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Theatre / A Year with Frog and Toad

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There is a frog,
There is a toad,
And he lives just down the road.

A Year With Frog and Toad is a children's musical, based on the Frog and Toad book series for young readers by Arnold Lobel. Both the series and the musical revolve around two best friends named Frog and Toad, who spend their time together drinking tea, taking walks, baking cookies, going swimming, and generally being best friends.

Frog is the more cheerful and upbeat of the two friends, whereas Toad is generally grumpy and very easily discouraged. Their adventures are accompanied by several other forest creatures (usually played by the same three actors).


Tropes found in this musical include:

  • All Just a Dream: Hinted at during Frog and Toad's second shared dream, when they recall episodes from the show as being other dreams they've had. However, a more likely explanation is that in their hibernation state, Frog and Toad tend to get dreams and reality confused.
  • Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs:
    There is a frog, a large and terrible frog
    He is terribly large and largely terrible!
    He's mean! And awful!
    And awful mean!
  • Brick Joke:
    • Snail is carrying a letter, a most important letter.
    • At the start of the show, Toad uses a shoe to stop his clock, but accidentally breaks it. Throughout the show, he mentions his broken clock and is worried about it. During the climax, he gets a new clock from Frog for Christmas.
  • Determinator: Snail is tasked by Frog with delivering a letter to Toad. What with Snail being, well, a snail, this simple task takes him three songs and the better part of a year, with the final stretch taking place during a brutal winter, but he never, ever, ever gives up.
  • Jerkass: The Birds quickly approach this at the top of Act 2 in "Kite," with their nigh-on merciless berating of Toad's and Frog's ability to fly their kite.

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