Vacation Notes 6 aka The Apple Tree and The Apple Tree Stage Door
For what was my last scheduled day in the City, it began quietly. Or as quiet as New York City Sundays ever begin. Even as the checkout time was 12.00PM, the need to be at the Studio 54 box office before Sunday breakfast/brunch meant a relatively early start to the day. :) Checkout plus a stacking of the luggage in the lobby for later retrieval post-Stage Door saw a minor baggage sculpture emerge - although, it never fell :)
Sunday Brunch was at Maroons - chosen because it'd been mentioned in rysler's earliest RPFS fic. :) There were biscuits (with sugar crystals on top), and mimosas, and fried dumplings (four to a serving). There were eggs - hollandaise, and sunny side up, and there was French Brioche Toast. :) I would imagine that had we not had seats at the matinée performance, we'd be still sitting at Maroons late into the afternoon... :)
Another trip on the underground system saw us back at 50th street - a quick walk up to the theatre was interrupted by a stop for pastilles at the local pharmacy. I'll only note that I'll never remember another trip where I've consumed so many pastilles over a short number of days. ;)
For the closing performance, the souvenir boutique had t-shirts, windowcards, and the books that the plays were based from. I availed myself to windowcards; with the exception of Wicked, I'd picked up one windowcard for every show that I saw this time around. :) Mezzanine seats - front row, but to the stage left (AA13/15) - are higher, but closer than (by my guess) half of the orchestra seats. We were aisle and one seat in, and for this revival, the orchestra had been split into the two sets of boxes - so the conductor, the strings section, and percussion were at stage left (the audio reflects this), and the brass section were on stage right.
The show. I think by now, most have heard/seen/reputed to have heard or seen the City Centre Encores! reprise of this musical in 2005 - that had starred Kristin Chenoweth, Malcolm Getz and Michael Cerveris. An Encores! presentation tends to be lacking in scenic design, and the overall staging tends to be replete with scripts (for some parts) and minimal design. One of the ongoing difficulties with this Roundabout transfer has been that the scenic design remained as sparse - complete with ladders and boards for scenery in the first Act.
The strongest part of this musical has almost always been Act 1 - it runs the longest, has the better songs, and if it weren't too short to be a 'complete show,' most would probably be satisfied with its storyline. Act 2 - The Lady or the Tiger is more... pop-sounding in some senses - and the storyline is weaker - the literal title of the act is the underlying dilemma. Act 3 has the songs that are (by design) showcasing the range of the lead actress - Barbara Harris in the original cast, and Kristin Chenoweth in this revival. Complete with quick-change constuming, and dazzling dance numbers, it is the one act where the distinction between actress/and playing an actress blurs the line.
Were there ad-libbing and quasi-breaks in the fourth wall? Probably. Could it be considered within the context of the performance - yes. Evoking the Evita/Eva Peron/Glinda raising of arms? Yes. Having too much fun with the whip as Princess Barbára? Yes.
One of the things that the songs doesn't capture as well (and the show does) is the continuity of themes from one act to the next (beyond noticeable reprises). Marc Kudisch carries some singular traits from his performance as Snake through to the Balladeer/Tiger-keeper to the Narrator roles. Themes such as... liking/loving the colour brown. :)
All in all, it was an exciting performance within context of it being the final performance, and I'm certain that there were quite a few Kristin fangirls at the theatre all weekend long. :) Act 2 ran slower than necessary as evidenced by the possible nodding off of some theatre patrons. ;)
Post-performance speeches were heartfelt and kept relatively short (three minutes?), but this was balanced by the post-Stage Door chaos. The stage door for Studio 54 is on 53rd street, and by the time rysler and I had exited the theatre, there was already a crush of fans at both sides of the barricades. Of note, there was a persistent fan that kept asking whether Kristin Chenoweth/Marc Kudisch/Brian D'Arcy James had left theatre yet... this near-whining (whinging?!) coming from adult male that kept leaning against the barricades and yelling his questions made me wince. Many times. o+o;
It being a relatively cold Sunday (what happened to warm temperatures??!), I took to taking snapshots of random people, and then of Kristin and her assistants at the very end. ;)
I am very grateful to sammysam for standing amongst the throngs and getting a signed Playbill for me :) This made up for the random interruptions of autograph-seekers that believed standing beyond the barricades would actually mean getting an autograph. It does not. It means getting told to stand within the barricades (again!).
After the initial horde of fans had cleared from the barricades, there were ample opportunities to snap pictures of Ms Chenoweth and so, I've included a few here. :)
