A Year with Frog and Toad is a beautifully endearing story of friendship based on the beloved children’s books by Arnold Lobel. With witty songs and a vibrant array of characters, there is so much for audiences to delight in.
Get to know the all-star cast of A Year with Frog and Toad before you see the show!
Damien Calvert - Frog
Damien has worked with theatre companies all over Melbourne in various capacities, both on and off the stage.
You may have seen him on the Beaumaris Theatre stage as Zac in A Chorus Line, William Barfee in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee or in the award-winning 2011 production of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. His on-stage credits with other companies are numerous and include featured performances as Freddie Trumper in Chess, Al in A Chorus Line, Tobias Ragg in Sweeney Todd, George in The Drowsy Chaperone, Mr Bungee in A New Brain and the Barbershop Quartet The Music Man (OSMaD) for which he was the recipient of the 2013 Music Theatre Guild of Victoria for Best Ensemble.
Damien’s design credits for Beaumaris Theatre include the set for Avenue Q, and lighting for Puffs, Buddy - the Buddy Holly Story and Anne & Gilbert - The Musical amongst others.
In his spare time... he’s on the Music Theatre Guild of Victoria Committee, the company secretary for OSMaD music theatre, and he runs the Melbourne Theatre Calendar website (go see another show after this one!).
Dan Bellis - Toad
Dan has been a Beaumaris Theatre mainstay since his debut in the very “un-frog-and-toad-like” Avenue Q (also directed by Leah Osburn) in 2016. Since then he has performed in eight other Beaumaris Theatre productions, including his most recent performance as Richard Hoover in Little Miss Sunshine.
Offstage, he has also worked as Assistant Director/Production Manager for Seminar in 2019, Director of Cosi in 2022 and co-director of PUFFS or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic in 2023. He has been a member of the Beaumaris Theatre committee since 2018 and its Vice President since 2022.
In those weird periods when Dan isn’t at the theatre, he is a Drama and Humanities teacher at St Bede’s College in Mentone.
A Year With Frog and Toad has been a joyful experience for the Danster (as he is very rarely called), allowing him to connect with very different audiences. He apologises in advance for anyone who gets showered in cookie dust.
Roisin O'Neill - Player 1 (Bird, Snail, Lizard, Father Frog, Mole)
Roisin has been immersed in the performing arts from a young age, starting off in musical theatre variety shows and full productions such as The Producers and Spamalot (MLOC Productions), Into the Woods and Beauty and the Beast (Aspect Inc) and Rock of Ages (WMTC).
In recent years she has turned her attention to the classics and some of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello and even got to show off with some tunes in Much Ado: The Musical with ASC’s Graduate Players Program which took her all the way to Prague.
Musicals have always been Roisin’s first love and she is excited to return to them with this being her first show with Beaumaris Theatre.
A Year with Frog and Toad is sure to get the toes tapping and the audience singing along.
Emma Blake - Player 2 (Bird, Mouse, Squirrel, Young Frog, Mole)
Emma is delighted to be making her Beaumaris Theatre debut in A Year with Frog and Toad! Emma loves to perform whimsical, quirky characters on stage.
In 2023 she played an excitable Who in Seussical (Windmill Theatre Company) which was nominated for Production of the Year at the 2024 Lyrebird Awards.
Other credits include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Cactus Musicals), Thoroughly Modern Millie (MLOC), The Wizard of Oz (Players Theatre Company), Footloose (MLOC), Into the Woods (Aspect), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (Aspect) and Guys and Dolls (Nova).
She has trained at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Arts) and holds AMEB certificates in musical theatre, flute and piano.
When not rehearsing, Emma enjoys crocheting tiny pop culture characters and building Disney lego (ie. she’s just a big kid at heart).
She’d like to give a big friendly “chirp-chirpity-chirp” to you all and hopes that you enjoy the show!
Kate Squires - Player 3 (Bird, Turtle, Squirrel, Mother Frog, Mole)
Kate has spent most of her adult life involved in performing. Her theatrical endeavours include Chicago and Rent, she has performed as a professional fire dancer and worked as an entertainer for both Disney and Movie World. For many years, Kate announced the seal, ski and dolphin shows at Sea World, performing alongside her aquatic co-stars.
More recently, Kate has supported the Beaumaris Theatre productions of The Three Musketeers and Beaumarisical and performed in the Beaumaris Theatre’s 300th show, the 70th Anniversary Christmas Panto-Revue.
She is so thrilled to be part of the talented A Year with Frog and Toad cast and would like to state for the record that she does not condone bullying of any kind, even if someone does look particularly funny in a bathing suit.