Direction Gives Spark, Sensuality To an Unimpressive Apple Tree:

If ever there was a play that could "touch" anyone, it is The Apple Tree. Director Scott Schwartz interprets Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock's version of the Biblical story of the first man and woman so that it becomes a sensuous and visually stimulating production.

Although the original script and lyrics are unimpressive and even unoriginal, Schwartz's direction of this well-known storyline is unique: It manipulates color and space to enhance its dramatic impact.

The first scene depicts a sleepy Adam (Michael Wertheim) exploring his new surroundings and naming things as he establishes his identity. He calls birds "flyers," fish "swimmers" and so on.

All goes well, until Eve (Jessica Walling) awakens from her lifeless sleep, a symbol of her creation by God. She has the uncanny ability to call thing by their correct names; what Adam calls a `four-pronged white squirter', she instinctively calls a cow. Her superior knowledge disturbs Adam, but he reassures himself by flaunting his comic abilities--all of which has nothing to do with terrible fate, bit it gives levity to the otherwise grim storyline.

From the minute that they meet, the personalities of the two protagonists complement each other. Initially, Adam has a hard time sharing his territory with a "long-haired creature," and finds her proximity to him disconcerting. In time, each learns to depend on the other. The two characters establish a congenial rapport--having agreed on the fact that they were the only two creatures who could talk--despite all their disagreements about whether something was a "pickerel" or a "swimmer" or whether Eve was "raining" or "crying".

The characters that Harnick and Bock have created condone social stereotypes of men and women: Eve is interested in her gardening, while Adam, with echoes of My Fair Lady's Henry Higgins, thinks Eve's emotions are "sentimental hogwash."

And lyrics like," I would love him even if he abused me ..." are unnecessary, given the artistic license that the director has. Even the innovations and nuances that the original writers presented in the adaptation of the biblical text fail to surface in the portrayal of the characters.

Despite its questionable interpretation, The Apple Tree's lights, sets and visual effects make it worth watching. The set is simple black. Vibrantly colored cloth draped across the stage corresponds to the mood of the scene--a pictorially effective device. For instance, when two mysterious changelings on the stage (gracefully portrayed by Heather Taussig and Melissa Strogatz) wave a beautiful sheer blue cloth in the air to simulate ripples in a pond, the visual effect is fascinating. Red cloth representing fire and light blue for rain become effective symbols when combined with the tinted lighting and the ethereal music.

When God dispels Adam and Eve from Eden, the changelings strip the set of all color. They deface the tree and remove the colored cloths that represent the spirit of Eden, which reduces the set to blackness and acts as a metaphor for the darkness which surrounds the couple's existence after their expulsion.

Other dramatic novelties include the portrayal of reflections in the pond that Eve loves to visit. Taussig, acting as Eve's reflection, mimics her gestures; the two move in synchronicity to musical director Bryan McAdams' mood-enhancing piano music.

Taussig easily claims the title of most theatrically fluent and effective performer for her portrayal of everything from a fragile changeling in Eden to a violent Cain. Michael Wertheim is effective as the insecure Adam, and Walling smoothly transforms the self-assured Eve into a dependent and nurturing mother. Vanessa Parise deserves praise for her convincing portrayal of the Snake with the draconian character which includes Eve to succumb to temptation.

The denouement depicts Eve's death and Adam's realization that although they had been expelled from Eden, for Adam "wherever Eve was, there was Eden." Schwartz direct this scene well and the combined effects of the set, the lights and the music along with the spatial placement of the characters present a dramatic and effective finale.

Although the musical talents of these performers lack the finesse that might have added a scene of professionality to the play, Schwartz's direction and Emily Brodsky and Roger Wong's production provide scenic portrayals and novel adaptations of the original script.