The Golden Apple NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (77)
See it if Good songs, fantastic singing. Overall good show. 1st act (Iliad) is solid fun clever & understandable.
Don't see it if 2nd act (Odyssey) is very confusing and unfocussed. Only a good knowledge of the original kept me interested. Read more
See it if You enjoy experiencing lesser known musicals. The singing & orchestrations were gorgeous. Act1 is strong & very entertaining.
Don't see it if Act2 kind of flew off the rails for me. Found it slow, confusing and overly long. It's a shame since Act 1 was strong. Still glad I saw it.
See it if the you like innovative theater. 1954's GA feels new. Sometimes it tries too hard, but often succeeds. Many great voices. Mendez stands out!
Don't see it if you only like classic musicals. The score has hints of G&S, opera, Copland, Gershwin, etc. Clever lyrics, but some are lost to bad diction. Read more
See it if enjoy Encore's shows. Not great music but production does the most with what it has with plot. Good cast and nice costumes.
Don't see it if you like great music. Encores does shows that it's nice to sample once. This is one of them.
See it if /4 superb dancing/B. Cowperthwaite as Paris is star in the making; Lindsay Mendez as Helen of Troy winning songstress
Don't see it if musical transfer of the heavy Helen/Ulysses tale to 1900s US farming community strains credulity as cheeky entertainment vehicle
See it if tales of the ancient Greeks done operatic style by a talented singing cast
Don't see it if no talk ... a bit slow... sometimes confusing
See it if you want to see the stories of both Helen and Odysseus adapted, chopped to bits and crammed into less than 2 and a half hours.
Don't see it if you struggle with sung-through musicals.
See it if You are an Encores completist. I thoroughly enjoyed Big River and The New Yorkers recently but this show just was not up to the usual level.
Don't see it if You don't want to see a dated show with only a few good songs. Would not recommend this. I left at intermission.
Critic Reviews (18)
"These are the ingredients of a camp Americana operetta, which is what 'The Golden Apple' could so easily have been. But oh, the music: 135 glorious minutes of it, unsullied by dialogue...The glory of 'The Golden Apple' is a series of complex musical scenes and let’s-call-them-arias that define their own territory...The overall tone is generically cheerful and cute. There is way too much mimed jollity...There are some compensatory charms in the production’s make-do spirit."
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"The essential silliness of an incoherent plot takes nothing away from the qualities that have made the score treasured by Broadway cultists...The music has an infectiously Coplandesque appeal, careering from folksy to modern...The performances were utterly charming. But the true strength of the production lay in Berman’s musical direction of a plush-by-Broadway-standards orchestra playing spectacularly intricate, exuberant orchestrations. Earwormy bliss."
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"It's hit and myth, frankly...The delightful and punchy orchestral prelude gets things off to a rousing start — but it’s a mixed bag from there. Suffice it to say that compacting the whole Trojan War and its aftermath gets a bit zzz-inducing...Director Michael Berresse has assembled a game and talented cast of Broadway vets and new faces...When all is said and sung, the seldom-performed show is a curiosity worth seeing."
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"An unusual, daring and unapologetically brilliant 1954 musical...The Encores! staging is clean and simple but vibrant and beautifully sung by a fine cast led by Mikaela Bennett...Whether 'The Golden Apple' grows on you or not, this production shows off the Encores! series at its best, in producing a unique and extraordinary but underappreciated musical that probably would not have otherwise received another major New York production."
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"Individual elements may be scrumptious, but consumed together you're likely to walk away with a massive stomachache...Unfortunately, this ambitious staging of an even more ambitious musical can't manage to keep the show's wings from melting under the blazing stage lights...There's just so much going on, audience members are liable to tune out from sheer exhaustion. This is inherent in the script and not for lack of effort by director Michael Berresse and his capable cast."
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"Bookwriter/lyricist John Latouche mixes literary wit with hearty folksiness...An excitingly eclectic Americana sound that's rarely heard on Broadway...Lindsay Mendez shines brightly as Helen, singing with warmth, humor and gleeful sexuality...There are plenty of juicy supporting roles to go around and Encores! has gathered a top cast to play them...A musical that retains its youthful vim with its consistent cleverness...This one deserves a far greater following."
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"While the show certainly has its serious, deeply moving sections...overall it's notable for the creators' wonderfully light touch, and there's general agreement that the Moross/Latouche score is among the very best ever created for a flop Broadway musical...The quality and range of the music in 'The Golden Apple' is astounding, the lyrics true genius...One of the essential series' finest and most noteworthy achievements."
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"Excellently presented but underwhelming due to the patchy material...What may have been smart and cute long ago in a small Off-Broadway theater becomes dull on a large stage...Latouche’s lyrics have wit and craft, but his book is weak...Latouche and Moross’ efforts yielded a collection of likable songs...Berresse’s staging is lively and inventive...This spirited and mildly entertaining incarnation is an exciting event for musical theater aficionados, but is ultimately an uneven experience."
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