A COMPLETE description OF THE PLAY, SO IT IS FULL OF SPOILERS.  


Lights up, we see Frog and Toad’s houses, both are asleep in bed. Birds enter and start signing A Year With Frog and Toad. Frog and Toad join in, singing about how much they enjoy each other and talk about their dreams during hibernation. Frog visits a still sleeping Toad and they sing It’s Spring. Toad doesn’t want to wake up and smashes his alarm clock but comes out of bed when Frog rips the pages off his calendar and says that it’s May. Toad awakens. Toad tells Frog he wants to garden this year and Frog gives him seeds to plant. Toad sings Seeds, during which he plants and yells at the seeds to grow, then changes tactics to not scare the seeds.

The flowers have grown, and Toad is unhappy that it’s ten o’clock as that’s when the mail comes, and he never receives any. Frog goes home and writes a letter to Toad; he gives the letter to Snail to bring to Toad. Snail sings The Letter. Frog asks Toad if he received any mail, and Toad hasn’t. Toad goes swimming but is self-conscious of looking funny in his bathing suit. Turtle, Mouse, and Lizard, come by and sing Getta Load of Toad about Toad looking funny in his bathing suit. Turtle dances underwater.

Toad visits Frog’s house with a surprise lunch but finds a note from Frog saying he’s not home and is alone on the island in the lake. Toad decides to visit Frog with the help of Turtle and worries Frog does not want to be friends anymore. Toad, along with the lunch, falls into the water when trying to get on the island. Frog sings Alone and tells Toad he wanted to be alone because he wanted to think about the things that make him happy, which includes Toad. The duo shares a soggy lunch.

Snail sings a reprise of The Letter. Still on his way of delivering it to Toad.

Frog and Toad are in Toad’s kitchen, Frog asks Toad if he received any mail, and Toad hasn’t. Toad has made cookies for after lunch and worries when to take them out because his clock is broken. Mouse visits and helps Toad with deciding when to take the cookies out. Frog, Toad, and the Birds sing Cookies while eating the cookies.

 

Lights up, Frog and Toad try flying a kite, but Toad has trouble getting it in the air. The Birds sing The Kite and laugh at how Toad won’t be able to fly the kite. With the help of Frog’s advice, Toad gets the kite to fly. The Birds sing about leaving for the winter in A Year With Frog and Toad – Reprise as leaves fall around them.

Frog and Toad decide to surprise each other by raking the other’s lawn and pretend to go on a walk and stroll separately to get the work done. They sing He’ll Never Know while raking the leaves into neat piles. When done, they leave to return home and don’t see that the Squirrels have messed-up the piles.

Toad visits Frog during a stormy night. Frog tells the scary story of young Frog and his family getting lost in the woods after a picnic through the song Shivers. In the story, Young Frog learns from his parents that there is a terrible green frog who eats young frogs. His parents go looking for the path home, leaving Frog alone in the woods, where he encounters the terrible green frog. The terrible green frog plans to eat young Frog, but young Frog ties him to a tree and runs home.

Snail appears and sings a reprise of The Letter.

Frog and Toad are dressed for winter and stand at the top of a hill. Frog asks Toad again if he received any mail. Toad gets angry, saying he hasn’t and questions why Frog keeps asking when he knows it makes him unhappy. Frog convinces Toad to ride down the hill on a sled with him. They sing Down the Hill. Frog falls off the sled as they go over a bump and joins the Moles in a snowbank. Toad rides down a scary path with boulders and trees and at the end is catapulted into a snowbank. Toad is angry after, having not wanted to go sledding in the first place, and vows to never speak to Frog again. Snail finally delivers the letter to Toad and after reading it, Toad invites Frog over for soup. Snail sings I’m Comin’ Out of My Shell.

Toad is worried something bad happened to Frog as he’s late for Christmas Eve, and vows to go rescue him with a lamp, a rope, and a frying pan. Toad sings Toad to the Rescue. Frog arrives late and explains he was wrapping his gift for Toad, which is a new clock to replace the broken one. Frog apologizes for being late. The two sing Merry Almost Christmas, a song about how it feels like Christmas when the other one is there.

Frog and Toad are asleep in their beds. The Birds enter and sing the Finale which announces that they’re back from the south after the winter, and that they are welcoming in a new year with Frog and Toad. Frog and Toad sing about how much they like each other. Frog and Toad talk about their dreams in hibernation, which were the activities they did together last year. A new year with Frog and Toad begins!

Extend the Experience


in person or virtual

Workshops & Residencies


CTC transforms the classroom through multi-disciplined interactive workshops that spark creativity, encourage collaboration, and inspire action. Professional teaching artists facilitate engaging and inclusive learning opportunities for students while personalizing each experience to the needs and interests of your students and the learning goals of your classroom.

More Information

A Year With Frog and Toad Student Matinee

May 1 - June 14, 2024

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