Wealth Lyrics — Apple Tree, The

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

• Work: The Apple Tree (Broadway, 1966), playlet three: "Passionella".
• Placement: After the crowd-chorus rush of "I Know", when the dream starts to taste oddly flat.
• Who sings it: Ella as Passionella (Barbara Harris on the original cast recording).
• What it does: A quiet check-in song that turns fame into a receipt: you got what you asked for, now read the fine print.

The Apple Tree (1966) - stage musical - Non-diegetic. Passionella catalogs her new life after the initial fan frenzy, letting satisfaction slip and doubt take the mic. It matters because the playlet stops selling the makeover and starts measuring what it costs.

This number is the hangover after the spotlight. The previous tracks in "Passionella" are all velocity: wish, transformation, attention, then a room full of voices leaning in. Here, the tempo of the story changes. Harris sounds like she is doing a private inventory, the way you might count your blessings and still feel a hole in your pocket.

The writing lands because it refuses to make the dissatisfaction dramatic. It is closer to a shrug you cannot shake. The charm is still there, but it is shaded. She is not begging to be famous anymore. She is trying to understand why the prize feels so light in her hands.

Creation History

Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick built "Passionella" as a media-age fable, where television is both fairy godmother and trap door. According to Masterworks Broadway album notes, the playlet is a satire of glamour culture, and this song sits right where the satire gets personal. The cast recording documents the track as part of the October 23, 1966 studio session conducted by Elliot Lawrence.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

In the third playlet, Ella is transformed into the glamorous Passionella on a nightly timer tied to TV programming. After the initial excitement and the crowd response, she is left alone with what she has gained. This song captures the moment she looks at status and money and realizes they do not automatically translate into contentment.

Song Meaning

The meaning is a simple truth delivered without melodrama: getting what you want can still leave you restless. The track plays as a character pause, a breath between the public noise and the next plot turn, when Passionella begins to suspect she has traded one kind of hardship for another kind of emptiness. If earlier songs chase glamour, this one studies the aftertaste.

Annotations

"Wealth."

The title word works like a label on a jar. She holds it up, looks at it, and wonders why the label promises more than the contents deliver. The bluntness is the point.

"I know."

That echo from the prior crowd number can be played as knowingness, fatigue, or resignation. It links the fan scene to the private scene: the world keeps telling her she has arrived, while her inner voice keeps asking, arrived where, exactly?

Style and staging logic

The number is written for close acting. It is less about big notes and more about clarity of thought. In a stage production, it plays like a single pool of light after a crowded tableau, the camera pulling in as the set stops moving.

Technical Information (Quick Facts)

• Song: Wealth
• Artist: Original Broadway Cast of The Apple Tree
• Featured: Barbara Harris
• Composer: Jerry Bock
• Lyricist: Sheldon Harnick
• Music director and conductor: Elliot Lawrence
• Release Date: January 1, 1966 (common digital catalog date for the cast recording)
• Recording Date: October 23, 1966
• Genre: Musical theatre
• Instruments: Pit orchestra, solo vocal
• Label: Masterworks Broadway (catalog editions)
• Mood: Reflective, ironic, quietly dissatisfied
• Length: 1:36
• Track #: 22
• Language: English
• Album: The Apple Tree (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Music style: Character solo inside "Passionella"
• Poetic meter: Mixed, speech-led theatre prosody

Frequently Asked Questions

Which story inside the musical uses this song?

It appears in the third playlet, "Passionella".

Who sings it on the 1966 cast recording?

Barbara Harris performs it as Ella or Passionella in the cast album credits.

Where does it sit in the track sequence?

Discographies place it as track 22, following "I Know" and preceding "You Are Not Real".

What is happening dramatically during the song?

The character steps away from the crowd and examines what success feels like in private.

Is it a big showstopper?

No. It is a character pause with close acting and clear text, designed to shift the mood.

How long is the track?

Most catalog listings show 1:36, with minor platform-to-platform variation.

Does it have a pop chart history?

No. Its footprint is tied to the cast recording and productions rather than singles charts.

Why does it matter inside "Passionella"?

It marks the moment the wish-granted fantasy starts to fray, which sets up the playlet's harsher turns.

Is there an official music video?

Not in a pop format. The standard official presence is an auto-generated audio upload tied to the cast recording catalog.

Awards and Chart Positions

This is musical-theatre catalog material rather than a chart single, so the headline accolades sit with The Apple Tree as a Broadway production. According to the Tony Awards nominee and winner listings for 1967, Barbara Harris won Best Actress in a Musical for the show, and the production received major nominations including Best Musical.

Additional Info

The third playlet has a neat structural trick: it uses short crowd songs to show how fame feels from the outside, then uses small solos to show how fame feels from the inside. This track is one of the inside moments. It is also a reminder of how Bock and Harnick could sketch character with a few clean strokes, then step back and let the performer do the close-up work.

Platform metadata helps pin down the paper trail. MusicBrainz documents the cast recording details, including the October 23, 1966 session date and the credited performance by Harris, while Apple Music and Spotify keep the "Passionella" labeling consistent for listeners working through the playlet in order.

Key Contributors

Sources

Sources: Masterworks Broadway (The Apple Tree - 1966 album page), MusicBrainz release entry (1966 original Broadway cast), Apple Music track metadata (Passionella: Wealth), Spotify track page (Passionella: Wealth), Tony Awards nominee and winner listings (1967), YouTube (official audio upload)