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Newspaper Articles 
Children's Theatre Company to make debut in New York with new musical 
Star Tribune
Published: March 12, 2002
By John Habich
For the Children's Theatre Company, it's only a hop, skip and jump from Minneapolis to the heart of New York City's theater district. CTC will debut on 42nd Street in November with "A Year with Frog and Toad," a new musical that will open in the Twin Cities in August, then transfer to the New Victory Theatre just off Times Square for a two-week run.
The show is being culled from a popular award-winning series of books by Arnold Lobel in the 1970s. "It's an amazing portrait of friendship, of the struggles real friends go through," said CTC artistic director Peter Brosius. Its amphibian heroes, who have very different personalities, manage to reclaim their mutual esteem despite misgivings and misadventures.
Brosius negotiated the deal with the late author's daughter, Adrianne Lobel, a noted scenic designer who will do the "Frog and Toad" sets for CTC. The musical will have a cast of only five actors, with two in the title roles and three each playing a zooful of other animals from moles to snails. A band of seven or eight musicians will play what Brosius called a "jazzy, catchy" score.
The 499-seat New Victory was the first playhouse to reopen on the revitalized 42nd Street in December 1995 after a $11.4 million refurbishment. Across the street from the New Amsterdam Theatre, home of the long-running hit "The Lion King," it is dedicated to presenting shows for children and families.
"We search the world for theater, dance, circus arts and puppetry," said Lauren Daniluk, its director of public relations. "We've built a reputation for presenting the very best."
Its shows are routinely reviewed in the New York Times. The New Victory engagement is likely to raise the Children's Theatre's stature among Manhattan-centric artists and critics. "Our hope is that it tells the extraordinary story of this theater and excites other artists to think about making theater for young people," Brosius said.
The script and lyrics are by Willie Reale, a founder of the 52nd Street Project in New York, through which inner-city children work with theater artists. The music is by his brother Robert Reale.
David Petrarca, a resident at the high-profile Goodman Theater in Chicago, will direct. His credits include the world premiere and several subsequent productions of "Marvin's Room" and the recent off-Broadway hit "Fuddy Meers."
Direct costs of the production will be from $300,000 to $400,000, which is toward the high end of CTC's usual budget per show for contracted artists and materials, said managing director Teresa Eyring. That figure does not include the labor of the theater's staff set-builders, costume-makers, publicists and so forth. The sets are especially sumptuous, Brosius said. "We'll be painting from here to Alabama."
"A Year with Frog and Toad" will open CTC's 38th season in Minneapolis Aug. 22, and will move to New York on Nov. 15 and run through Dec. 1. The theater, which has asked the Legislature for $12 million to build a new performance space for young adults and to make other improvements, will announce its entire roster for next season later this week.
Copyright 2002 Star Tribune.
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