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The frogs musical12/29/2023 (In Aristophanes, the test in poetry was between the modern morality of Euripides and the traditional values of Aesychlus.) With the contest finally decided, Dionysos returns in triumph to the world above and joyously introduces the winner to the audience. Weaver earned her Master of Fine Arts degree at the Yale University School of Drama in 1974, where one of her appearances was in the chorus in a production of Stephen Sondheims musical version of The Frogs, and another was as one of a mob of Roman soldiers alongside Meryl Streep in another production. While in Hades, however, Dionysos must arbitrate a heated contest between Shaw and William Shakespeare to see who deserves the title of greatest playwright. The plot finds Dionysos, accompanied by his slave Xanthias, entering Hades in disguise in order to bring back to Earth George Bernard Shaw, a playwright whom Dionysos believes can revive a dead theater scene. But one need be neither scholarly nor show bizzy to enjoy ''The Frogs.'' It works on its own merits as a rich, rousing production. More confusion follows over which of them, Dionysus or Xanthias, is the real god, until the issue is finally resolved.Scholars will be delighted to see how closely Shevelove and Sondheim have followed the structure of classic Greek comedy in their updated musical version, and theater people will eat up the show business jokes tossed out by Dionysos, the god of drama, who is the show`s central chracter. But then he encounters more people who have a bone to pick with Heracles, so Dionysus quickly trades clothes with Xanthias yet again. William Shakespeare competes with Shaw for the title of best playwright, which he wins. In the musical, Dionysus, despairing of the quality of living dramatists, travels to Hades to bring George Bernard Shaw back from the dead. (The disguise seems to be nothing more than a set of clothes, which can be swapped around like people backstage at some am dram production.) But when Xanthias, mistaken for Heracles, is invited to a feast (featuring dancing maidens), Dionysus soon wants to swap clothes with his slave again and attend the riotous banquet. The Frogs is a musical 'freely adapted' by Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove from The Frogs, an Ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes. Panicked, Dionysus gets his slave Xanthias to put on the Heracles disguise instead. Disguised as his own altogether more tough and heroic half-brother Heracles, so that spirits won’t be tempted to tangle with him, the rather incompetent Dionysus gets ferried by Charon across the lake leading to the Underworld, debating with a chorus of frogs as he makes his journey.īecause Heracles had made a few enemies when he had been in the Underworld (namely to steal the dog Cerberus), Dionysus’ disguise actually ends up getting him into trouble, rather than protecting him from danger as planned. ![]() He is looking for Euripides because he believes the recently deceased playwright will be able to save the city of Athens from itself. The god Dionysus – in whose name the City Dionysia, incorporating the ancient Greek theatre festival, was held – goes down into the Underworld to find the tragedian, Euripides, who had died a year earlier. The plot of The Frogs can be summarised easily enough.
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