Copyright 2000 by Edward Willett

The Apple Tree, the Broadway musical Regina Lyric Light Opera is presenting at the Shumiatcher Theatre in the Mackenzie Art Gallery through Sunday afternoon, is a fabulous, funny show that shouldn't be missed.

Unfortunately, judging by the half-full houses on Wednesday and Thursday, it is being missed, by far too many people.

Why?

Most likely because it's not a well-known show. Never mind the fact the original ran for 463 performances on Broadway in 1967 and was nominated for six Tony awards. Never mind that its creators, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, are the same songwriting team that gave us Fiddler on the Roof, one of the most popular musicals of all time. Never mind that it's based on well-known short stories by Mark Twain (The Diary of Adam and Eve), Frank R. Stockton (The Lady or the Tiger?) and Jules Feiffer (Passionella).

All of that is, in too many people's minds, irrelevent, even if they're aware of it (which they probably aren't). The fact remains that The Apple Tree isn't one of the handful of musicals that have permeated public consciousness. It's not The Sound of Music. It's not The Phantom of the Opera. It's not My Fair Lady. And since people haven't heard of it, they decide to save the paltry $17 it would take to go see it and save up for the next time they can spend $80 on a second-rate touring production of one of the musicals they have heard of.

This fear in people's minds of encountering something new is a problem throughout the arts. The Mackenzie Art Gallery brings in fabulous show after fabulous show of art of all types--but it knows perfectly well that it's going to get record crowds only when it brings in something like the upcoming Impressionists show (which I'll be writing about next week, by the way). Why? Because people have heard of Monet and Cezanne, so they already know what they'll see when they go the gallery--they don't risk being challenged by something unexpected.

The Regina Symphony Orchestra often plays new works--but they know they have to include well-known works by older composers, preferably dead ones, or the audience will complain.

There are plenty of readers out there who read nothing but bestsellers by authors they've heard of. They'd never think of tackling the first novel by a promising new writer who hasn't won any awards or had much publicity. They don't know what might be in it, do they? They don't know what to expect. Better to stick to Tom Clancy or Stephen King or Michael Crichton.

A talented bunch of musicians have just released their first CD on an indie label? Let someone else take the risk of listening to it. Look, Celine Dion has another one out, get that instead.

That's human nature, I guess, and maybe it's not fair to blame people for it...but it's frustrating when you're on the other side of the equation, when you're one of those talented musicians or you're that new author or you're running an art gallery or you're producing The Apple Tree.

In fact, it can be equally frustrating even if you're one of those established artists or writers or composers whose fans know the sort of thing you create and expect you to keep creating pretty much the same thing. Many musicians and authors have attempted to move outside the box of their fans' expectations, only to find that their fans aren't willing to follow them into the unknown world outside.

But unfortunately for artists, they aren't comfortable inside boxes. Their creative urge demands that they continue to create new things, things that aren't exactly like the things they've already created, things that no one else has created.

And so, art has moved beyond the Impressionists, music has moved beyond Schubert, literature has moved beyond Jane Austen, musicals have advanced beyond Oklahoma!. New things are constantly being created.

You don't have to like the new stuff. Everybody has their own tastes, and that's all right. But at least, give the new stuff a chance.

You might be pleasantly surprised...and you'll make an artist, writer or performer very happy.

Posted September 22, 2004