Children of Eden is a two-act musical play with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz based on a book by John Caird. The musical is loosely based on the Book of Genesis. Act I tells the story of Adam and Eve, Cain, and Abel, and Act II deals with Noah and the Flood. While using the Bible as a plot source, it freely deviates in many details, and is a story of parents and children without a specifically religious point-of-view. Though it had a very short run on London's West End and has never played Broadway, the show is extremely popular in community theatres worldwide. The show uses the same principals in both acts, with the actors each taking on a different character for the story of Noah. Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... Stephen Schwartz Stephen Schwartz (born March 6, 1948) is an American musical theater lyricist and composer. ... Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah (five books of Moses) and hence the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... Michelangelos Creation of Adam, from the Sistine Chapel. ... In stories common to the Abrahamic religions, Cain or Káyin (קַיִן / קָיִן spear Standard Hebrew Qáyin, Tiberian Hebrew Qáyin / Qāyin; Arabic قايين Qāyīn in the Arabic Bible; قابيل Qābīl in Islam) is the eldest son of Adam and Eve, and the first man born in creation... In the Book of Genesis, Abel (Hebrew הֶבֶל / הָבֶל, Standard Hebrew Hével / Hável, Tiberian Hebrew Héḇel / Hāḇel; Arabic هابيل Hābīl) was the second son of Adam. ... A painting by the American Edward Hicks (1780–1849), showing the animals boarding Noahs Ark two by two. ... The Bible is the collection of sacred writings or books of Judaism and Christianity. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... // West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre in London, or sometimes more specifically for shows staged in the large theatres of Londons Theatreland . Along with New Yorks Broadway Theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of theatre in the... Broadway theatre[1] is the most prestigious form of professional theatre in the U.S., as well as the most well known to the general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows. ...

Production history

Children of Eden was originally written in 1986 as Family Tree for a production by Youth Sing Praise, a religious-oriented high school theatre camp at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, Illinois. Stephen Schwartz adapted the script and music of Family Tree into a full length musical, giving it the title it uses today. The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows is a Roman Catholic shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Belleville, Illinois. ... Belleville is a city in St. ...

The initial version of Children of Eden opened in London's West End on January 8, 1991. The show closed on April 6, 1991 after the Persian Gulf War put a damper on tourism worldwide. The show's quick closing meant that any hope of a Broadway transfer was abandoned, at least for the time being. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The interior of Covent Garden Market in the West End The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the citys major tourist attractions, businesses, and administrative headquarters. ... January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 6 is the 96th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (97th in leap years). ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Combatants UN Coalition Republic of Iraq Commanders Norman Schwarzkopf, Michel Roquejeoffre , Peter de la Billière, Khalid bin Sultan, Saleh Al-Muhaya, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Saddam Hussein Strength 883,863 360,000 Casualties 378 dead, 1,000 wounded see section below The Gulf War or the Persian Gulf War (2...

However, the show still managed to become popular, and throughout the 1990s it received numerous productions at both the amateur and professional levels; the show was also reworked and edited, with songs and scenes being added and cut. In 1997, a major production was mounted at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, featuring Stephanie Mills. A cast recording of this production was produced by Schwartz himself. This revised version, commonly known as the "American version" or "Paper Mill version", is substantially what is currently licensed for production in the United States. The show's publisher, Music Theater International, reports that Children of Eden is one of their top 20 most-frequently-licensed properties, which is very unusual for a show that has never had a Broadway or Off-Broadway run. Its popularity is partly due to its ability to accommodate a large or small cast; its universal themes of family, love, greed, anger, and many others; and its religious material, which make it a favourite for churches, synagogues, and post-secondary schools. For the band, see 1990s (band). ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theatre located in Millburn, New Jersey, less than 25 miles away from Manhattan. ... Millburn is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. ... Stephanie Mills (born March 22, 1957 in Harlem, New York) is an African American R&B and soul singer and former Broadway star. ... A cast recording or original cast recording is a recording of a musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. ... Broadway theatre[1] is the most prestigious form of professional theatre in the U.S., as well as the most well known to the general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows. ... Off-Broadway plays or musicals are performed in New York City in smaller theatres than Broadway, but larger than Off-Off-Broadway, productions. ... A family in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1997 A family consists of a domestic group of people (or a number of domestic groups), typically affiliated by birth or marriage, or by analogous or comparable relationships — including domestic partnership, cohabitation, adoption, surname and (in some cases) ownership (as occurred in the... Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection or profound oneness. ... Greed is excessive or uncontrolled desire for or pursuit of money, wealth, food, or other possessions, especially when this denies the same goods to others. ... This article is about the emotion. ... St. ... A synagogue (from Ancient Greek: , transliterated synagogē, assembly; Hebrew: ‎ beit knesset, house of assembly; Yiddish: , shul; Ladino: , esnoga) is a Jewish place of religious worship. ...

