LOGAN – A Year with Frog and Toad has everything you could want in a show for kids – flashy costumes, colorful sets, joyful music, sparkling choreography and exaggerated characterizations that are sure to capture the attention of youngsters.
The show now being staged at the Utah Theatre is also charming enough to entertain the adults in the audience.
Best of all, there’s still plenty of time for you to plan to catch a performance of A Year with Frog and Toad after New Year’s Day, when all the holiday madness is finally over.
Based on the well-loved series of “Frog and Toad” children’s books by Arnold Lobell, the whimsical musical was adapted for the stage by the composing team of Robert and Willie Reale.
Nominated for three Tony Awards during a brief Broadway run in 2003, it follows two great friends – the popular, cheerful Frog and his grumpy chum Toad – through four seasons filled with songs, dance and child-like mischief.
Under the direction of Vanessa Ballam, A Year with Frog and Toad was offered as part of the Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) program by the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre for area school children in mid-December. The general public finally got a chance to see and hear the on-stage enchantment during a matinee on Dec. 20.
As Toad, the incomparable Stefan Espinosa led a cast and production crew drawn from talented members of the Utah Festival Conservatory and the Utah State University theatre community. His sympathetic performance of the grouchy Toad is top-notch, as always.
Playing opposite Espinosa, newcomer Grayson Jenkins was a pleasant surprise in the role of Frog.
That pair are supported by a small ensemble playing multiple parts as birds, moles, squirrels and other animals throughout the show.
Those singing and dancing roles are filled by Kaito Davis and Kathleen Bills — who performed in Elephant and Piggie, a similar production for kids in 2024 – as well as Aurelia Harrison, a student enrolled in the new Musical Theatre program at USU.
A recent veteran of both USU and Pickleville Production productions, Davis is particularly amusing as a slow-moving snail that inevitably happens to deliver the mail — eventually.
Musical accompaniment for A Year with Frog and Toad was provided by USU professor Dallas Aksoy, who also subtly participated in the on-stage merriment. The show’s simple but effective dance routines were arranged by USU student Elle Anderson, who also choreographed Elephant and Piggie.
Daytime performances of A Year with Frog and Toad exclusively for Cache Valley school children will resume Jan. 6 through 10.
Public performances of the musical will also be offered after the holidays as 1 p.m. matinees on Jan. 2, 3 and 10. Evening performances of A Year with Frog and Toad are also slated for Jan. 6 and 8 at 7 p.m.
Tickets for A Year with Frog and Toad can be obtained by calling 435-750-0300 or going online to www.utahfestival.org
The Utah Theatre is located at 18 West Center Street in the heart of Logan’s downtown theatre district.