Apollo

Book/Lyrics by Ellen Johnston
Music by Emily Chiu

SYNOPSIS

Once upon a time, in a far-off, shabby aquarium, there lived an octopus named Apollo, who may-or-may-not have been prophetic (one of his keepers spent a little too much time in the chemical closet, so it’s hard to tell). Apollo was a bit of a douchebag, kind of like the original Greek god, but people seemed to love him anyway. Or at least, Keiko did. And he loved her back (not like that, perverts). Every day, Keiko would bring Apollo a baked yam from her pink Toyota yam van, and they would do their exercises together — as her doctor told her on her 88th birthday, “if you don’t use it, you lose it”.  Apollo and Keiko lived happily, despite his mouth-breathing sea slug tankmate, Eugene; the indifferent aquarium patrons; and the angry Ukrainian philosopher-janitor who threatened to cook him on a daily basis.

But then one day, his prophetic powers become an international sensation and capitalistic chaos descends upon the aquarium, bringing with it an unmanageable cult with terrible merch, a media frenzy with far-too-many sequins, and no Keiko. Where’s Keiko? 

Apollo is a show about the dangers of the cult of personality, the inevitability of mortality, and a community of outsiders who come together despite, or perhaps, because of that fact.

(2 hr)

WATCH

LISTEN

Apollo’s uninhibited and lyrical score is as wide-ranging as its audience and unusual cast of characters — a cheerfully chaotic mosaic of Whitacre-esque ocean soundscapes, bombastic Ukrainian opera, Eurotrash electro pop, angsty teenage punk rock, and Japanese folk-inspired songs. 

00:00 - Prologue
02:24 - I Hate The Octopus (ft. Daniel J. Edwards)
03:12 - Barley Tea (ft. Mini Kim, Leanne Gadow)
04:24 - Apollo Knew (ft. Cori Jaskier, Trevor Bunce)
05:25 - Zaztro’s Circus (ft. David Merino)
05:59 - Kool Aid (ft. Emily Chiu)
07:11 - Free Apollo (ft. Cori Jaskier)
07:53 - Swimming Together
08:29 - Turning White (ft. Minji Kim)

PHOTOS

Photos by Sub/Urban Photography, from the Tisch New Musicals Workshop

AUDIENCE

(13+) Equally designed for precocious children and childish adults, this genre-bending musical comedy bounces between the silly and Sisyphean with equal measure. While this show contains mature language and themes, it also challenges adult audiences to think more like children. What does it mean to look through the aquarium glass and consider what’s in front of you? “What if it’s not us looking at the fish, but them looking at us?” 

Apollo is a show for people who like offbeat cult classics that make you cry and laugh at the same time. Think of an underwater Rocky Horror Picture Show, as performed by the Muppets, with the chaotic bleeding heart of Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. 

ORIGIN STORY

Ellen and Emily met at New York University’s MFA musical theatre writing program, and wrote Apollo as their thesis piece. in the summer of 2016, Emily was reading about the life of Paul the Octopus (an animal oracle who famously predicted the World Cup results in 2010) and Ellen was listening to a podcast about the last days of the oracle at Delphi. They decided that it would be interesting to write about the death of an oracle ..and all its philosophical ramifications. The show was written straddling the 2016 US election, which made several of its themes (personality cults, the collision of power and money, humanity’s questionable power over nature, existentialist philosophy, and the basic question of who are we as a community) much more prescient. In the years since that first draft, these issues have only increased — some to a terrifyingly specific degree — Ukraine, the pandemic, and the continued rise of facism around the world. 

Development History

• (Currently in Development) Eight Episode Podcast Series
  Highland Arts Theatre Playwright Unit, Nova Scotia, Canada

• (2021) Semi-Finalist
  National Music Theater Conference, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Waterford, CT

• (2020) Finalist
  Live & In Color Musical Theatre Development Award, Salem, CT

• (2019) Semi-Finalist
  Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy Competition

• (Fall 2017) Developmental Workshop
  Tisch New Musicals Workshop, in collaboration with New Studio on Broadway, New York

• (Spring 2017) 29 Hour Reading
  NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, New York

• (January 2017) Writing Residency
  Goodspeed Musicals, East Haddam, CT

• (Summer 2016)
  Conceived at NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program, New York