Songwriters and librettists
Jerry Bock
And
Sheldon Harnick
followed their once-in-a-lifetime success with
Fiddler On The Roof
by writing
The Apple Tree
, an experimental musical that adapted three short stories,
Mark Twain
's
"The Diary Of Adam And Eve,"
Frank R. Stockton
"The Lady Or The Tiger?,"
and
Jules Feiffer
"Passionella,"
each with a cast featuring
Alan Alda
,
Barbara Harris
, and
Larry Blyden
. There turned out to be little to tie the three tales together, although each was a love story with unconventional complications. The tone of the work varied from romantic to satiric even within each story, and the acting tended to be so precious and cloying that it was hard for the viewer (and now the listener) to have much emotional involvement. Nevertheless, a new show by the authors of the still-running
probably couldn't have been a major flop, and
managed to run for over a year. The cast album reveals competent writing and particularly enthusiastic performances by
Harris
, though the only memorable song is
"What Makes Me Love Him?,"
which has some of the funny, touching quality of
Fiddler
"Do You Love Me?"
~ William Ruhlmann