Encores Golden Apple

[brdwybuff]

Posted: 5/2/17 at 10:10pm

I know this doesn't begin until the 10th but can anyone weigh in on how they think this production will be? I have a couple slots available and will be there the 11th-14th.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/3/17 at 12:24am

brdwybuff said: "I know this doesn't begin until the 10th but can anyone weigh in on how they think this production will be? I have a couple slots available and will be there the 11th-14th.

 

"

It's not everybody's cup of tea, but the show is pretty much actor-proof, if not entirely singer-proof. (I say that based on the two recordings and the York Theater production back in the 1980s.)

It's rarely done, so don't miss it!

(It wouldn't hurt to read THE ILIAD and particularly THE ODYSSEY first. I strongly recommend the Robert Fagles translations, available at Amazon. Not to mislead you: the show is set in Washington state right after the Spanish-American war; but the plot is based on the Greek epics. Come to think of it, you might enjoy yourself more if you also listen to one of the recordings before you go: the OBC is a classic, and features Kaye Ballard and Stephen Douglass; but the relatively recent Lyric Opera recording has the complete evening recorded live.)

 

Updated On: 5/3/17 at 12:24 AM

[justoldbill]

Posted: 5/3/17 at 1:54am

This has always been one of my favorite scores and I was honored to be in the cast of a production at NYU in 1988.  The fact that the score is literally operatic in scope (if not in style), and has only recently been recorded in its entirety (wonderfully), has kept this an obscure gem.  But what a gem!  I'm betting that after the wonderful job ENCORES! did with THE MOST HAPPY FELLA, they'll do justice to this beauty.  In fact, it was during FELLA that I was telling anyone who would listen that there was no longer any reason not to tackle this one.  I am so happy this is being done.  I love, love, love this show!

PS- Could ENCORES! also give future consideration to GENTLEMEN BE SEATED?

Updated On: 5/3/17 at 01:54 AM

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 5/4/17 at 11:15am

The show is up on TDF but I'm reluctant to get a ticket because they're priced it the same as the Broadway shows. Do you think this means they're orchestra or grand tier seats or are they really just doing a tiny discount on the front center balcony tickets? Also, is it just me or has that front center section been getting bigger? 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 5/4/17 at 4:03pm

I am SO EXCITED to see this next week. It will be my very first Encores experience. To hear this score sung live with a proper orchestra... once in a lifetime chance!

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 2:19am

I am very jealous of all of you in the Northeast!

I want to reiterate everything in justoldbill's post, but especially the fact that GOLDEN APPLE's score is operatic "in scope" (i.e., everything is sung), but not "in style." The music is quite accessible and one doesn't need an ear for opera to appreciate it.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 6:57pm

I took TodayTix off my phone ages ago. Are they selling tickets? Or are there any discount codes? The balcony is not well sold for any of the dates. 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 5/9/17 at 10:14pm

bump

It's starting soon. Still no better discounts?

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 5/9/17 at 10:15pm

It's on TDF.

[BIG BALONEY]

Posted: 5/9/17 at 10:46pm

There are $35 Balcony  sets available too.

[newintown]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 8:17am

I would recommend this one; the orchestra, although overmiked as always at Encores, sounds gorgeous, with a true string section and a terrific percussionist who is a master on the vibraphone. Ryan Silverman and Barton Cowperthwaite are utter perfection in their roles. When they take stage, one can't look away from them. The principal women fare somewhat less well (except for the always terrific Ashley Brown), primarily due to very lazy diction, which can be a death knell in a through sung show with clever lyrics. Lindsay Mendez, although vocally quite pretty (but facile), must be the most sex-appeal-free Helen of Troy ever seen on a stage.

It's easy to see why the show has never enjoyed commercial success; the structure is quite odd, with a one hour first act that is basically little more than very very slow set up for a much longer second act that is little more than a series of cabaret numbers. But Moross's music (mostly self-orchestrated, and gorgeously, too, although sometimes a bit too derivative of his teacher, Copland) and Latouche's exceptionally smart and funny lyrics are worth the slack plot.

