Children of Eden: What went wrong?

Posted: 4/16/07 at 3:49am

I actually know very little about this show except a few songs from the Papermill CD--I'd love to hear the original cast. But what went wrong with the London staging? I didn't realize that John Caird--no slouch with musicals--staged it and Matthew Bourne of all peopel choreographed it. Was it changed much for the production that is performed now?

[tazber]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 6:59am

The OLC recording is sooo much better. It has never been on cd though. BOO!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 7:14am

I saw a production of this show at Washington DC's Ford's Theatre a couple of years ago. Although the music was good, I found the show to be somewhat dull. I left during intermission.

[BroadwaySinger2]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 8:26am

It's a very dull show with weak music. Though I'm making a guess, I wouldn't doubt that the bad music was a main reason why it didn't survive in London.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 8:26am

Dottie, I saw the same production (friend in the cast). I actually liked the show better than Wicked in terms of book and score.

[jbdc]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 9:05am

When it's done regionally, it usually finds an audience because the parent/child relationships are interesting and complex. But it needs a very strong director who can both stage its scenes and come up with a brilliant overall concept for the show. Act One and Act Two are as disconnected as Grey Gardens, but it can work. Also that stupid naming of the animals song has to go.

[Urbansavages]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 11:50am

Hi. These were my thoughts on a 2002 regional production in Arvada, Colo. It was a big enough deal at the time that Stephen Schwartz came out to counsel the cast:


The Arvada Center's regional premiere of the musical opus "Children of Eden" is a beautiful and beguiling biblical pageant play, artfully presented by an impeccable ensemble. With its magical spectacle, gorgeous music and playful choreography, "Eden" casts you under the spell of its gentle
earnestness.

But this sea of tranquility is hardly still. Because just under the surface, "Eden" willfully treads into such treacherous theological territory, it promises to move the faithful to tears of joy or to the exits infuriated.

"Eden" is not what it is sold as. It is not the story of a modern family based loosely on characters from the Book of Genesis. It IS Genesis. It's practically a literal "King James for Kids" catechism retelling of it, until late, when writer John Caird goes on a fictional tangent that transforms the chapter on Noah into a moving parable on the birth of racism.

There is nothing wrong with the creative license taken here but for its deeply troubling portrayal of Father (God) as a dad just like any other: human, erratic, stubborn and consequentially wishy-washy. Had Caird set the story in a time and place not specific to the Garden of Eden, with new names, we might be able to separate the characters from their biblical counterparts. It would be fascinating to see God as a father in, say, 1940s Chicago, with human weaknesses and the capacity to change.

But this is the Creation story. We are in the garden, the wilderness; on the ark. Adam is Adam, Noah is Noah and "Father" is God. And while your dad might kick you out of the house if you mess up on the wrong day, he probably isn't capable of banishing you and yours to centuries of famine and flood until he gets over his hurt pride. And that is what is so troubling here.

No one would argue the God of the Old Testament is not a vengeful, punitive and intractable God who ruled by fear. We are taught blind capitulation from Chapter 1 because we are human, and so we aren't in on The Plan. Love him or leave him, that's the OT. But God is not a man.

By humanizing God, "Eden" presents an arbitrary man who obstinately refuses to grant forgiveness when it is asked for. He will wipe out an entire wing of his own progeny in retribution for the sin of an ancestor (Cain), while sparing another wing despite the sin of the sinner's mother (Eve).

Yet the children of "Eden" are portrayed as remarkably consistent in their "noble" defiance. It's God who is the capricious flake, because after years of exacting consistent retribution, he suddenly goes all New Testament on us, but 1,500 pages early.

It happens during the Great Flood. No one knows why it's still raining after 40 days until Noah discovers his willful son Japheth has stowed away Yonah, a banned girl from the cursed race of Cain (again, this chapter only takes place in Caird's imagination).

