Frog & Toad Celebrates Friendship Amongst the Unlikely
Year after year, seasons of Upper Darby Summer Stage come and go, but the friendship of Frog and Toad remains strong. As a matter of fact, the unlikely duo has celebrated the story of friendship for over 50 years and continues to remind audiences to celebrate their differences.
In a time when divisiveness and differences are used as wordly weapons, the timeless tale reminds us to explore the unknown in our friendships as that will build even more meaningful relationships. Let’s think about it… if you could name your best friend, who would it be? Do you have a friend in mind? Great. Let’s continue.
Hold up one hand with all five fingers stretched. If you and your best friend have any of the same, keep your fingers up. If you have any differences among the following, put your fingers down. Do you and your best friend have the same…
- Starbucks Order?
- Favorite Color?
- Celebrity Crush?
- Netflix Go-To?
- Favorite Musical?
If I had to guess, I would say you don’t have many fingers raised, if any at all. But if you do have some raised, kudos to both of you! Regardless of fingers, the celebration comes in learning life lessons together, despite being total opposites.
Even though Frog and Toad are complete opposites, their status as best friends is rooted in caring for one another. And that’s the beauty of friendship… sometimes we may not see eye-to-eye with our friends but that doesn’t mean we stop caring for them. Instead, we may just need a breath of fresh air and a chance to refresh our brains and hearts.
There is so much to love about the story of Frog and Toad from the stage to the bookshelf. They care about each other. When danger is near, they band together as a team. They take risks for one another (something we talked a lot about last season). They ultimately enjoy one another’s company and embrace whatever life brings their way, season after season, together. Everyone should have a friend in life to be their Frog or Toad.
Hands-down, the best theme throughout these books and stories on stage is that a true friend will stick with you through thick and thin. Frog and Toad are super relatable. Both of them could be better. They both struggle with willpower (cookies). Toad is lazy and sometimes needs to be more bright. He thinks he looks funny in his bathing suit. Frog appreciates a good scary story and often will find joy in playing a good prank. Yet, both appreciate the joy of taking life easy, and they love one another, warts and all.
One of the most comical and easily agreed-upon things that is common between Frog and Toad is that they both love chocolate chip cookies. In fact, there’s an entire number where they eat a whole plate of them! It’s the common ground such as this that helps the two forge their friendship to become an even stronger fusion. There are so many things we can do as friends to strengthen our bonds, but the best recommendation I can think of is to come see a show at Upper Darby Summer Stage!
A Year with Frog & Toad, TYA runs July 30 through August 1, followed by children’s theatre performances of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical (August 6-8) and Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, Jr. (August 13-15). For our older groups of best friends, I cannot recommend enough, our mainstage production of Disney’s Newsies the Musical. Mainstage at Upper Darby Summer Stage runs August 2, 3, 9, and 10 at 7:30 PM and August 3 and 10 at 1:30 PM.
Tickets for all performances are $11-22 and may be purchased online at udsummerstage.org or by calling the box office at 610.814.7270. Each children's theatre show runs approximately one hour and is recommended for ages three and older. Mainstage at Upper Darby Summer Stage runs approximately two hours with intermission and is recommended for ages eight and up.