Part 2: Creating “A Year with Frog and Toad” and the Journey to Becoming the Tony-nominated Hit: Creating the Stage
The story of how the musical “A Year with Frog and Toad” was born, premiered at Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) and then transferred to Broadway was indeed a story about perfect timing brought together by a deep love for the classic stories of friendship by Arnold Lobel. In Part 2, we explore the stories of those who built the sets and created the costumes and stage magic.
BUILDING THE SHOW
CTC’s artisans built the set, costumes and props in the theatre’s workshops. The set design was created by Adrianne Lobel. “Adrianne’s production is unbelievably gorgeous,” stated Peter Brosius. “Marty’s [Martin Pakeldinaz] costumes are refined and elegant. Everyone did such a beautiful piece of work.”
“Truth be known, I designed the show for the New Victory,” said Adrianne. “I knew it was smaller [than CTC] and that I had to design for that space. The architecture for the New Victory really inspired the set. I had gone to the New Victory during the renaissance of turning these old jewel box theatres back into performance spaces. The New Victory was the perfect Vaudeville, jewel box theatre for Frog and Toad.”
“The Technical Director and I are the first ones to work on it in the shop,” states Mary Novodvorsky, Charge Artist (leads scenic painting). “We receive a white model (a model that has no color yet) that we create a budget from and then we talk through color. In this case, we also had renderings to work from. I worked closely with Adrianne on selecting color and figuring out certain aspects of the backdrops. Some sets and backdrops looked like the books and others didn’t. In cases where she wasn’t as married to the books, she would create something new.”
“For the carpenters, the Technical Director will get the set designer’s drawings showing the size, scope and look,” states carpenter/welder Kris Paulson. “Then the draftsperson redraws them as technical drawings with materials. Then it goes to us, the carpenters, and we begin to get wood, steel and other materials to build it.”
“The stakes were high for Adrianne being the daughter of the author of the books,” stated Mary Novodvorsky. “So she has a lot of providence with the story and cares a lot about the look. She was exacting, and everything turned out beautiful. It is our job to get it right. In every show there are things that need to be reworked once blown up larger, in the case of drops, you have a rendering that measures 20 inches in half-inch scale that is blown up to 40 feet. In the end, she really liked the product we created together.”
At the same time CTC was building and mounting A Year with Frog and Toad, the company was working on two other very large productions. Peter Brosius remembers, “The shops were busy with a major production of The Wizard of Oz with a brand new design team from New York, while also getting ready to premiere another production that we had been working on of A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. That production had taken us YEARS to develop and included Nilo Cruz [the playwright] literally flying to Spain to get the rights. We were also working with Director/Choreographer Graciela Daniele [10-time Tony nominee] and her amazing design team. So you have three, brand-new productions with complicated designs and high expectations. It was a garden of riches, but also a big sandwich. Did we make it? Yes. Did we need a break after? Absolutely. But we made three strong shows that we are incredibly proud of.”
COSTUMING THE SHOW
Martin “Marty” Pakledinaz worked as the costume designer on Frog and Toad. He had won Tony Awards for the costume design of Thoroughly Modern Millie and Kiss Me, Kate (2000 revival) and also created the designs for other Broadway shows like, Nice Work If You Can Get It and Master Class, multiple operas at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and many European houses.
“I was friends with Marty for 15 years before we did this show,” reflects Randy Rowoldt, CTC’s Crafts Artisan. “When I saw his name as the designer, I thought ‘oh fun’ because he is a great designer and a lot of fun to work with. It was a level of designer that we really like to see here at CTC.”
The process of working with Marty was a bit different for the artisans in CTC’s costume department. “Most designers will bring us full color renderings, research, costume designs, already swatched,” costumer Carol Lane said. “Marty came into this with many other shows on his plate, so his designs for Frog and Toad were more on the fly. He would draw sketches on our table, so we could interact with them right away, have input, talk about style lines and we were able to help shape what those designs looked like.”
“We are very proud here of producing what is actually on the rendering, as close as possible,” said Randy Rowoldt. “I think we are very successful at that where other places are maybe not as successful. Part of that is because of all of the experience of all of us. No one came here not on the top of their game.”
2,600 Cookies and Other Stage Magic
Sue Brockman is the Props Director for Children’s Theatre Company and worked directly with Adrianne on developing the tricks, the props and other magic you see on stage. “Adrianne chose this theatre for the high quality of product we put out,” Sue reflects. “All of our shows are very important. And every person that comes to see our show is as important as the next, no matter which theatre the work is being seen in. That is what we take great pride in; achieving the director and designers vision. What they give to us for their designs is what we are going to do our best to produce.”
Many watching the show have often wondered…what kind of cookie is it that they use in the famous “Cookies” song, or how many! Watch the video below to hear a bit about the cookies and some changes that were made to that scene during rehearsal.
Sue reflects, “The fun is the problem solving. The designers bring us what they want. They don’t always say, ‘this is how you are going to build it.’ That is up to us. And then it is problem solving and trying to achieve that trick or magic by which materials we use — the colors, the shape, the motion— all working to achieving the goal of the design.”
Fun Fact: Mark Linn-Baker had his second tuba fitting here at CTC. Stage Manager Stacy McIntosh describes bumping into him for the first time on his way to his tuba fitting.
