Apple of My Eye – Paradise in the Vault

This is the musical story of the life of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, set in a subterranean vaulted space (it’s chilly and slightly creepy, is this a horror?). Lit quite effectively by the steady blue light of four appetisingly shiny apple Mac computer screens, arced around to face the audience.

As a self-confessed computer nerd, I’m intrigued to hear the story, get the information, read the data and the motivations that created Steve Jobs. And to some extent Joel Goodman’s script delivers this, albeit in a (perhaps appropriately) mechanical and monotone way. Using the computer screens as a power-point backcloth to Stephen Smith’s musical monologue is a clever device.

However, I am struggling to understand why Smith is using a radio head mic down here in this tiny space with a stone vault above his head and a perfectly great natural acoustic, and he is standing only 3 metres away from me …. singing!? At that range any singing, even without a mic, is …awkward. Ironically, at this range you have to be super-confident, and I feel for Smith in this extreme environment.

I am also struggling to find the drama in Steve job’s corporate rise to greatness, or the musicality in Smith’s delivery. Which is disappointing, given that Goodman’s last script was the knockout, Alan Turing – a Musical Biography, which I saw and reviewed earlier in the day!

A one-man musical telling the story of the life of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, may have seemed like a great idea on paper, but, well … no!

Running time – 50 mins

Reviewer: Greg Holstead

Reviewed: 6^th August 2023

North West End Rating: