The Golden Apple is exactly the kind of show that makes the Encores! series so much fun. Each show runs only five performances and generally lands somewhere along the spectrum between a concert staging and fuller production with sets, costumes and choreography. The first two offerings this year were Cabin in the Sky (1940) and Cole Porter’s The New Yorkers (1930). The latter was a bathtub gin frolic with gorgeous gals, ridiculous sexist humor, a speakeasy owning gangster, assorted vaudevillian types and the song “I Happen to like New York.” Huge fun and the leads, Scarlett Strallen and Tam Mutu, were period perfect and superb.
Yesterday, I saw the last performance of this season’s final show, The Golden Apple. As with many Encores! shows, the entertainment factor is not only revisiting the show itself but its history as well. Apparently The Golden Apple was the first musical to open Off Broadway and then transfer to Broadway, where it was short-lived. It was also the first Off Broadway musical to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. If that’s not enticing enough, the original star was Kaye Ballard and the source material for the story is from the Iliad and the Odyssey but reset in Washington State. Enough said!
The major reason to revisit this cult favorite was the music which sounded beautiful as performed by the Encores! exceptional and large orchestra, a treat in this age of scaled down musicals. I would describe the sound as Americana. This piece is a sung through, operatic style show and the singing was excellent. The plot propels wildly from soldiers returning from the war in Spain to a bake-off with a golden apple prize to Helen being wooed away in a hot air balloon to be then pursued by Ulysses, all in the first act. The story is wildly overstuffed and I was not quite sure why it seemed both adventurous and tedious at the same time.
Mikaela Bennett (Penelope) made her professional debut with this production and her duet with Ryan Silverman (Ulysses) to close the show was a highlight. I have become a big fan of Mr. Silverman’s after seeing his performances as Terry in the Broadway revival of Side Show and the Irish Rep production of Finian’s Rainbow earlier this season. Lastly, Lindsay Mendez, so good in Significant Other, was fun as Helen who sings the show’s famous “Lazy Afternoon.” I look forward to following each of their careers.
But I don’t expect to see The Golden Apple again. Interesting choices from the Encores! series this year. Keep ’em coming, please.