David Gonzalez, who performs all the roles, including narrator, in the multimedia children's show The Frog Bride, based on a Russian fairy tale, is like a hip, funny uncle reading a bedtime story. He is most hilarious when he adds urban attitude to the dialogue. Every time he had one of the princes say "whatever," the 3-foot-and-under audience laughed with delight.
The story concerns three princes who follow their father's instruction to marry whoever returns an arrow shot into the woods. Ivan, the youngest, has his arrow returned by a clever frog. Of course, she's really an enchanted princess. He blows it when he figures that out and loses her for a long time to the mysterious land of "three times nine." Ivan even encounters the notorious witch Baba Yaga.
With jazz riffs on Sergei Prokofiev's "Five Melodies for Violin and Piano," played by violinist Christian Howes and pianist-composer Daniel Kelly, and a huge video screen showing films of Kandinsky paintings and rippling swamps (video by Matyas Kelemen), the show is designed to appeal to adults, too. It's a nice idea to use Russian music and imagery in a Russian story.
Unfortunately, the mixture doesn't really blend. Gonzalez's shadow interacting with a Kandinsky painting after the disappearance of the Frog Bride is compelling, but most of the time the video overwhelms. Some may even experience motion sickness from the fast, swirling images. The lovely music is sometimes performed apart from the narration. These elements compete with Gonzalez more than they support him.
Still, the children clearly enjoyed the show, and at just one hour it's a pleasant interlude with a charismatic performer.
Presented by the New 42nd Street
at the New Victory Theater, 402 W. 42nd St., NYC.
March 3-12. Mon. and Wed., 2 p.m.; Thu. and Fri., 7 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 7 p.m.; Sun., noon and 5 p.m.
(212) 239-6200 or www.telecharge.com.