'Frog' Gets a Jump on Matinee Schedule

For the record, Mark Linn-Baker and the other three actors who make up the cast of "A Year With Frog and Toad" do not wear rubber heads. "We do play animals," Baker said recently, "but the show is about friendship. It's very human."

Linn-Baker stars as Toad in the new musical, based on the "Frog and Toad" series of children's books by Arnold Lobel. After a successful run in Minneapolis in August and a popular stop at the New Victory in November, the production opens Sunday on Broadway.

The family-friendly "Frog and Toad" is something of a family project itself: It's the brainchild of the set designer Adrianne Lobel, who is the daughter of Arnold and the wife of Linn-Baker. The show originally was workshopped with Linn-Baker's theater company, New York Stage and Film, and the book and music are by the brothers Robert and Willie Reale.

The production comes to Broadway with an unusual, matinee-heavy performance schedule designed to appeal to audiences that have to contend with early bedtimes. Linn-Baker, a stage actor perhaps best known for his role on the sitcom "Perfect Strangers," said he appreciated playing to a youthful audience. "The nice thing is that children are very lively and very honest, but they also bring an openheartedness that is infectious," he said.

Linn-Baker also maintained there's plenty in the show to keep the parents happy. "Adrianne's design is very simple but very sophisticated, and the music has a jazzy, vaudeville sound to it. There's definitely a Bing Crosby-Bob Hope thing going on with Frog and Toad, and it's there in the music, too."

Snagged from:
NYnewsday.com