INTERVIEW: ‘Apple Boys’ revitalizes barbershop quartet in new musical
Photo: Amanda Ryan Paige, Jonothon Lyons, Jelani Remy and Teddy Yudain star in The Apple Boys: A Barbershop Quartet Musical. Photo courtesy of Richard Termine / Provided by Everyman Agency with permission.
Although barbershop quartets are often accompanied by sepia-tinged images of the early 20th century, this unique style of a cappella singing is not exclusively an art form of the past. Simply take a look at the new show The Apple Boys: A Barbershop Quartet Musical, which plays through Dec. 23 at HERE Arts Center in Downtown Manhattan.
The show — featuring a book by Jonothon Lyons, and music and lyrics by Ben Bonnema — is set in the most appropriate of neighborhoods: Coney Island. It’s the turn of the 20th century, and Jack Chapman III sets out to save his family’s apple orchard. It’s an important orchard, too, because Chapman is called the III for good reason: His grandfather is Johnny Appleseed.
Helping this fabled character is Nathan Handwerker, of Nathan’s Famous hot dogs; the world’s strongest man, Warren Lincoln Travis; and Lina “Hank” Beecher, designer of the first looping roller coaster. And if the audience is keeping track of the numbers: That’s four main characters, perfect for a barbershop quartet.
There’s more than 35 other characters in the musical, all played by the same actors who bring Jack, Nathan, Warren and Hank to life on stage. Those actors are Lyons as Travis, Amanda Ryan Paige as Hank, Jelani Remy as Jack and Teddy Yudain as Nathan.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Lyons on the development of the musical, which is directed by David Alpert. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What first inspired you to help create this project?
In 2012, my friend, Cameron Mahlstede, had the idea to start a barbershop quartet, so we recruited two friends of mine (Zach McNally and Lily Ockwell) and came up with the name The Apple Boys. For a few years we would just sing occasionally at The Manderley Bar (home of Sleep No More), but in late 2015 I started to feel like there was a musical to be written around these characters.
I had an idea for the story but wasn’t sure if I had it in me to write the actual script. When I expressed this to my friend, Mat Fraser, he told me to stop thinking so much and just try writing it and see what happens. So a few months later I met with composer/lyricist Ben Bonnema and pitched him the idea, asking if he would collaborate with me. As soon as he was on board, we were off to the races.
What was it like to work with Ben Bonnema and David Alpert?
Ben and I often comment on the ease of our collaboration. From day one there has been almost unanimous agreement about the major elements of the work: what kind of show it is, what spirit we want to evoke, what kind of comedy fits and what doesn’t. The vast majority of the songs he’s written for the show were exactly what I’d hoped for (or better) straight out of the gate. He’s a true wizard at musical composition, and I genuinely believe there’s no one else that could have does this as well as he has.
And I can same the same for David as a director. He has been working with us since the very beginning and, beyond directing, has given us a lot of dramaturgical guidance. He has helped us identify the weak and strong points in the narrative and constantly voices an accurate view of what the audience might be experiencing and how we can improve that.
Sometime during our second or third developmental presentation, I started to recognize that the quality of the show had grown beyond my initial vision for it. Ben, David and I were experiencing true synergy, and the show was now something bigger than any one of us. It was a thrilling realization and allowed me to start to listen to the show itself, rather than my own ideas, to find what the next best steps should be.
Did you have to conduct any research about Coney Island and this time period?
Yes, absolutely! The two primary areas of research for this show were turn-of-the-century Coney Island and the history of barbershop quartet culture. Every page I turned in either area proved to be a rich tapestry of hilarious and heartwarming true-life events and characters.
There were times when I had initially invented something, like a fictional rivalry between two circus strongmen, only to discover there was an actual rivalry between the real-life strongmen, Warren Lincoln Travis and John Baptist Gagnon. I also began frequenting present-day Coney Island and was delighted to discover so much of the civic pomp and circumstance of old still exists. For instance, every spring they hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the rides, and they even smash a bottle of seltzer on the hull of The Cyclone to christen the first ride of the season.
Have you always liked barbershop quartet music?
I can’t say that I was always interested in barbershop quartet music as a genre or hobby. A few years ago my only reference points to it were The Simpsons, The Music Man and The Dapper Dans. I didn’t hesitate though when my friend wanted to start a barbershop quartet, and I immediately enjoyed the experience of singing with what is basically a miniature choir. As I started to take the idea more seriously and read and learn more about it, my interest only grew. I’ve since joined the Barbershop Harmony Society and the New York men’s barbershop chorus, Voices of Gotham.
One of my favorite discoveries of the community is that these folks simply and genuinely love to sing. During the 10-minute break of a three-hour rehearsal, you’ll hear most of the chorus break up into quartets and keep singing. And after the rehearsal is over, many of them go to a bar around the corner where there is a back room they can keep singing in over drinks. That type of gathering has a name as well, the ‘afterglow.’
Were you always attached to act in the show as well? What’s that experience been like, acting in a show you wrote the book for?
Yes, I’ve always been a cast member through each iteration. The style of the show is rooted in vaudeville and cabaret, strongly inspired by acts like The Marx Brothers, who all wrote and performed their own work.
There are definitely challenges that come with acting and writing at the same time. One is that the show is still in development, so writing adjustments need to be made. And that requires a different focus than performing. Luckily I have a phenomenal director and an incredible composer/lyricist who are able to point out script issues that I may not notice from being up on the stage. The production made the smart move of setting up a preview performance with my understudy in so that I could watch the show from the audience, and that allowed me the outside eye to notice a lot of details I couldn’t see from on stage.
There is also the issue of not wanting to give any notes to other actors as a fellow cast member. As the book writer I may have a specific inflection in mind when I wrote a joke that could easily be explained, but as a fellow actor in the cast, I feel it would be disrespectful to suggest to someone a specific line reading. As we’ve all gotten closer though and the spirit of collaboration has grown, I’ve been encouraged and have felt a lot more freedom to communicate my intentions as a writer.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Apple Boys: A Barbershop Quartet Musical plays through Dec. 23 at HERE Arts Center in Downtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
