Frog Song

Frog Song is a joyful, funny, and thoughtful new children’s opera about facing your inner fears and discovering your inner song. Navdeep and Wyatt, two Canadian pre-teens who seem different in every possible way, are paired together for a fairytale inspired singing competition at the magical Camp Songbird. They have one secret thing in common though: both Navdeep and Wyatt are having the most mysterious dreams starring an ominous wall of singing frogs! With help from the other entertaining campers and their dramatic singing director Jay, these two must find a way to work together to defeat the wall of frogs and sing their truth for all to hear.

REVIEWS

“Charming, sweet, funny and thoughtful . . . Writer, Taylor Marie Graham is no stranger to writing for a young(ish) audience. She wrote about teens in her Fringe thriller play Corporate Finch, and now she is writing for pre-teens in Frog Song. This is not a rendering of the Princess and the Frog fairy tale. It’s much deeper than that. It’s a work that explores concerns of kids such as: fitting in, yearning, friendship, respect, being brave enough to be oneself and being fortunate to have others who see and value your worth. She has a keen facility with language and expression. One of the recurring lines in the opera is sung by Wyatt: “Once upon a frog, a boy was very afraid.” In one simple line, she conjures the confusion of Wyatt. Taylor Marie Graham and her equally brave creative partner composer William Rowson have created a kid’s opera that tackles subjects that occupy young minds, and it does it with wit, humour, kindness, intelligence and respect.” (Lynn Slotkin, Full Review)

“Stratford’s Here For Now Theatre is presenting Frog Song, an opera – yes, an opera! – for children and never has its tent theatre and its bucolic setting seemed more magical . . . One might expect a “children’s opera” like Frog Song to use simple bubble-gum music but William Rowson has composed a serious operatic score, as befits the music director of the Stratford Symphony Orchestra. For her part, librettist Graham shows keen insight into the angst that accompanies every kid’s journey to self-discovery and self-acceptance. Kudos, too, to Frog Song’s mostly young cast, many at the dawn of their careers, who throw themselves into the action with relish and obvious commitment. Frog Song offers an all too rare opportunity to introduce pre-teens to the special magic that is opera. The kids at the show I attended were rapt.” (OntarioStage, Full Review)

“Frog Song, directed by Liza Balkan in its world premiere production at Here for Now Theatre, confronts these barriers, taking on the challenge of creating a children’s opera which is not only true to the genre, but also meaningful to audiences of all ages . . . a fun and familiar twist on the tradition of basing operas on well known fables and myths . . . In her program note, Here For Now’s artistic director Fiona Mongillo writes that “we are all in the muck of our humanity and doing the best we can with the tools that we have.” Frog Song asserts that this is as true for young people as it is for adults, recognizing both the complexity of their life experiences, and their capacity for appreciating story.” (Intermission, Full Review)

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IMAGES FROM IMPACT FEST 2019 WORKSHOP

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Enormous thanks to support from the Ontario Arts Council, Waterloo Regional Arts Fund, Here For Now Theatre Festival, Stratford Symphony, Pat the Dog, MT Space’s IMPACT Festival, Carousel Players, and Theatre Direct for supporting the development of this new opera.