 CHILDREN OF EDEN
Music & lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by John Caird
Prince Edward Theatre, London - 8 January 1991 - 6 April, 1991
From the composer/ lyricist of Godspell and the co-director of Les Misérables comes a joyous and inspirational musical
about parents, children and faith... not to mention centuries of unresolved
family business! Based freely on the Genesis stories of Adam, Eve, Noah,
their children and their 'Father', Children of Eden offers a frank,
heartfelt, tuneful, charming and often humorous look at the pleasures
and pains of parenting.
Synopsis by Mark
CHILDREN OF EDEN begins with God
creating the heaven and the earth. He then creates his "children" to share his dream and gives
them the garden of Eden. Eve then eats from the tree of knowledge at which
point she "sees what Father sees". Adam must choose between his Father
and his wife and (obviously) chooses the latter. Father exiles them from
Eden and condemns them to be "Lost in the Wildreness" where they have
two boys, Cain and Abel. Cain inherits his mothers rebeliousness, wanating
to travel and find out about the world but his Father (Adam) forbids it.
Cain defies his father (the same way Adam and Eve defied God) and, in
a fit of rage, tries to strike him. Abel intervenes and ends up getting
killed. Cain yells to Adam, "That should have been you!!" and runs
into the wildreness. Here he apparently finds a tribe of other humans
but is labelled an outcast by God. Act 1 ends with Eve, alone after
Adams death, sings the title song to all her children and grandchildren.
As her offspring take over the final verses, Eve begins her ascent
to heaven where Father (and Adam) await to greet her.
Act 2 begins with the descendants of Adam and
Eve spreading all over the world in the song "Generations". We meet Noah and his family,
building an ark at God's (Father's) insistance. Only the family of Noah
(his wife, sons and their wives --none of whom bear the "mark of Cain")
will be allowed on the ark. However one of Noah's sons is in love with
a woman who bears the mark of Cain. As the animals enter the ark two by
two (in a wonderful number that is all orchestra wherein people with animal
masks, costumes and puupets represent all animals in a scene that rivals
the spectacle of LION KING) Noah's son hides his lover on the ship. After
the flood the girl is discovered and once again a father (Noah) must deal
with the rebelious child in the song THE HARDEST PART OF LOVE ("You cannot
close the acorn once the oak begins to grow, And you cannot close your
heart to what it fears and needs to know, That the hardest part of love....Is
the letting go" --A BEAUTIFUL song!!). Noah decides to forgive his
son and accepts his new wife into the family. As the ark comes to rest
atop a mountain the family of Noah seperates to the ends of the earth
to start a new generation of humans.
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Cast:
