Encores The Golden Apple

[foxy]

Picked up my ticket for Saturday's matinee of this limited run production. It's a cult favorite apparently based on the Illiad and the Odyssey and sets the Greek myths in turn-of-the-century America. It seems it was a favorite with New York's gay elite when it opened in 1955. I'm getting this information from an article on Playbill.com that's worth reading. The song most familiar to me from what I've read is Lazy Afternoon which Marlene Dietrich added to her act. Performances at City Center May 11 - May 14. Tickets are available on tdf except for Saturday's matinee which includes an open discussion with the cast and creative team onstage after the performance. Should be fun.

[+ WilliamM]

Marlene Dietrich

Live from the Cafe de Paris London

1954

[BasketBaller]

My oldest son saw it last night, he took his girlfriend to the opening. He loved it!

[+ WilliamM]

http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/955fde27e3414988b635c0a81af9f189/german-actress-ute-lemper-kneels-before-the-grave-of-berlin-born-film-h0003m.jpg

 

Off-topic. Marlene Dietrich's final resting place in Berlin is still controversial because of her entertaining the Allies' military all the way to Germany in World War ll. The day I was there in 2000, there were pro-fascist propaganda mixed in with the flowers where singer Ute Lemper is knelling.

 

Berlin was a risky decision, even though Dietrich's grave is next to her mother's

[bostonman]

I had this fantasy of doing a day trip to NYC to see the Friday night show. But I've just been too busy lately and really decided the last thing I needed was 7-8 hours of travelling on my one day off (I need to be back on Saturday - time is short, lol.) But I'm thrilled to hear that the reports are good so far. This is a wonderful score, severely cut to shreds on the original cast recording, and this is really the kind of show Encores needs to be doing. So glad they are.

[foxy]

[foxy]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.nytimes.com/2017/05/11/theater/the-golden-apple-review.amp.html

 

Saw the show today. Above is the NY Times review for anyone interested

 

A huge stellar cast that managed to pull this off with only 10 days rehearsal.

Standouts for me were Mikaela Bennet (Penelope) and Ryan Silverman (Ulysses) for their incredible voices and Barton Cowperthwaite (Paris) who danced his role and did things you wouldn't think a human body could do.

Only a few more performances tomorrow. I'd recommend it for anyone who can get a ticket. Not likely it will ever be done again but who knows?

[+ nycman]

And then there was Eartha.....

 

[+ purplekow]

Article about it in the Sunday Arts section of the NYTimes. Kaye Ballard sang Lazy Afternoon in the original production.

[foxy]

Eartha Kitt, one of the most original performers. She sang like no one else. Happy to say I saw her in 1978 in the Broadway production of Timbuktu directed and choreographed by Geoffrey Holder. As I remember dancers wore G strings of seashells. Kismet never looked so good. Here's a show I'd like to see revived.

[BasketBaller]

My son's reaction was so strong I went up to NYC on an impulse and saw it last night. It's quirky and wonderful and I pretty much loved it. I had a great conversation with the people next to me about the fact that in the 50s writers could expect audiences to get references like the judgement of Paris, or Scylla and Charybdis, that nowadays would go over a lot of heads. (Maybe we were being smug for getting them!)

[+ purplekow]

My son's reaction was so strong I went up to NYC on an impulse and saw it last night. It's quirky and wonderful and I pretty much loved it. I had a great conversation with the people next to me about the fact that in the 50s writers could expect audiences to get references like the judgement of Paris, or Scylla and Charybdis, that nowadays would go over a lot of heads. (Maybe we were being smug for getting them!)

 

The article in the NYT made that same point, that the authors were able to make references to the Iliad and the Odyssey and that the majority of the audience would be familiar with the references.

These days, the authors would have Scylla represented by the six siblings of the Kardashian Klan and Charybdis would be Ryan Seacrest who created the inescapable vortex that is Kardashian tv.

[+ WilliamM]

The article in the NYT made that same point, that the authors were able to make references to the Iliad and the Odyssey and that the majority of the audience would be familiar with the references.

These days, the authors would have Scylla represented by the six siblings of the Kardashian Klan and Charybdis would be Ryan Seacrest who created the inescapable vortex that is Kardashian tv.

 

I was in the 6th grade in 1954-55. By then, most families had televisions. In the 5th grade, the school play was a musical -- I forget the title. But, the 6th grade musical was a take-off on Jackie Gleason's "The Honeymooners."

[+ nycman]

expect audiences to get references like the judgement of Paris, or Scylla and Charybdis

 

Ok....Judgement of Paris...I knew.

 

In fact it helped me with todays NYTimes Crosswrod Puzzle:

 

105 Across: Apple of Discord thrower (4 letters)......ANSWER

 

But I had to look up "Scylla and Charybdis".

 

Of course if you had used it in reference to Art History....I would have stood 1/2 a chance......

 

After all...here's a Fusili for that....HERE

 

Bonus trivia round.....what 1980's hit featured these opening lyrics:

 

"You consider me the young apprentice

Caught between the Scylla and Charybdis"

 

Answer.....HERE

[+ WilliamM]

The Gold Apple recording for this event is available on Amazon.

[bostonman]

The Gold Apple recording for this event is available on Amazon.

 

I think you're mistaken. I don't think there are any plans to release a commercial recording of the Encores production (unfortunately). The full-length recording available on Amazon is from a 2014 Texas production, and was released 2 years ago.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Apple-first-full-length-recording/dp/B00U05XORG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497049883&sr=8-1&keywords=the+golden+apple

[+ WilliamM]

I think you're mistaken. I don't think there are any plans to release a commercial recording of the Encores production (unfortunately). The full-length recording available on Amazon is from a 2014 Texas production, and was released 2 years ago.

 

Thanks. I should have read the reviews more closely. My mistake.