The Frogs is a musical "freely adapted" by Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove from The Frogs, an Ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes. In the musical, Dionysos, despairing of the quality of living dramatists, travels to Hades to bring George Bernard Shaw back from the dead. William Shakespeare competes with Shaw for the title of best playwright, which he wins. Dionysos brings Shakespeare back to the world of the living in the hope that art can save civilization.
Original Broadway windowcard
The Frogs is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus in Athens, in 405 BC and received first place.
Red-figure vase painting showing an actor dressed as Xanthias in The Frogs, standing next to a statuette of Heracles
Bust of Aeschylus from the Capitoline Museum
Marble bust from the fourth century BC depicting Alcibiades, who is referenced throughout the play
A 1902 playbill of The Frogs