Roundabout Theatre Company's new staging of the Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick musical will play Studio 54, starting Nov. 28 toward a Dec. 14 official opening. Gary Griffin directs and Andy Blankenbuehler choreographs the limited engagement slated to run through March 11, 2007.
James (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Lieutenant of Inishmore) will appear as Adam, Sanjar and Flip. Kudisch (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Assassin) takes on Snake. Charles (Woman in White, Big River) will play King Arik, Employer and Producer. Chenoweth — who starred in the City Center Encores! production of The Apple Tree in 2005 — returns in the central roles of Eve, Princess Barbara and Ella.
Featuring music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and a book by Bock and Harnick (with additional book material by Jerome Coopersmith), The Apple Tree is "a unique evening of three one-act musicals about men, women and a little thing called temptation" based on Mark Twain's "The Diary of Adam and Eve," Frank R. Stockton's "The Lady or the Tiger?" and Jules Feiffer's "Passionella."
The company will also feature Meggie Nicole Cansler, Julie Connors, Sarah Jane Everman, Jennifer Taylor Farrell, Justin Keyes, Lorin Lataro, Mike McGowan, Sean Palmer, Dennis Stowe and Eric Santagata.
The design team includes John Lee Beatty (sets), Jess Goldstein (costumes), Donald Holder (lights), Dan Moses Schreier (sound) and Charles LaPointe (hair & wigs). Rob Fisher provides musical direction and vocal/dance arrangements and Jonathan Tunick handles orchestrations. Bock and Harnick's The Apple Tree, which featured a Tony-winning performance by Barbara Harris, originally opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in October 1966. Larry Blyden and Alan Alda also starred in the Mike Nichols staging which was nominated for seven Tony Awards including Best Musical.
Songs in the score include "Here in Eden," "Eve," "The Apple Tree (Forbidden Fruit)," "It's a Fish," "Go to Sleep Whatever You Are," "What Makes Me Love Him," "I'll Tell You A Truth," "Make Way," "I've Got What You Want," "Tiger, Tiger," "Oh, to Be a Movie Star," "Gorgeous,""(Who, Who, Who, Who) Who Is She?," "Wealth," and "You Are Not Real."
Tickets for The Apple Tree will be available exclusively to American Express Card members beginning Oct. 17 by calling (212) 719-1300 or by visiting the Studio 54 box office, 254 West 54th Street. Tickets for the general public will go on sale Nov. 4 by calling (212) 719-1300 or by visiting www.roundabouttheatre.org.
