The Frogs (2004 Broadway Cast)

Stephen Sondheim (Artist), Nathan Lane (Artist), John Byner (Artist), Michael Siberry (Artist), Roger Bart (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 25, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: P.S. Classics
• ASIN: B0006SSMWY
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,426 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Opening Fanfare - Orchestra

2. Invocation and Instructions to the Audience - Nathan Lane, Roger Bart & Chorus

3. We Are Off On a Great Mission - Nathan Lane, Roger Bart

4. I Love to Travel - Nathan Lane, Roger Bart & Chorus

5. Dress Big - Burke Moses, Nathan Lane & Roger Bart

6. I Love to Travel (reprise) - Nathan Lane, Roger Bart

7. All Aboard - John Byner

8. On the River Styx - Nathan Lane, Roger Bart

9. Ariadne - Nathan Lane, Roger Bart

10. The Frogs - Nathan Lane, Roger Bart & Chorus

11. Hymn to Dionysos - Nathan Lane, Roger Bart & Chorus

12. Hades - Peter Bartlett & Chorus

13. It's Only a Play - Nathan Lane, Peter Bartlett & Chorus

14. Shaw - Nathan Lane, Daniel Davis & Chorus

15. The Contest - Nathan Lane, Daniel Davis, Michael Siberry

16. Fear No More - Michael Siberry

17. All Aboard (reprise) - John Byner

18. Hymn to Dionysos (reprise) - Chorus

19. Final Instructions to the Audience - Nathan Lane and Company

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Just so everyone knows, there IS a better recording....., July 14, 2005

By 

The Cosmoknot (Scarsdale, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Frogs (2004 Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

I happen to love stephen sondheim. that does not mean that every production of sondheim is going to be golden. to prove that, he gave us Bounce. but seriously. The Frogs has some really intelligent music, which is quite apparent. But when you buy this soundtrack that I am reviewing, you are buying the final stop in a devolution of a good piece. It was mentioned that The Frogs was first performed in a swimming pool at Yale, and now it became this Broadway spectacle but now you can buy that original version that starred not only Nathan Lane, but also Brian Stokes Mitchell and Davis Gaines, who, as many of you know, are phenomenal. This talented trio brings the show home, something that Lanes later on with a weaker cast and plodding additions can not do. By buying the earlier version (also sold on amazon), you will acquire a soundtrack that just sounds a whole lot better.

But wait. There's more. When they released the original Frogs, they slapped Evening Primrose on as well, another obscure Sondheim. Luckily for us, it is one of the better ones. Some of Neil Patrick Harris' songs are really incredible, and ones' only regret about Primrose is that it only lasts for four songs. Yet these four songs stand out so much, that they have established Primrose as one of the stronger Sondheim works.

Here is what it comes down to. When you buy this version of The Frogs, the 2004 recording, you get a show that closed early, its ticket sales were so poor, with additional mediocre music. BUT. If you purchase The Frogs/Evening Primrose, you get a better cast, better songs, and an additional amazing Sondheim.
As Captain Planet would say: The Choice Is Yours.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where are the Aristophanes fans?, September 7, 2006

By 

Penner Theologius Pott "humpty-dumpty" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Frogs (2004 Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

I'm astounded to see most people's reactions to this curiosity, which I stumbled across entirely by accident and immediately fell in love with -- until, reading the other reviews, I realized that the other reviewers are all Sondheim fans. Well, I am, too, and I recognize that this a remarkably atypical piece for him -- *and that's not a bad thing*.

Most people's criticisms seem to revolve around the fact that this is a failure as a Broadway musical -- and they're right. It's not hard to see why it folded early: for the simple reason that this piece was being marketed to entirely the wrong audience. As a purely musical, Sondheim piece, it's mediocre.

As an adaptation of Aristophanes, it's *inspired*.

Yeah, it's preachy. Yeah, it's juvenile. You know what? So was Aristophanes. People complain that the final confrontation -- a verbose battle between two poets -- bogs the play down. Sure, if you're hoping for a laugh-a-minute slapstick farce in the spirit of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." But Aristophanes isn't Plautus, and that more thoughtful, intellectual comic twist is exactly what he would have approved of -- this is the kind of comedy that you don't laugh at, but rather the kind of comedy that makes you step back and go "Wow. That's really *masterful*."

In other words, not the kind of comedy that's going to be a hit on Broadway. But also not something that deserves to dismissed.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Looking for a metamorphosis, March 15, 2005

By 

Richard LeComte "richlec" (Tuscaloosa, AL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Frogs (2004 Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

I listened to this album twice while driving in the Nevada wilderness. Nathan Lane is always a charming person to spend some time with, even if he's just a voice coming out of my CD player. The problems the critics identified in the Lincoln Center production are vaguely apparent on the recording: With the exception of "Shaw" and "Ariadne," the songs sound like Sondheim using half his considerable brain -- the songs are clever, but they're not tied to the passions or thoughts of complex characters. The final song really is a letdown -- it's a call to action, but to do what? And the humor presented in the dialogue is pretty routine. Still, you should by this if you're either a Sondheim or a Broadway score completist, and there are several minor rewards.