The Wind in the Willows

Adaptations

Stage

  • Toad of Toad Hall by A. A. Milne, produced in 1929 when the novel was in its 31st printing.
  • Wind in the Willows, a 1985 Tony-nominated Broadway musical with book by Jane Iredale, lyrics by Roger McGough and music by William P. Perry, starring Nathan Lane
  • The Wind in the Willows by Alan Bennett, which premiered in December 1990 at the National Theatre in London.
  • Mr. Toad's Mad Adventures by Vera Morris
  • Wind in the Willows (UK National Tour) by Ian Billings
  • The Wind in the Willows,[13] two stage adaptations – a full musical adaptation and a small-scale, shorter, stage play version – by David Gooderson
  • The Wind in the Willows,[14] a musical theatre adaption by Scot Copeland and Paul Carrol Binkley.
  • The Wind in the Willows[15] by George Stiles, Anthony Drewe and Julian Fellowes which opened at Theatre Royal Plymouth in October 2016 before playing at The Lowry, Salford, and then later the London Palladium in the West End.
  • The Wind in the Willows (musical play) adapted by Michael Whitmore for Quantum Theatre, music by Gideon Escott, Lyrics by Jessica Selous touring 2019
  • The Wind in the Willows,[16] opera for children in two acts by Elena Kats-Chernin (music) and Jens Luckwaldt (libretto, with English translation by Benjamin Gordon), commissioned by Staatstheater Kassel, world premiere 2 July 2021.
  • The Wind in the Willows (a musical in two acts) adapted by Andrew Gordon for Olympia Family Theater, music by Bruce Whitney, lyrics by Daven Tillinghast, Andrew Gordon, and Bruce Whitney, premiered 2012.[17]
  • The Wind in the Willows (for actors, singers and orchestra) adapted by Neil Brand, commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4, world premiere BBC Maida Vale Studios 16 February 2013 - with BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Timothy Brock.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a musical theatre adaption by Douglas Post[18][19]

Theatrical films

  • The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, a 1949 animated adaptation produced by Walt Disney Productions for RKO Radio Pictures, narrated by Basil Rathbone. One half of the animated feature was based on the unrelated short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a 1996 live-action film written and directed by Terry Jones starring Steve Coogan as Mole, Eric Idle as Rat, and Jones as Mr. Toad.

Television

  • Toad of Toad Hall, the first live action telecast of the novel. Adapted by Michael Barry for BBC Television and transmitted live in 1946. The film featured (in alphabetical order) Julia Braddock as Marigold, Kenneth More as Mr. Badger, Jack Newmark as Mole, Andrew Osborn as Water Rat, Jon Pertwee as the Judge, Alan Reid as Mr. Toad, John Thomas and Victor Woolf as Alfred the Horse, Madoline Thomas as Mother, and an uncredited Pat Pleasanse as various rats, weasels, and mice.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a 1969 TV series adaptation of the story produced by Anglia Television, told by still illustrations by artist John Worsley. The story was adapted, produced, and narrated by Paul Honeyman and directed by John Salway.
  • The Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad Show, a 1970–1971 TV series produced by Rankin/Bass Productions and animated overseas by Mushi Production in Tokyo, Japan, based on both The Reluctant Dragon and The Wind in the Willows.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a 1983 animated TV film version with stop-motion animated puppets, produced by Cosgrove Hall Films.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a 1984–1990 TV series following the 1983 film, using the same sets and characters in mostly original stories but also including some chapters from the book that were omitted in the film, notably "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn". The cast included David Jason, Sir Michael Hordern, Peter Sallis, Richard Pearson, and Ian Carmichael. This series then had another TV movie made entitled A Tale of Two Toads and then a spin off series entitled Oh, Mr. Toad.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a 1985/1987 animated musical TV film version for television, produced by Rankin/Bass Productions with animation by Wang Film Productions (also known as Cuckoo's Nest Studios) in Taiwan. This version was very faithful to the book and featured a number of original songs, including the title, "Wind in the Willows", performed by folk singer Judy Collins. Voice actors included Eddie Bracken as Mole, Jose Ferrer as Badger, Roddy McDowell as Ratty, and Charles Nelson Reilly as Toad.[20]
  • Wind in the Willows, a 1988 animated made-for-TV film by Burbank Films Australia and adapted by Leonard Lee.
  • The Adventures of Mole, first part of a 1995 animated made-for-TV film produced by Martin Gates with a cast including Hugh Laurie as Toad, Richard Briers and Peter Davison as Ratty and Mole respectively, and Paul Eddington as Badger. This part ends shortly after the visit to Badger at his home and the story is continued in The Adventures of Toad.
  • The Wind in the Willows, a 1995 animated TV film adaptation narrated by Vanessa Redgrave (in the live action scenes) with a cast led by Michael Palin and Alan Bennett as Ratty and Mole, Rik Mayall as Toad, and Michael Gambon as Badger; followed by an adaptation of The Willows in Winter produced by the now defunct TVC (Television Cartoons) in London.[21]
  • The Wind in the Willows, a 1999 Czech animated made-for-TV series.
  • The Wind in the Willows, another live-action TV film in 2006 with Lee Ingleby as Mole, Mark Gatiss as Ratty, Matt Lucas as Toad, Bob Hoskins as Badger, and also featuring Imelda Staunton, Anna Maxwell Martin, Mary Walsh, and Michael Murphy.

