Katherine Hernandez | Banner On opening night for the “The Apple Tree” at California Baptist University, Maddison Rickard, sophmore theater major, applies makeup with Katie Shaw, senior business administration major, and Shannon Murphy, freshman theatre major.
The love story of a distant pair of family relatives came alive on the Wallace Theatre stage during California Baptist University’s first play for the fall season, “The Apple Tree.”
The play consisted of three parts, “The Diary of Adam and Eve,” “The Lady or the Tiger” and “Passionella: A Romance of the ’60s.” Each segment provided the audience with different themes that captivated the audience of the theater.
The play first debuted on-stage as a musical in 1966 at the Shubert Theater on Broadway. During the original set of performances, there were a total of 463 shows into 1967.
During “The Diary of Adam and Eve,” Jacob Nye, senior theatre major, played Adam. Eve was played by Gabrielle Green, senior theatre major. Green brought a warmth to the role seldom expressed by individuals portraying the character on the stage.
The beginnings of Christian beliefs were told in a unique perspective. Nye and Green accurately portrayed how the growing relationship between Adam and Eve is parallel to the relationships often seen in today’s society.
Several times during this segment, the audience laughed at how Adam & Eve’s relationship complemented, and at times, annoyed each other. But, one thing the audience may not have expected, was how the overall performance of this cast could move the audience to tears during the last 10 minutes.
Audiences should prepare for the water works as the segment in the play beautifully brought its audience through a journey of every frustrating, happy and sad moment in Adam and Eve’s life.
While “The Apple Tree” retold those key moments within the play, the performances of the actors and set pieces made the CBU retelling wholly unique.
The next segment,“The Lady or The Tiger” told a story of jealousy. Maddison Rickard, sophomore theatre major, played the princess who has a forbidden love affair with a knight, Sanjar, played by Jarrod Maas, sophomore theatre major.
The story tells how their love affair is found out and the princess is torn between saving her lover’s life or watching her beloved Sanjar love another.
During the final segment of the play, “Passionella: A Romance of the ’60s,” the main starlet was played by Melanie Overton, senior Christian studies major, whose outstanding performance resembled the humor of Tina Fey.
Overton plays the main character, Ella, perfectly, especially when Ella is starstruck with fame as she transforms into the virtous Passionella. The comedic ending to “The Apple Tree,” a show that meditated about the own agency that we have as individuals shows that nearly any situation, people always have the ability to make their own choices.
