theatre review- A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD - YouthWorks / Theater Works - May 8

Click here to read my complete review (highlights below) at TalkinBroadway.com

Skyler Washburn and Tyler Lewis
(photo: Wade Moran)

"Theater Works' Youth Works theatre group is closing their 2014/2015 season with a superb production of A Year with Frog and Toad. The musical adaptation of the popular children's books by Arnold Lobel follows one year in the lives of best friends Frog and Toad as they do various things to enjoy the seasons together. They plant flowers in the spring, go swimming at the local pond in the summer, rake leaves, tell scary stories on a stormy fall evening, and go sledding in the winter. Youth Works' excellent young cast, made up mainly of high school aged kids, combine with colorful creative elements to make this a fun-filled production for children of all ages....As Frog and Toad, Tyler Lewis and Skyler Washburn are splendid. Both are charming and energetic performers with clear and strong singing voices...Washburn brings a sense of frenzy to the always worrisome and insecure Toad and has a great deadpan delivery of his humorous lines...Lewis has just as much fun as Frog, instilling the character with a deep sense of kindness. While the rest of the cast is quite good, Karson Cook is very funny and an audience favorite as the very slow-moving snail and Kendra Goodenberger is charming as the young Frog...Director Chris Hamby knows how to get clear, distinct performances from each of his actors, even those with the smallest parts...Choreographer Paul Pedersen provides some fun ballets and scene change dances as well as an upbeat and touching tap dance for the two leads. Ken Goodenberger's musical direction achieves some stunning choral harmonies across the large cast....Creative elements are vibrant and colorful....The benefits of having a good friend are at the heart of both Lobel's original books and this musical adaptation. Youth Works' production of A Year with Frog and Toad is charming fun, perfect for children and adults of all ages. "