Nathan Lane and Susan Stroman are together again. The Tony-winning star and director/choreographer of The Producers will reteam for a reading of Stephen Sondheim's rarely performed musical, The Frogs. Variety reports that the duo will be part of a January reading for Lincoln Center Theater. Lane will not only star as Dionysos in the reading — a role created by Larry Blyden — but he has also rewritten some of Burt Shevelove's original book, which was based on Aristophanes' 405 B.C. tale. Lincoln Center Artistic Director Andre Bishop told the industry paper, "Nathan has done some reworking of the book. He has fleshed out the script." Bishop also added, "Sondheim might write some more songs for this version, to make it more of a full evening."
Stephen Sondheim originally wrote The Frogs for the Yale School of Drama, which premiered the work in 1974. Staged by book writer Shevelove and choreographed by Carmen de Lavallade, the cast included Blyden, Michael Vale as Xanthias, Dan Desmond as Herakles, Charles Levin as Charon, Ron Recasner as Hierophantes, Alvin Epstein as Aeakos, de Lavallade as a Handmaiden and an Innkeeper's Wife, Stephen R. Lawson as an Innkeeper, Jeremy Dempsey as Pluto, Jerome Geidt as William Shakespeare and Anthony Holland as Bernard Shaw. Among the company of singers, dancers and frogs were Alma Cuervo, Christopher Durang, Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver.
In addition to his Tony-winning roles in The Producers and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Nathan Lane has starred on The Great White Way in Present Laughter, Merlin, The Wind in the Willows, Some Americans Abroad, On Borrowed Time, Guys and Dolls, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Love! Valour! Compassion! and The Man Who Came to Dinner. The actor has also been featured in such films as "Addams Family Values," "Mousehunt," "Love's Labour's Lost" and "The Birdcage," scoring a Golden Globe nomination for his work in the latter. Lane also appears as Dionysos on the Nonesuch recording of The Frogs. Susan Stroman is an award-winning choreographer and director, whose Broadway credits include The Producers, Thou Shalt Not, Contact, Crazy for You, Steel Pier, Big, Picnic as well as the hit revivals of Show Boat, The Music Man and Oklahoma!. Stroman is also the recipient of London's Olivier Award and numerous Tony Awards.
