|
"Children of Eden" is a musical written by the same guy who wrote the songs for "Godspell" and "Wicked" and "The Prince of Egypt", among other things. It's sort of a different take on the events in Genesis, using the stories to explore the relationships between parents and their children. Act I covers The Creation, Adam & Eve, and Cain & Abel; Act II covers Noah and the Flood.
What makes it really neat is that God isn't portrayed as infallible; He comes across, in fact, as rather arrogant and unforgiving. In the end, He sees that His way of doing things (punish, punish, punish) has ruined the lives of Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel, while Noah's more forgiving, accepting, and inclusive approach has enhanced the lives of his sons and brought the family closer together. God realizes that He can't hold on to His children by holding them to some high, unattainable standard, but must learn to let them make and learn from their own mistakes.
A lot of Fundies I know who are familiar with this play hate it because they perceive God's change in the end as being a sign of weakness.
But the costumes here are great! I imagine it's mostly for a dance number (one of my favorite instrumental pieces of all time) in Act II called "The Return of the Animals", after which Noah sings a song asking the animals for forgiveness for the way mankind has ruined the environment and destroyed the world that he was supposed to be the guardian of.
|