Review: Apple of My Eye: The Steve Jobs Musical, Upstairs at The Gatehouse

Camden Fringe 2024

Steve Jobs, founder of the Apple Corporation, is synonymous with technology, innovation, and black turtleneck jumpers. Even if you know nothing about the man, you know what an iPhone is and it’s unlikely you haven’t used at least one Apple product in your life.

In a cultural moment fascinated by biopics, it’s almost surprising that someone hasn’t already set Jobs’ life to music. Joel Goodman is the first to do so as a musical, pipped to the post only slightly by an operatic interpretation back in 2017. In this one-man show, performed by Stephen Smith, we’re taken on a rollercoaster tour of the highs and lows, the successes and tragedies, of the tech mogul’s story. We start all the way back in childhood, as these things tend to. Jobs talks — and sings — about his being adopted, grappling with the question of whether he was abandoned by his birth parents or chosen by his adoptive family.

Opening the musical with the angstiest song of the show is a bold choice, and one that just about pays off thanks to the immediate diffusion of tension with Jobs’ statement that he might be a little touchy about the subject. Its placement is really just a setup for the rest of the show, the central motif reprised again and again as that same question – abandoned or chosen, the mechanics of fate – dogs Jobs’ professional and personal life.

For its part, the set design is ingenious. Four Mac computers sit on tables at the back of the stage, providing the bulk of the scenery. With Smith tapping spacebars left and right, the screens keep us up to date with what year it is, the progress Apple is making, and serve as a portable digital backdrop that is uninvasive but ingenious. It’s clear that huge amounts of work and thought have been put into how to best illustrate this story, and it adds a layer of depth to the production.

That depth is not particularly mirrored, though, in the story itself. Key points in Jobs’ and Apple’s life are efficiently and often entertainingly conveyed, but there’s little insight into the man himself. At one point, Jobs ponders what the impact will be of someone who is notoriously hard to work with and not great with people revolutionising how the world communicates; but the question is dropped, the scene moving on with a ‘well, anyway’. It’s a great subject, and one that deserves more consideration, but Apple of My Eye is surprisingly uninterested in getting inside Jobs’ head. There’s little speculation on what he could be thinking or what drives his decisions, and the play seems hesitant to engage in a moral interrogation of his actions.

As such, Apple of My Eye gets lost in the truth. Focusing on the biography is interesting, yes, but without venturing too far into speculatory territory it can come across more Wikipedia entry than fleshed-out story. There’s not a particularly strong angle taken throughout the production; by the end you’ll know more about Jobs, but are unlikely to have developed any new thoughts on him.

That said, Smith is a compelling and captivating leading man. He holds his own for the hour-long runtime, mimicking Jobs’ mannerisms without falling into pastiche and hitting the emotional stings just as well as the comic one-liners.

Portraying such a well-known figure is never an easy task, and even though Apple of My Eye may not delve into the depths of Jobs’ psyche it certainly provokes further conversation on the man’s life and legacy. You also might find yourself humming some of the tunes on your way out — ‘I’m Back’ is a particularly persistent earworm.

Book, Music and Lyrics by: Joel Goodman
Produced by: Threedumb Theatre & Early Mornings Productions

This was a one-night production for Camden Fringe. More information on Threedumb Theatre and upcoming productions can be found here.