THUNDER BAY — The Cambrian Players is celebrating their 75th anniversary with the play A Year with Frog & Toad.
The play is based on a series of books written and illustrated by American author Arnold Lobel in the 1970s, each containing five short stories chronicling the adventures of an anthropomorphic Frog and Toad.
“It’s books that kids have grown up with, their parents have grown up with, their grandparents may have read to them when their parents were growing up,” said the director Mary Davis.
“It’s just a wonderful, really timeless story. It’s a vaudeville soundtrack. It’s just for everybody. It’s a wonderful show to bring the whole family.”
The play will have 10 performances altogether, running from May 22 to 25 and also through May 29 to June 1.
It will also have four matinees throughout the run in the afternoons on Saturday and Sunday, which she said is new for Cambrian.
“We generally don’t do a ton of matinees, but because it’s such a family-friendly show, we want to make sure that everyone who wants to see the show can come see the show," said Davis.
She said it is a “wonderful, just heartwarming story.”
“You’re going to leave the theatre just feeling like it was a warm hug,” said Davis.
“It’s just a really sweet, fun story about friendship and accepting your friends no matter their faults, their quirks, all of that, and just loving one another no matter what happens.”
Don McMahon plays Toad, one of the pivotal characters alongside his best friend Frog, in the show. He said the play really talks about the course of a year with the friendship between them.
“Frog is the more kind of upbeat, ‘everything’s cool, everything’s smooth,’” said McMahon.
“Toad is a little bit more… on the grumpy side. He’s still a very nice toad, but he does get a little grumpy. Things do kind of bug him a little bit, but Frog is always there to see it through and help him cheer up.”
McMahon predominantly worked backstage with the theatre doing props or sets. He said this is a really fun opportunity to flex his theatre muscles in a little bit of a different way.
“I haven’t done a musical in a couple of years, so I thought this might be fun to come and try out and see how it goes,” said McMahon.
“And I love the Frog and Toad stories, too. They’re really, really fun. So, it was a really great opportunity to come and play.”
McMahon said he hopes they’re really going to have "a really awesome" turnout.
“Cambrian hasn’t done a real family-oriented show in a little while, so we’re really hoping that we bring a lot of families and young children in,” said McMahon.
“So, we did actually adjust our performance times a little bit to accommodate for families.”
He said their show will start at 7 p.m. for the evenings instead of 7:30 p.m. as they used to and the matinees will start at 1:30 p.m.
“We really want to make this more accessible for the family, so (that) they can come to the show,” said McMahon.
Davis said they will also have a sensory-inclusive matinee, where the lights are up a little in the audience and the sound is down a little for anyone with some sensory issues when seeing a very big upbeat show.
“We just bring it down a little so that you can watch in comfort,” said Davis.
“We have some fidget toys available for that. We do have a ‘pay what you may’ performance.”
The opening night, Davis said, is a BOGO and sold out.
