The Apple Tree Reviews — Page 2

Another rave:

"Leave it to a great production of a great musical to bring out the best in everyone. How astonishing that this Apple Tree blossoms not by being disemboweled of its basic theatrical essence by a visionary director who imposes himself on it, twists its feelings into unrecognizability, or forces all the actors to accompany themselves on instruments (though Kudisch briefly strums a guitar as the Balladeer). No, it triumphs by being itself and by allowing its stars to do what they made their names on. What a concept. And what a wonderful show. "

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/AppleTree.html

Brantley makes me sick, Cheno is just doing what she has before.
Remember kids. he liked Melanie Griffith in CHICAGO.

She is repeating everything she has done before.

I don't know, can Brantley's review be called a rave? Yes, he gushed endlessly about Ms. Chenoweth's performance, but when it came to the production as a whole, he seemed lukewarm.

I could find at least two dozen useable quotes and at least half-a-dozen money quotes in Brantley's review. The theatre will be festooned with "says the New York Times" quotes tomorrow and huge photos of Chenoweth "irresistable" and "luminous" "makes every song a banquet". Shows would kill for such reviews (ask the producers of Low Fidelity).

Her face and audience recognition and those quotes will bring in the public.

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I agree, Bwaybaby. I haven't seen her live in anything else, though it wouldn't be hard to believe that her other characters were similar. But in the context of The Apple Tree, I thought she was everything she was supposed to be, whether or not she has done similar things before.

And Brantley didn't like the orchestrations? I absolutely loved them, and I know most people on the board did as well.

USA Today goves it three out of four stars:

"Which brings us to the Roundabout Theatre Company's The Apple Tree (*** out of four), from Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, the team behind Fiddler on the Roof and She Loves Me. A trio of mini-musicals adapted from stories by Mark Twain, Jules Feiffer and Frank R. Stockton, Apple enjoyed a brief run in the 1960s.

This fresh Apple, now at Studio 54, has ample charm to sustain it for two hours. That's not to say it's as ripe for Chenoweth's talents as the New York Philharmonic's staging of Candide. Though she expertly handles Bock's tunes, they don't accommodate her silvery vocal tone and multi-octave range the way Leonard Bernstein's did — or show off her supple middle register as fetchingly as some songs that Stephen Schwartz penned for Wicked.

And while the roles that Chenoweth assumes seem tailored to suit her adorable presence, the skits are inconsistent. "The Diary of Adam and Eve" is the first and the best, casting her as the world's deceptively dizzy first woman opposite an endearing Brian d'Arcy James. Marc Kudisch, Chenoweth's former flame offstage, adds devilish humor as the snake who worms his way into Eden.

The three dynamic young performers are underserved in other sequences, in which Chenoweth plays a tempestuous princess and a chimney sweep transformed into a Marilyn Monroe-like screen idol. Still, they tackle their goofy characters with verve, putting a new spin on the cliché that tells us there are no small roles, only small actors.

Clearly, even at 4-foot-11, Chenoweth remains a force to be reckoned with."


http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/reviews/2006-12-14-apple-tree_x.htm?POE=LIFISVA

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The Daily News is Mixed-to-Negative:

"The Roundabout Theatre Company's production of the show, which opened last night at Studio 54, has the star power, that's for sure. It is led by pint-sized powerhouse Kristin Chenoweth, the ideal leading lady for a show built for a knockout comic diva. Her co-stars are two seasoned pros, Brian d'Arcy James and Marc Kudisch.

What's missing from the Roundabout revival, as directed by Gary Griffin ("The Color Purple"), who based this version on his 2005 Encores! staging (also starring Chenoweth), is lightfootedness. Timing is everything in comedy. Griffin's production is pleasant, but it plods. Ensemble dance numbers and a stripped-back design (the less said about this the better) fail to add excitement............

But the trio's efforts to make the most of the thin material are ultimately undermined by the sluggish pacing. "The Apple Tree" has never been revived on Broadway until now. One wishes for a crisper comeback."


http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/480112p-403960c.html

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The NY Post gives it two-and-a-half stars:

"Unfortunately, the conception never delivered. Bock and Harnick imagined their three one-acters were linked with a theme of man, woman and temptation. Maybe.

What they are really linked with is the unbearable lightness of being cute. It's an evening that runs with cuteness like an abattoir with blood.

All three pieces provide a sugar overload capable of bringing the sensitive close to screaming and making even the undersensitive queasy.
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No doubt it's hoped that, as with the record-breaking Encores! version of "Chicago," a new golden apple will not fall far from the tree.

It doesn't - but it's anything but pure gold.

Luckily, the performances are. Chenoweth at times seems a cleverly calculated amalgam of Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett and Anna Netrebko - but at glossy heart she's all Chenoweth, a Broadway legend in the making and wondrous to behold.

Nor are her two terrific co-stars slouches, either. Both kept busy making wit out of corn."


http://www.nypost.com/seven/12152006/entertainment/theater/kristin_shines__apple_doesnt_theater_clive_barnes.htm

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Wasington Post is Mixed-to-Negative:

"And the shallowness of the piece only confirms the precariousness of the environment for a Broadway that relies too heavily on the past.

Roundabout Theatre Company's tepid "Apple Tree" does boast several valuable assets, the most important being the participation of Kristin Chenoweth. The show was once a star vehicle for Barbara Harris (and Alan Alda), and now seems expertly tailored to the musical comedy talents of Chenoweth, a Broadway darling probably best known for her Glinda in "Wicked."
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The thread binding them is the power of legend, but only the first piece, "The Diary of Adam and Eve," plays to the songwriters' strength in conveying the warmth in human affairs. Chenoweth and Brian d'Arcy James are finely paired as partners in original bliss. After intermission, though, the evening markedly deteriorates, as Bock and Harnick shift anemically into broad comedy and a brand of satire at which they're not particularly adept. Even with a sturdy director (Gary Griffin) and a certifiably adorable star, this is one banquet that goes downhill after the appetizer."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121401847.html

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The mixed to negative reviews for this show are right on the money. Aside from some stellar performances the show left me severely underwhelmed. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Chenoweth for the first time though.

Plenty of our most beloved actors and actresses are one trick ponies.

I must say, it's hard to judge Chenoweth if you haven't seen her in person. I've seen her in Charlie Brown, Epic Proportions and Wicked, and I must say, there is just something about her in person. I've rarely seen an audience so in the hand of a performer. I was able to see Wicked twice, once with Idina and Kristin and once with Idina and Jennifer Laura, and while the second time around everything seemed even, the first time, there was no question that it was Glinda's show. And it did not feel like Kristin was upstaging Idina, she was just firmly in charge...much to my delight.

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The comparison to Merman, while true on one level, exposes the differences between what we expected of stars in years gone by and the lack of true stars today. You went to see a show with Merman because she was in it. A turkey like HAPPY HUNTING could have a healthy enough run to return its investment and make a tidy profit because La Merm was on stage. And because Broadway was still a mainstream industry, she was a big national star. (She was also unique enough a performer to have truly rocked Broadway from the start.)

Could any star today pull that off? Probably not. Broadway stars don't get the same kind of exposure they need to become national names (Ed Sullivan, we need you!). The economics of a show paying off its investment in under a couple of years are much rarer.

Even if you accept the Cheno/Merm parallel in terms of talent, it probably can never be a real comparison because the changes in the business have been too great. (The same can be said of film stars as well, IMHO).