Broadway made its way to Salisbury University Tuesday when the university was honored to host the production "Frogz!", a compilation of mime, dance and acrobatics.
The production was created by the Imago theatre and the now internationally acclaimed show has had two runs on Broadway.
"Frogz!" attracted many people from the Salisbury community, as well as a number of SU students, who were greeted by two people in penguin costumes handing out programs.
“Me and my friend Sophie saw the flyers [around campus] and we were like, 'This is iconic, let’s go,'” Erin Lee, an SU freshman, said.
The show was part of the Cultural Laureate program, which is run by the SU Office of Cultural Affairs. The program encourages SU students to go to and experience a certain number of cultural events in order to receive a cord to wear at graduation.
SU senior Natalia Graf attended the event partly due to this program, and partly because she was intrigued by the unique nature of the event and her love for the animal.
“I like frogs and the title mostly," Graf said. "I am also doing the cultural laureate program and I have been doing it for a couple semesters now and I am trying to get the graduation cord.”
The show featured 11 unique scenes. Though the titles to the scenes were simple, such as “Cowboy,” “Frogs,” and “Sloth Circus,” the scenes were anything but plain. One scene, titled “Paper Bag,” involved a large bag that an actor was in. The bag tipped back and forth, entertaining the audience with its ability to not tip over.
“I really liked the paper bag. I liked how it literally looked like a paper bag; you could not tell that there was somebody inside it. [I also liked] how it just folded at one point. I thought that was really impressive,” Jaclyn Laman said.
Another scene, titled “Lizards,” was also performed. In the scene, the lizards were actors dressed in elaborate costumes that glowed in the ultraviolet light. The lizards first slithered around on stage, and then proceeded to involve the audience by climbing into the crowd.
SU freshman Lily Hariton's favorite part of the show was "Lizards" because the performers came off the stage and it was something unexpected that both excited and scared Hariton.
Though many of the students who attended the show weren’t quite sure what to expect, they were entertained nonetheless, by the uniqueness of the scenes as well as the ability that the actors had.
Laman had trouble finding the words to describe what she had seen, because it was so out-of-the-ordinary.
"The show was really interesting," Laman said. “It’s really hard to describe the show. I guess I like that element of it. It is really disjointed but it all goes together at the same time. I thought the transitions were really nice."
"Frogz!" offered a rare experience to both the Salisbury community and students alike. The combination of acrobatics and humor was a unique form of entertainment on an otherwise mediocre Tuesday evening.
By LAURA AMRHEIN
Staff writer
Featured photo: Jillian Swaim image.