Re: Gay operatic characters

Ah. There's a series of children's books of the same name here in the US
(and maybe not so popular elsewhere called "Frog and Toad" and the series
was made into a Broadway musical about two years ago and is still around in
various iterations throughout the US, but perhaps not so much outside the
US. They were written by Arnold Lobel, who married and had at least one
child, but I think it is fairly well recognized that he was gay, even if it
wasn't acknowledged and if you read any of the books, especially "Frog and
Toad are Friends", which was the basis of the Broadway show, you see that
pretty clearly. It's much clearer, I think, than in TWITW, and although
obviously it wasn't intended to be 'gay' on stage, it was much closer than
you might have expected.

Best
Richard

"Binkie Huckaback" <ajc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1183335269.065795.213040@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Jul 1, 11:42 am, "REG" <Richer...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Acvtually, I think that Frog and Toad, in the books, are definitely
homophiliac, shall we say.

Which Frog and Toad would that be, Reg? Chelsea High Street?

In one of those zero-sum games so beloved of the politically-correct,
it's been said that the world of TWITW is notso much homophiliac as
mysogynistic. My usual reply to this is to point out the gaoler's
daughter, a lovely bit of characterisation, a young woman equally full
of good feelings and common sense. She's the one who gets Toad kitted
out as a washerwoman to effect his escape. Unfortunately Rutter chose
to cheapen her character. Instead of offering Toad bubble-and-squeak
and hot buttered toast, as in the book, she offers him a whole
catalogue of disgusting greasy-spoon joint stuff, which IMHO adds a
rather unpleasantly snobbish note to the proceedings.

The only other female I can remember in Graham's book is that great
strapping bargewoman who sets Toad to doing some real washing and
ironing and throws him into the canal when it becomes obvious he
hasn't a clue. Now there's a strong woman for you. A pity Rutter
didn't include this episode in his "entertainment" for I'm sure Jane
Eaglen could have sung the role admirably,

TTFN,

Binkie Huckaback, AJ



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