Trilogy of Temptation
The 1966 Broadway musical The Apple Tree took the unusual form of three one-act, self-contained, comic musicals, each based on a short story by a notable American humorist, and each featuring the same trio of lead performers. Although the three acts are essentially unrelated, it's possible to discern a unifying theme, such as the notion of temptation or the eternal triangle of man, woman, and devil figure.
The Apple Tree was the follow-up show to Fiddler on the Roof for composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick. Because so much of The Apple Tree would be set to music, the songwriters chose for the first time to write the book themselves, with help from Jerome Coopersmith Baker Street.
Adapted from Mark Twain's The Diary of Adam and Eve, the first act of The Apple Tree depicts the denizens of the Garden of Eden as an everyday, bickering-and-loving couple, blending biblical events with Twain's satiric outlook. Both humorous and touching, and the only one of the three works with emotional content, the first act of The Apple Tree was the strongest in the original production.
Based on Frank R. Stockton's well-known The Lady or the Tiger?, the second act is set in a semi-barbaric kingdom in medieval times. When Captain Sanjar is brought to trial because of his forbidden love for Princess Barbara accent on the second syllable, he is forced to choose between two doors, one of which conceals a man-eating tiger, the other a beautiful woman who would become his wife. Princess Barbara discovers what's behind each door. But which one will she advise him to choose? The story is deliberately left a cliff-hanger.
The final installment is taken from Jules Feiffer's Passionella and is a cartoon Cinderella story set in contemporary America about a chimney sweep named Ella who gets her wish to be transformed into a voluptuous Hollywood sex symbol and worshipped screen goddess. She falls for rock star Flip, but he rejects her superficial glamour. To win him over, Passionella demands a chance to be Ella again, starring in a screen epic called "The Chimney Sweep." Flip finally flips for her, but when the two are alone, his own secret identity is revealed.
Opening at the Shubert Theatre on October 16, 1966, The Apple Tree co-starred Larry Blyden as Eden's snake and a pair of narrators; Alan Alda as the principal men; and Barbara Harris as Eve, Barbara, and Ella. But while the order of billing of the co-stars was rotated on a monthly basis, the show belonged to Harris, who received love letters from the critics. Harris had made a hit the previous season in her first Broadway book musical, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. But she had an even greater personal triumph with The Apple Tree, and won the musical-actress Tony. Watching Harris's tremendous performance, no one suspected that The Apple Tree would be the star's final Broadway musical. The Apple Tree was the first musical directed by Mike Nichols, and the last one until 2005's Spamalot, which is also at the Shubert. In the fall of '66, The Apple Tree was overshadowed by the subsequent arrival on Broadway of Cabaret and, to a lesser extent, I Do! I Do!. When the irreplaceable Harris departed after a year, it was hard for The Apple Tree to continue, and the show closed after 463 performances, not having returned all of its investment. Never a great musical, The Apple Tree is chiefly worth mounting as a vehicle for a formidable female. And that's exactly what it has this weekend at City Center's Encores! in the skilled and stellar Kristin Chenoweth. Some years back, Chenoweth had a success at Encores! in Harris's other vehicle, Clear Day, so it was only natural that she would eventually turn her attention to The Apple Tree. The concert was directed by Gary Griffin, whose Encores! credits include The New Moon, Pardon My English, and this season's opener, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. And it must be said that Griffin's production couldn't erase one's memories of the glories of Nichols' Broadway original. It also must be said that no one could ever match Harris's Apple Tree performance, one of the best of its era. But Chenoweth is as sharp a performer as could have been secured, and she seized the opportunites this trilogy provides, offering a vocally assured, comically commanding performance. Usually the strongest piece, the opener, Adam and Eve, was somewhat disappointing. Chenoweth and her co-star, Malcolm Gets, got all the laughs and delivered the score handsomely, but the act didn't come fully to life, and the conclusion was not as affecting as it should be. That's partly because the segment was marred by the miscalculated snake of Michael Cerveris, who was encouraged to hiss his way through his dialogue and lyrics. Cerveris was much better as the narrators of the second and third playlets, accompanying himself on guitar as Lady or the Tiger?'s Balladeer. And Chenoweth's star assurance and flair for campy comedy served her beautifully in both pieces. She and Gets had fun with the mock operetta of Barbara and Sanjar's "Forbidden Love," then Chenoweth came into her own with Barbara's "I've Got What You Want," during which the star did amusing things with a whip. She again scored heavily with the "Gorgeous" number in Passionella. Gets was charming and in fine voice throughout the evening, even evincing a flair for the rock 'n' roll of beatnik Flip's "You Are Not Real." James Earl Jones was heard at the top of Adam and Eve as the voice of God. Because the three libretti are so spare, David Ives' concert adaptation featured only minimal book trims. Harnick updated one lyric for political correctness: In the song "What Makes Me Love Him," Eve's "He is a good man,/Yet I would love him/If he abused me/Or used me ill," was changed to "He's not romantic/Or sentimental/And on occasion/He's used me ill." Count this Apple Tree as a pleasant end-of-season frolic and a field day for Chenoweth. In his final show as Encores!' musical director he'll no doubt be back as guest conductor, Rob Fisher saw to it that Eddie Sauter's terrific Apple Tree orchestrations got their due.