Updated On: 5/10/17 at 08:17 AM

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 8:55am

Funny, I found Lindsay Mendez to be the only real personality in the whole show! (With glimpses shown by Ashley Brown and some terrific dancing by Barton Cowperwaithe)

Despite seeming like it intensed to be off-beat, the show had a bland sameness for much of its running time. I'm usually ok with lack of linear plot if there is a clear aim, but I'm not sure what the show was trying to make me feel or what message it was trying to get across. 

I'm happy to have seen it perform, but I think after this production, the show will head back into the museum vaults. 

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 11:30am

Watching the highlights here, and it looks great.
Who is Mikaela Bennett singing so gorgeously as Penelope?  And is she possibly being considered for Eliza in Sher's My Fair Lady?

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-TV-Watch-Highlights-of-Ashley-Brown-Lindsay-Mendez-Ryan-Silverman-More-in-Encores-THE-GOLDEN-APPLE-20170510

Updated On: 5/10/17 at 11:30 AM

[VirginiaK]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 12:00pm

Looking forward to seeing this on Friday! Can anybody give me a rough idea of the run time? Want to make reservation for dinner afterwards. 

[newintown]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 12:14pm

2.5 hours.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 12:31pm

Remember that the show is based on Homer's epics, particularly THE ODYSSEY. When the show was first performed, every educated person knew those narratives, and people who went to fancy schools still read them in Greek.

I had some of the same problems, finding the story dull in places, when I saw it; but that was my first exposure to the plot. Now I've listened to it a hundred times or more and don't find it slow or confusing in the slightest. Read THE ODYSSEY before you go.

Updated On: 5/12/17 at 12:31 PM

[Cesare2]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 1:35pm

For more information on the show, check out www.jeromemoross.com

Even if you know who/what Scylla and Charybdis are, it might also help to know that their number is a riff on Gallagher and Shean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SOCdShMlkA

 

[EthelMae]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 2:07pm

Saw this last night. My partner, who knows the score backwards and forwards, adored it. I am not familiar with this show. Except for 2 songs, especially the finale, I was lost at sea and found the evening terribly long. Some wonderful singers but the show was a tough sit thru for me.

Fun to see Karen Ziemba directly across from me and Harvey Evans behind me!

[bjh2114]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 4:04pm

henrikegerman said: "Watching the highlights here, and it looks great. Who is Mikaela Bennett singing so gorgeously as Penelope? "

I've never heard of her, but she sounded gorgeous.  In fact, does her voice (especially her vibrato) eerily remind anyone else of Audra's voice?  At certain moments, I closed my eyes and could SWEAR Audra was singing.

[newintown]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 4:16pm

I thought of Audra last night while listening to her as well.

[EthelMae]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 5:24pm

I'm sorry but second rate Audra McDonald.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 6:45pm

bjh2114 said: "henrikegerman said: "Watching the highlights here, and it looks great. Who is Mikaela Bennett singing so gorgeously as Penelope? "

I've never heard of her, but she sounded gorgeous.  In fact, does her voice (especially her vibrato) eerily remind anyone else of Audra's voice?  At certain moments, I closed my eyes and could SWEAR Audra was singing.

In one of those press videos she said she was just finishing school. From the clips released, she does sound fantastic. 

I'm still hoping for a discount code from City Center because I do not trust Goldstar and TDF to not be selling bad balcony seats. If I'm going to pay that price for the same section, I'd rather pick my seat. 

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 9:16pm

bjh2114 said: "henrikegerman said: "Watching the highlights here, and it looks great. Who is Mikaela Bennett singing so gorgeously as Penelope? "

I've never heard of her, but she sounded gorgeous.  In fact, does her voice (especially her vibrato) eerily remind anyone else of Audra's voice?  At certain moments, I closed my eyes and could SWEAR Audra was singing."

I thought the same thing, bjh2114.

 

"

 

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 11:13pm

Can someone post the Playbill cover?

[Peter2]

Posted: 5/10/17 at 11:32pm

henrikegerman said: "Who is Mikaela Bennett singing so gorgeously as Penelope? "

Her bio in the program says she is a fourth-year Juilliard student, and this is her professional stage debut.