GLEE star Kevin Mchale to make his UK stage debut in Stephen Sondheim’s THE FROGS at Southwark Playhouse 23 May – 28 June 2025.
What’s the show about?
Can art save civilisation? Let’s find out! Shaken by a divided and despairing political climate (sound familiar?), Dionysos and trusty sidekick Xanthias take a leap of faith—straight into Hades. Their mission? Find a cure for an ailing world.
But when they reach the River Styx, they encounter Dionysos’ worst nightmare… frogs. Not your average pond dwellers, these amphibians are stubborn beings who resist change and are determined for the status quo to remain the same (sound familiar?)
Will our dynamic duo outsmart these swampy naysayers and hop toward humanity’s salvation? Or will they get bogged down in their muddy resistance?
This is an ancient tale retold as a laugh-a-minute musical comedy. From the writing team behind ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’ and Broadway legend Nathan Lane, ‘The Frogs’ promises a toad-ally unforgettable journey.
Who’s in the cast?
Kevin McHale (Xanthias), making his UK stage debut, is a Grammy-nominated and SAG Award winning actor, best known for playing Artie Abrams on the Fox TV series Glee. Kevin has appeared in multiple TV series since including The Office, When We Rise, and Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Stories. He recently starred in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at the prestigious Kennedy Center.
More cast to be announced.
Creative team
Director – Georgie Rankcom (She/Her)
Musical Director – Ben Mc Quigg (He/Him)
Choreographer – Matt Nicholson (He/Him)
Set and Costume Designer – Libby Todd (She/Her)
Lighting Designer – Samuel Biondolillo (He/Him)
Sound Designer – Joshua Robins (He/Him)
Orchestration – Tim Sutton (He/Him)
Casting Director – Peter Noden (He/Him)
Production Artwork – Rebecca Pitt (She/Her)
Production Manager – Adam Smith (He/Him)
Stage Manager – Waverley Moran (They/She)
Assistant Stage Manager – Evie Graham-Brown (They/Them)
The first production of The Frogs was written and directed by Burt Shevelove in 1971, while he was a graduate student at Yale University. It was staged in the swimming pool in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium with the Frogs, played by members of the Yale swimming team, swimming around the boat. The ensemble included then Yale students Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver and playwright Christopher Durang.
Stephen Sondheim compared the acoustics of the production to “putting on a show in a men’s urinal”. For the 2004 Broadway revival, Sondheim wrote seven new songs.
Assisted performances
TBC
