Out of the Garden and Into the Ex

THEATER

Children of Eden

Music and Lyrics by

Stephen Schwartz

Book by

John Caird

stage directed and

choreographed by

Mimi Asnes '02

music directed by

Julie James '00

Emily Wei '02

produced by

Jerald Korn '00

David Levy '00

starring

Jac Huberman '01

Steve Toub '01

Ryan Shrime '00

Ashley McCants '02

Loeb Ex

Jan. 12-16

When looking for a break from the deluge of exams and papers, one might well spend the time experiencing another deluge: the Garden of Eden, the fall of man, and other assorted stories. Children of Eden is well worth a reading period trip to the Loeb Ex, where embracing Genesis, at least through Noah, can be accomplished in approximately two and a half hours.

Music and Lyrics by

Stephen Schwartz

Book by

John Caird

stage directed and

choreographed by

Mimi Asnes '02

music directed by

Julie James '00

Emily Wei '02

produced by

Jerald Korn '00

David Levy '00

starring

Jac Huberman '01

Steve Toub '01

Ryan Shrime '00

Ashley McCants '02

Loeb Ex

Jan. 12-16

Children of Eden's cast brings together tremendous vocal power, and the show itself continually maintains a feeling of dialogue with the audience. Director Mimi Asnes returns the flexible Loeb Ex to the set-up of a traditional theater, one where the audience enters into the seating area with the stage directly in front. This is clearly the most effective use of the Loeb's space for this production, for Children of Eden begins as a story, and the audience is an extension of an onstage audience awaiting the tale of creation and the flood.

Giving a new spin to what are perhaps the world's most familiar stories is the play's explicit purpose, and yet the tension between Children of Eden as didactic educational tool and as entertainment is never fully resolved. The musical engages serious and more humorous numbers alike, ranging from Eve's "The spark of creation" where she questions the validity of her curiosity in Eden to the ironic "A ring of Stones" where Cain, Eve and Abel embrace Stonehenge. This unsettling contrast is no fault of the production staff or the actors but of Children of Eden itself.

This problem becomes more troublesome, however, when combined with other shortcomings in the first act that detract from the cast's raw talent. Eve (Jac Huberman '01) questions relentlessly, but the strength of her part undermines Adam's (Steve Toub '01) on-stage presence. Toub appears uncomfortable on stage, and his voice only emerges fully confident at the end of Act I. The theater, moreover, occasionally feels cramped, especialy during the large ensemble numbers. Almost every scene has the storytellers, or chorus, sitting in white robes on the edges of the stage. And perhaps most importantly, the vocal coherence of the musical is often lost when the cast begins dancing to a musical number. Lighting adjustments, such as more use of the spotlight to focus the audience on the soloists, would alleviate the problem.

Overall, however, Children of Eden more than recovers from these deficencies, largely due to the strength of the choreography and the staging. Eve's confrontation with the snake is brilliantly arranged. The snake begins as the tree of knowledge, then changes into a slithering six-person serpent. And the depiction of Noah and the Flood, in which the cast virtually becomes drops of water, is another of the first act's great achievements.

Still, Act II is undeniably the stronger of the acts, for it showcases more vocal talent and retells a more unfamiliar story, the saga of Noah's son Japheth and his love for Yonah, a member of the race of Cain. The voices of Noah (Ryan Shrime '00), Mama Noah (Ashley McCants '02), Yonah (Jody Flader '02), and Japheth (Jason McNeely '00) fill the room admirably and beautifully complement each other.

Similarly, Act II's set is much more appropriate to the progression of the musical. Act I featured an array of disjointed murals on an extended platform staircase. The first scene of Act II, a boisterous rendition of a song called "Generations," replaces these murals with Noah's arc. The maneuvering of this set change was somewhat disjointed, but another day's rehearsal should polish the scene changes. The set in Act II becomes a vital part of the story of Noah and the Flood rather than merely an entrance and exit prop for the cast.

Unfortunately, however, in both the first and second act the choices of Costume Director Liz Cullum '01--while interesting in their own right--indulge the play's inconsistency in a distracting way. God (Dan Berwick '01) is not dressed as an old man with a white beard as one might expect but as a clean-shaven red-robed preacher figure. Act I's storytellers wear all white, and after the fall of man, Eve and Adam don fur vests. Yet in Act II, we find Noah and his children wearing twentieth century rain ponchos. The play is an incomplete anachronism. Ham (Noam Osband '03) wields a gun, while Cain (John Keefe '01) dances around Stonehenge. Cullum's costumes promote a general sense of ambiguity and instead of toying with the musical's indecision, they tend to perpetuate a sense of confusion.

Nonetheless, the musical succesfully creates an overall atmosphere of wholesome fun. Sure, Noah's dove is obviously attached to a string, but this is all part of the musical mocking its own attempted seriousness. Musical numbers about the expulsion from Eden and time on the ark are bound at the very least to promote a bemused audience, and the cast does an admirable job with a show that lacks a cohesive theatrical intent. And so a trip to the Loeb Ex for a brush with the biblical is highly recommended. It should at least serve as a more entertaining form of pre-exam prayer.

Please note that the above review was based on a dress rehersal and not a full production.