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| John Beal. |
"In Lieu of Reviews"
For background on how this previously
unpublished series—introducing all mainstream New York shows between 1970 and
1975—came to be and its relationship to my three The Encyclopedia of the New York Stage volumes (covering every New
York play, musical, revue, and revival between 1920 and 1950), please check the
prefaces to any of the earlier entries beginning with the letter “A.” See the
list at the end of the current entry.
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| Ray Edelstein, Raymond Singer, Irene Bunde. |
THE
CANDYAPPLE [Comedy/Family/Religion/Romance]
A: John Grismer; D: Stuart Bishop; S/L: David R. Ballou; C: Sara Brook; P:
William F. De Seta; T: Edison Theatre; 11/23/70 (1)
This “pathetic little comedy,” as Douglas Watt put
it, was about an apostate priest (Ray Edelstein), scheduled to officiate at his
brother’s imminent marriage, only for his apostasy to be discovered. The priest
is himself planning to marry, and arrives on the scene by motorcycle, his
girlfriend (Joy Garrett) in tow. When he makes the potentially shocking
announcement of his plans, his father (one-time movie star John Beal), a
supposedly devout Catholic, reveals surprisingly negative feelings about faith;
in fact, he converted so he could marry his wife. (Catholicism is considered
here the “candyapple of religions.)
Clive Barnes, calling this “a quite astonishingly
bad play,” noted that it was the kind of work that explains why critics can
often be cruel. Richard Watts said the work was “incredibly clumsy and
tiresome,” and Martin Gottfried decided it was “a perfect script for the
Ridiculous Theatrical Company.”
Previous entries:
Abelard and
Heloise
Absurd Person
Singular
AC/DC
“Acrobats”
and “Line”
The Advertisement/
All My Sons
All Over
All Over Town
All the Girls Came
Out to Play
Alpha Beta
L’Amante Anglais
Ambassador
American Gothics
Amphitryon
And Miss Reardon
Drinks a Little
And They Put
Handcuffs on the Flowers
And Whose Little
Boy Are You?
Anna K.
Anne of Green
Gables
Antigone
Antiques
Any Resemblance to Persons Living or Dead
Applause
Ari
As You Like It
Augusta
The Au Pair Man
Baba Goya [Nourish the Beast]
The Ballad of Johnny Pot
Barbary Shore
The Bar that Never Closes
The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel
The Beauty Part
The Beggar’s Opera
Behold! Cometh the Vanderkellens
Be Kind to People Week
Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill
Bette Midler’s Clams on a Half-Shell Revue
Black Girl
Black Light Theatre of Prague
Black Picture Show
Black Sunlight
The Black Terror
Black Visions
Les Blancs
Blasts and Bravos: An Evening with H,L. Mencken
Blood
Bluebeard
Blue Boys
Bob and Ray—The Two and Only
Boesman and Lena
The Boy Who Came to Leave
Bread
A Breeze from the Gulf
Brief Lives
Brother Gorski
Brothers
Bullshot Crummond
Bunraku
The Burnt Flower Bed
Butley
Button, Button
Buy Bonds, Buster
The Cage
Camille
Candide (1)
Candide (2)
