Evening star., 1954-04-14

theater's more ingenious eleme
Strait-jacket that high costs !
have imposed upon creative
talent in the drama. Downtown,
in the low-rent district, play
makers can let their imagina-
tions fly without losing their own
and everybody else's shirts.
There is no resemblance be-
tween this artistic movement
and the one that blossomed in
Greenwich Village in the rebel
lious 2Os. Those identified with
that earlier anarchy were ex-
tremists whose revolt included
rejection of haircuts, baths, hot
water and alcoholic drinks that
were non-hazardous.
The new Off f-Broadwayites are
tidily dressed, tidy-minded hu-
mans who have kept their MEM
berships in Sardi's and their
charge accounts at the better
Fifth avenue stores. They have
Just, moved a short subway dis
tance out of Times Square to
see if they cannot create down
there. at reasonable cost. theater
productions they can bring up
town safely with at least a slight
off-beat flavor.
We went down to the busiest
center of this off-BroadWay
venture, the Phoenix at Second
avenue and Twelfth street. op-
Grated by two of the keenest
minds in show business. These
belong to T. Edward Hambleton
and Norris Houghton.
The trip, the first professional
one we ever made outside the
theater's high rent area, proved
wonderfully rewarding. 1t turned
up a $4,000 musical (Which up
town would have cost three
times as much) called The |
Golden Apple" which happens
to be the best musical we have
seen this season. 1t has mag
ination, freshness, satlrlcal
bounce and such contagious
zest for life that it will move up
town on April 20.
One of New YorkS liveliest'
hopes is that the original pro-
ducers, now to- be Joined by |
Alfred de Liagre, will use the
happiest of all advertising lines |
of the season: "The Golden
Apple-With the original off,
Broadway cast 1t is quite
cast, including Wasnington's !
Bibi Osterwald. Not big names, |
but people who know their pro-
fession and are delighted to be I
practicing it even at the Phoenix |
pay-scale of S1C0-a-week maxi
mum. When it moves uptown,
the scale and the boXoff1ce
prices will be adjusted accord |
ingly but in conSonance with |
the humble beginning Of the
musical.
"The Golden Apple" written
by John Latouche and composed |
by Jerome Moross, is a smartly |
conceived effort to comfort and /
delight tortured moderns with !
the reminder that humans have
been sidestepplng disaster ever |
since mans first morning.
1 1t accomplishes this by Jug /
Cling mythology until it has
Homer's Ulysses transmitted into
a fellow of the same name living
in the State of Washington at
the turn of the goth century.
This hero comes back from the
Spanish American war to
wife, a wonderful girl to come
home to, name of Penelope. He
also finds himself surrounded by
neighborS who have the hames
and natures of other Iliad and
Oddysey characters. Helen,
Lovey Mars, Mrs. Juniper, Miss
Minerva, Mother Hare, Meme
lauS, etc.
In their contemporary guises,
each of these is up to precisely
the same things tnat Homer re-
corded. Some of them are try
ing to be good, others, trying to
enjoy being bad, and all Of them
acting, singing and dancing so
divertingly that there is no
choice but to be delighted by
them.
Mr.. Latouche in his para
phrase of Homer is by no means
a radical man with a word or
an idea, but he is one who has
faith that both can be worked
into fresh and attractive shapes.
1t works out, in one contrast |
ingly dull word, charmingly and |
If the transplanted Golden APP |
pie" fails to thrive in the more
arid uptown Broadway soil. its
admirers will be heartbroken.
n +
AS a musical comedy should
be, The Golden Apple" is both
comic and musical, qualities
which set it quite apart from
larger and much more lavish |
recent productions. 1t assumes
an amused and amusing atti-
tude toward sex, war. triumphal
homecomings. political conniv-
ing, the different ways of men |
and women, etc. 1t is pleasant |
of the MeSsrs. Latouche and |
Moross to recall that these
things can be funny at time
when so much evidence insists I
upon their desperate seriousness.
r7I,o v1nvfnrv1onYc in 'TTthn Child |