But when Noah defies God and spares the lovers rather than tossing them overboard, the Almighty goes soft. This would be a lovely, modern message of second chances … if it weren't so wrong. So much for the idea that whoever we are, wherever we are, we are all descended from the chosen people of the ark. So much for father knows best. Defy your parents long enough, and they'll come around.

So that's out of my system. Now, about that play …

It's terrific by every other standard. Fans of the long-running "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" won't have the same raucous good time, but "Eden" is a far more substantive theatrical experience.

Stephen Schwartz's music evokes his most popular musicals, "Godspell" (When Eve is visited by the snake, think Jesus with the Pharisees) and more obviously "Pippin." But Schwartz also dabbles in '40s jazz harmonies ("In Pursuit of Excellence"), electric blues ("The Wasteland") and even gospel spirituals (the highlight of the evening, "Ain't It Good?").

The vocal performances are often jaw-dropping, most notably Gabrielle Goyette (Eve), who used to shake her groove thing as Peaches in Peaches & Herb. The breakout performance is by young Eduardo Rioseco, who plays up the Pippin-esque passion of Cain and Japheth. He sings a knockout solo ("Lost in the Wilderness") and a classic love duet ("In Whatever Time We Have") with Michelle Liu Coughlin. Context aside, the superb James Alexander does what he is directed to do as Father quite well.

Director Peter Flynn borrows from "The Lion King" in the best ways, with culturally diverse costumes, air-blown ribbons for water and a spectacular pageant of animals entering the ark. Designed by Rod Lansberry and created by Rebecca E. Shepard, the parade drew appreciative gasps.

All in all, ``Children of Eden' is a thought-provoking exercise, and if causes you to re-examine your relationship with your God or father, well, that's good enough.



Updated On: 4/16/07 at 11:50 AM

[Neverandy]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 1:13pm

When the show opened at Papermill in 1997 I was invited to the final Dress performance. Back then there was talk swirling around every papermill show about an imminent Broadway transfer. Children of Eden was no different. The hype on the show was moderate. The production values were stunning, particularly the creation of the animals and the loading of the Ark. The use of Puppetry and dance to represent all god's creatures, was innivative in those Pre-Lion King days. The show itself was a little uneven, with the first act noticibly plodding. Conversely act 2 flew by and then screeched to a halt at "Ain't it Good". Stephanie Mills was interesting, while Adrian Zmed was completely boring. Darius de Haas and Hunter Foster, as both sets of sons were both Great singers and actors respectively. Kelly Rabke was amazing.
Besides some necessary cuts to the material, I believed at the time that the show (both the cast and physical production)could have had a legitimate shot at a transfer as-is.
Honestly I think the thing that killed its shot was Taymor's Lion King using almost exactly the same costume elements not more than 3 months after this production in Milburn. I am not saying that either production copied the other, it was just a coincidence.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 5:15pm

Actually, tazber, the OLC album was originally released on CD. It's just been out of print for the past 15 or so years and I've heard rumors that there was some sort of defect on them and that a lot of them don't play anymore.

Posted: 4/16/07 at 8:02pm

I heard it suffered from laser rot in most pressings as well. Crazy...

Suskin in his book on musical composers calls it Schwartz' most interesting score since Pippin--but since SUskin is so godamned condescending to nearly everyone in that book and doesn'tseem to have heard Baker's Wife in his "review" I'm not too sure I'd agree

[bwayboi4life42]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 10:51pm

I enjoy most of the music, but it has some atrocious lyrics!!!

"Oh Noah, you go-a all the way back to the protazoa."

EVE: And who's he?
ADAM: Madam, I'm Adam!

I understand the point of the song "Words of Doom," but the title doesn't really seem appropriate.

All of "The Naming."

I have some more specific examples, although I can't think of them off the top of my head.

The biggest complaint I heard was that it did not hold true to the Bible, and some people were disappointed by that.

[fiyero8132]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 11:32pm

I think one of the biggest problems with this show is that is a lot of fun to perform in (and therefore often selected for highschools/regional theatres) but no fun to watch.