Toadstool Shadow as America 250 Quartet
Toadstool Shadow is four cousins from southern Ohio. Their family-friendly stage show mixes music and humor. They are led by Chris Till (aka Zebulon Toadstool), recipient of a prestigious 2025-2026 Ohio Arts Council Artist Opportunity grant. In 2026, Toadstool Shadow will perform two distinctly different shows.
One, for America 250, Toadstool Shadow will performs as a red, white & blue cowboy (and cowgirl) quartet. They'll play "Home on the Range," "Ghost Riders in the Sky," various American cowboy classics, plus their usual silly, serious, and surreal songs about fairy tales and potatoes.
Two, for fantasy festivals and medieval festivals, Toadstool Shadow will perform as a gnome duo, as they do at the Ohio Renaissance Festival. It's a musical comedy act, mixing fairy tale songs with gags. Their best known gag showcases Zebulon Toadstool's ability to transform instantly, on stage, into a beautiful, shimmering unicorn. They'll be introducing a couple new musical shows this year. In "Toadstool Shadow & the Mystery of the Lost Potato," the two gnomes blame each other for the loss of their precious potato, often coming to blows by the end of the show. In "Toadstool Shadow's Gnome Dance Party," they lead the audience in an interactive dance party, teaching easy dances like a gnome conga line, a gnome limbo line, and a gnome waltz contest.
Since 2023, Toadstool Shadow has performed at dozens of Ohio festivals, including the Ohio Renaissance Festival, Cleveland’s BorderLight Fringe Festival, and the Lancaster Festival. They’ve also performed a several historic Ohio theaters, including the Majestic Theater in Chillicothe, the Paxton Theater in Bainbridge, and the Wagnalls Memorial Theater in Lithopolis.
Toadstool Shadow's live performances mix original songs with humorous routines and a some old classic songs. Some of their songs turn popular proverbs on their heads, proving that there is an exception to every rule, like “The Apple Who Fell Far From the Tree,” “The Old Dog Who Learned a New Trick,” and “Couldn’t Lead that Horse to Water (But I Sure Could Make Him Drink).” Other songs treat the tragic side of life in a comic fashion, like “Tiny the Frog,” about a friendly fly’s encounter with a hungry frog, and “Who Wants the Cheese?,” about a house mouse named Hans and his unfortunate fondness for cheese. Other songs showcase a love for Brothers Grimm fairy tales, like “Mermaid Shantey,” “Leprechaun Man,” and “When Faeries Sprout Wings.”
Their stage set often includes props like the Toadstool Telephone, the Toadstool Clock, Ohio’s Tallest Toadstool, and the Gnome in a Box.
The earliest 2020-2022 lineup of Toadstool Shadow featured Till collaborating with a couple dozen different special guest musicians and artists. That earliest version released two albums (Rainbow Nights and Folk Songs of the American Wood Elf), as well as a short film (Folk Songs of the American Wood Elf), as part of a three-part fairy tale opera. Most of the online Toadstool Shadow streams are of these earlier Toadstool Shadow lineups.
One, for America 250, Toadstool Shadow will performs as a red, white & blue cowboy (and cowgirl) quartet. They'll play "Home on the Range," "Ghost Riders in the Sky," various American cowboy classics, plus their usual silly, serious, and surreal songs about fairy tales and potatoes.
Two, for fantasy festivals and medieval festivals, Toadstool Shadow will perform as a gnome duo, as they do at the Ohio Renaissance Festival. It's a musical comedy act, mixing fairy tale songs with gags. Their best known gag showcases Zebulon Toadstool's ability to transform instantly, on stage, into a beautiful, shimmering unicorn. They'll be introducing a couple new musical shows this year. In "Toadstool Shadow & the Mystery of the Lost Potato," the two gnomes blame each other for the loss of their precious potato, often coming to blows by the end of the show. In "Toadstool Shadow's Gnome Dance Party," they lead the audience in an interactive dance party, teaching easy dances like a gnome conga line, a gnome limbo line, and a gnome waltz contest.
Since 2023, Toadstool Shadow has performed at dozens of Ohio festivals, including the Ohio Renaissance Festival, Cleveland’s BorderLight Fringe Festival, and the Lancaster Festival. They’ve also performed a several historic Ohio theaters, including the Majestic Theater in Chillicothe, the Paxton Theater in Bainbridge, and the Wagnalls Memorial Theater in Lithopolis.
Toadstool Shadow's live performances mix original songs with humorous routines and a some old classic songs. Some of their songs turn popular proverbs on their heads, proving that there is an exception to every rule, like “The Apple Who Fell Far From the Tree,” “The Old Dog Who Learned a New Trick,” and “Couldn’t Lead that Horse to Water (But I Sure Could Make Him Drink).” Other songs treat the tragic side of life in a comic fashion, like “Tiny the Frog,” about a friendly fly’s encounter with a hungry frog, and “Who Wants the Cheese?,” about a house mouse named Hans and his unfortunate fondness for cheese. Other songs showcase a love for Brothers Grimm fairy tales, like “Mermaid Shantey,” “Leprechaun Man,” and “When Faeries Sprout Wings.”
Their stage set often includes props like the Toadstool Telephone, the Toadstool Clock, Ohio’s Tallest Toadstool, and the Gnome in a Box.
The earliest 2020-2022 lineup of Toadstool Shadow featured Till collaborating with a couple dozen different special guest musicians and artists. That earliest version released two albums (Rainbow Nights and Folk Songs of the American Wood Elf), as well as a short film (Folk Songs of the American Wood Elf), as part of a three-part fairy tale opera. Most of the online Toadstool Shadow streams are of these earlier Toadstool Shadow lineups.
