The Apple Tree, as the title suggests, starts in the Garden of Eden, so I’ll bite into that scene first. It’s too long. Mel Brooks did the whole History of the World, Part I, in 92 minutes.

The production started well, but bogged down under the weight of too many apples. They should have cherry-picked the best parts to get to the core of the story quicker.

My two principle takeaways from the garden were, first, that newcomer Ciarra Stroud, as Eve, is someone to watch in the future, and, second, I want to read Mark Twain’s The Diaries of Adam and Eve, upon which it’s based, because, as great as the authors Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, and Jerome Coopersmith have shown themselves to be in other shows, they don’t have a Prize for American Humor named after them.

I’ll pause here, as did the show for intermission, to mention that Mike Nichols not only directed The Apple Tree on Broadway, but, two years later, also directed Plaza Suite, another show featuring three distinct scenes with different characters played by the same actors (though not in this production), for which he won the Tony Award for Best Direction. That’s quite a niche.

I would have loved to have seen Barbara Harris’s Tony Award-winning performance in The Apple Tree in its entirety, but, in particular, I wonder how she attacked the second scene, The Lady or the Tiger. In this production, I thought the part of Princess Barbara might have been more effective played more light-heartedly. Monte Hall always had a good time when the contestants had to choose a door on Let’s Make a Deal, though I admit their lives weren’t at stake.

The finale, Passionella, made me think of Avenue Q, though not until I realized that I carry a photograph of the actress, Leah Morrow, with me next to some random puppets, on my phone, as evidence of when I saw her as Kate Monster in 2014. Do I think of her as a monster talent? I don’t know, but once again her wonderful comic chops were brought to bear, a joy to watch.