Unproduced

  • In 2003, Guillermo del Toro was working on an adaptation for Disney. It was to mix live action with CG animation, and the director explained why he had to leave the helm. "It was a beautiful book, and then I went to meet with the executives and they said, 'Could you give Toad a skateboard and make him say, "radical dude" things?' and that's when I said, 'It's been a pleasure ...'"[22]

Web series

  • In 2014, Classic Alice took the titular character on a 6 episode reimagining of The Wind in the Willows. Reid Cox played Toad, and Kate Hackett and Tony Noto served as loose Badger, Ratty, and Mole characters.

Radio

The BBC has broadcast a number of radio productions of the story. Dramatisations include:

  • Eight episodes from 4 to 14 April 1955, BBC Home Service. With Richard Goolden, Frank Duncan, Olaf Pooley, and Mary O'Farrell.
  • Episodes from 27 September to 15 November 1965, BBC Home Service, with Leonard Maguire, David Steuart, and Douglas Murchie.
  • Single 90 minute play, dramatised by A.A. Milne under the name Toad of Toad Hall, on 21 April 1973, BBC Radio 4, with Derek Smith, Bernard Cribbins, Richard Goolden, and Cyril Luckham.
  • Six episodes from 28 April to 9 June 1983, BBC Schools Radio, Living Language series. With Paul Darrow as Badger.
  • Six episodes, dramatised by John Scotney, from 13 February to 20 March 1994, BBC Radio 5, with Martin Jarvis, Timothy Bateson, Willie Rushton, George Baker, and Dinsdale Landen.
  • Single two-hour play, dramatised by Alan Bennett, on 27 August 1994, BBC Radio 4.

Abridged readings include:

  • Ten-part reading by Alan Bennett from 31 July to 11 August 1989, BBC Radio 4.
  • Twelve-part reading by Bernard Cribbins from 22 December 1983 to 6 January 1984, BBC channel unknown.
  • Three-hour reading by June Whitfield, Nigel Anthony, James Saxon, and Nigel Lambert; Puffin audiobook, 1996.

Other presentation formats:

  • Kenneth Williams did a version of the book for radio.
  • In 2002 Paul Oakenfold produced a trance soundtrack for the story, aired on the Galaxy FM show Urban Soundtracks. These mixes blended classic stories with a mixture of dance and contemporary music.
  • In 2013 Andrew Gordon produced a full-cast audio adaptation of his stage play, available on Audible and on CD.[23]

Sequels and alternative versions

  • Jan Needle's Wild Wood was published in 1981 with illustrations by William Rushton (ISBN 0-233-97346-X). It is a re-telling of the story of The Wind in the Willows from the point of view of the working-class inhabitants of the Wild Wood. For them, money is short and employment hard to find. They have a very different perspective on the wealthy, easy, careless lifestyle of Toad and his friends.
  • Dixon Scott's A Fresh Wind in the Willows, illustrated by Jonathon Coudrille, was published by Heinemann/Quixote in England in 1983 and Dell Yearling in the United States in 1987.
  • William Horwood created several sequels to The Wind in the Willows: The Willows in Winter, Toad Triumphant, The Willows and Beyond, and The Willows at Christmas (1999). These books include some of the same incidents as Scott's sequel, including a climax in which Toad steals a Bleriot monoplane.
  • Jacqueline Kelly's sequel Return to the Willows was published in 2012.
  • Kij Johnson published The River Bank in 2017. If Wild Wood reimagined Grahame's work through a shift of class, Johnson's work may be said to do the same thing through shift of gender.
  • Daniel Mallory Ortberg included the story "Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Mr. Toad," which blends Wind in the Willows with the Donald Barthelme short story "Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby," in his 2018 collection The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror. In Ortberg's retelling, Toad's friends are abusive and use the guise of "rescuing" their friend to justify violence and manipulation.
  • Frederick Thurber's In the Wake of the Willows was published in 2019. It is the New World version of the original, recounting the adventures of the same set of characters, and their children, who lived on a coastal estuary in southern New England.
  • Dina Gregory released an all-female adaptation on Audible in 2020. The story sticks very closely to the original, but with Lady Toad, Mistress Badger, Miss Water Rat, and Mrs Mole.[24]

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