Germany Jeremy Bock and Sheldon Harnick, The Apple Tree: Soloists and chorus of Stadttheater Bremerhaven, Philharmonic Orchestra Bremerhaven / Davide Perniceni (conductor). Stadttheater Bremerhaven, 22.3.2024. (DMD)
Production:
Director – Rennik-Jan Neggers
Set and Costumes – Alexander McCargar
Choreography – Nele Neugebauer
Lighting – Daniel Lang
Dramaturgy – Torben Selk
Chorus director – Mario El Fakih Hernández
Casts:
The Diary of Adam and Eve
Eve – Victoria Kunze
Adam – Andrew Irwin
Snake – Marcin Hutek
Voice of God – Ulrich Burdack
The Lady or the Tiger?
Princess Barbra – Boshana Milkov
Captain Sanjar – Marcin Hutek
King Aerik – Ulrich Burdack
Minstrel – Patrick Ruyters
Nadjira – Sydney Gabbard
Passionella: A Romance from the Sixties
Ella / Passionella – Victoria Kunze
Flipp / George Brown – Anrew Irwin
Narrator – Ulrich Burdack
Dear Good Fairy – Katharina Diegritz
Many German opera companies pride themselves on including at least one rediscovery of a hidden gem in their annual season, the first production of an opera or musical in Germany or a world premiere. The music theatre section of Stadttheater Bremerhaven is no exception. This year they presented the first German language production of the musical The Apple Tree, subtitled Variations on the subject of temptation. The German text is by Hartmut H. Forche. The musical comes from composer Jeremy Bock, of The Fiddler on the Roof fame, and lyricist Sheldon Harnick. Its inaugural production, directed by Mike Nichols, was on Broadway from 1966 for 463 performances. Dramaturg Torben Selk tells us in the programme notes that The Apple Tree was the first musical to consist of three self-contained parts, just as Puccini’s opera Il trittico.
The first, The Diary of Adam and Eve is based on a short story by Mark Twain, wittily charting the lives of the title characters from their beginnings to Eve’s death. It features a soprano, a tenor (Adam and Eve), a baritone (the Snake) and the (spoken) voice of God. The Lady or the Tiger? is based on a text of the same title by Frank A. Stockton. The plot is set in a kingdom with an unusual system of justice: the male accused must choose between two doors – if he is innocent, he will choose the door with a beautiful woman behind it, who he will then marry. Behind the other door, representing his guilt, waits a hungry tiger ready to kill him. In the musical, the captain has been discovered in an illicit embrace with the princess and must now choose between the two doors. The princess has found out behind which door the tiger will be on that occasion. She then realises that if the captain does not choose the door of death, he will have to marry the girl behind the other door. The musical ends before the princess has made her decision which door to point the captain to.
The third part of the musical is entitled Passionella, based on a text by Jules Feiffer. Ella works as a chimney sweep. She would rather be a rich and famous film actress. A good fairy (in truth the snake from paradise) makes her wish come true, for a limited period of time (as in Cinderella). While rich and famous, she falls in love with the man of her dreams, but he initially rejects her for ‘not being real’. Only later does he realise that he loves her and they plan to get married. When her time as a movie star is up, she turns back into Ella, and her dream man turns from the famous singer into an equally much more ordinary man, George L. Brown. They get to know each other and will live together happily ever after. Here the main characters are soprano, tenor and bass (narrator), supported by a chorus.
The production overall told the stories convincingly, with a consistent set and lighting, simple and functional in shape, beautiful in colour and imaginatively lit. The fresh and cheerful costumes contributed to the overall feel-good effect. The design team consisting of Alexander McCargar, and Daniel Lang clearly worked well together. The cast and chorus were creatively choreographed by Nele Neugebauer. Davide Perniceni conducted the music with considerable awareness of and feeling for the rhythms and arcs typical of the musical genre and the core orchestra played with dedication. The individual roles were cast from the opera company, rather than with stage actors — certainly a luxury for a musical. Without exception, the singers were very well able to adjust their voices from having to project, without amplification, to the far ends of the theatre space, to projecting to the microphone just inches away from their mouths. They were equally at ease with and convincing in the long passages of spoken dialogue in between the music numbers. This was altogether an enjoyable and entertaining evening resulting from the discovery of a little gem.
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe