7/19: Bon Appétit: How to Make a Deliciously Decadent Chocolate Cake

The recent much-acclaimed movie “Julie and Julia” showed us once again how fond we all were of Julia Child, whose “French Chef” and subsequent TV series re-awakened America not only to the joys of great cuisine, through her techniques, but also to the simple joy of living, through her straightforward good cheer and enthusiasm. Tonight we celebrate Julia once again with a quirky, fun tribute composed in 1989 by Lee Hoiby.

Born in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1926, Mr Hoiby studied composition with Darius Milhaud and Gian-Carlo Menotti, who introduced him to the world of opera. He created a number of vocal compositions, including songs and small-scale operas, plus a full-scale opera based on Tennessee Williams’ “Summer and Smoke” that was premiered in St Paul, Minnesota, in 1971. He died in March 2011 at the age of 75.

In 1989 Mr. Hoiby came up with “Bon Appétit,” which turns chocolate cake into a musical event. The first interpreter of the role was Jean Stapleton. The publisher, G. Schirmer, calls the piece “a comic culinary extravaganza that taps the wit and antics of one of America’s best-loved television personalities.” In the words of the librettist, Mark Shulgasser: “Bon Appétit was comprised of two icons of the television age: music draped over the words and gestures of Julia Child, the mother of all foodies, in her black-and-white days, [and] written for Jean Stapleton, the famed original-cast, Broadway musical comedienne, in her late career….Two episodes of the second WGBH-TV season were conflated: the race between the whisk and the electric beater comes out of a different cake. Props have been used, or not.” According to Mr Shulgasser, the music itself combines Broadway styles, echoes of TV soundtrack music, and influences from French composer Maurice Ravel “to underline Julia Child’s compelling domestic uplift.”

Tom Schnauber of the Boston Music Intelligencer, reviewing a 2010 performance, commented: “It is a credit to Hoiby’s keen sense of theatricality that he did exactly what should be done given the material: create a solid, well-written work of sheer entertainment….He was well aware of the main character’s naturally melodious speaking voice, and…he built on it, turning her inflections into song.”

Click here to read Julia’s chocolate cake recipe – “Le Gateau au Chocolat l’Eminence Brune.”