Synopsis (American version)

The play opens with the creation story from the Book of Genesis ("Let There Be"). Eve is drawn to the tree of knowledge, even though Father (the God-character is always addressed as "Father" by the other characters) has warned her to stay away ("The Tree of Knowledge"). Father attempts to distract Adam and Eve by playing a game where Adam and Eve name all the animals ("The Naming"). With his children distracted for the time being, everything is right with the newly-created world ("Grateful Children," "Father's Day," and "Perfect"). Eve, however, still hungers for something more than what she has ("The Spark of Creation"). She meets a snake who tempts her with the fruit from the forbidden tree ("In Pursuit of Excellence"). Eve eats the fruit, meaning that she must be banished from the garden of Eden ("The End of a Perfect Day" and "Childhood's End"). In a twist from the Genesis tale, Adam is portrayed as torn between two choices: either he can stay with Father in Eden, or he can eat the fruit and be banished with Eve. He chooses to stay with Eve, even though it means leaving the garden forever ("A World Without You"). Adam and Eve are driven out into the surrounding wilderness and have two children, Cain and Abel ("The Expulsion" and "The Wasteland"). Eve realizes that the same fire that led to her eating the fruit is present in her son Cain ("The Spark of Creation (Reprise 1)"). Cain tells Abel of the problems that Adam and Eve made for them by leaving the garden and says that he intends to find the lost garden ("Lost in the Wilderness"). Adam and Eve find some pleasure in the fact that they have been able to create a life for themselves outside of Eden ("Close to Home"), but this peacefulness is again shattered when Cain says that he has found a ring of stones, proof that they are not the only humans alive; Adam admits that he had seen the ring of stones and the people who live there before but that he had never mentioned it because he was afraid of the potential consequences ("A Ring of Stones" and "Clash Of The Generations"). This leads to a fight between Adam and Cain, but when Abel intervenes he is killed as Cain attempted to kill Adam but hit Abel instead ("The Death of Abel"). Father decrees that Cain's descendants will always bear a mark for the sin of their ancestor ("The Mark of Cain"). Act I closes with Eve about to die. She delivers a monologue about Cain's departure from the family and the birth of another son, Seth, who has since had children of his own. She then sings the title song, in which she prays that her children and her children's children will regain the garden that was lost. Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah (five books of Moses) and hence the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... Michelangelos Creation of Adam, from the Sistine Chapel. ... Seth or Shet (Hebrew: שֵׁת, Standard Šet, Tiberian ; Arabic: شيث Shith or Shiyth; Placed; appointed), in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, is the third listed son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel and is the only other son mentioned by name. ...

Act II opens with "Generations," a list of the many descendants of Cain and Seth, all the way down to Noah and his family, whose story comprises the second act plot. Father tells Noah that a storm is coming, so Noah must build a boat ("The Gathering Storm"). Noah has three sons, and two of them (Shem and Ham) have wives, but his youngest son, Japheth, is not happy with any of the wives Noah has tried to obtain for him. Instead he wishes to marry the servant-girl Yonah, a descendant of the race of Cain, and Japheth tells this to his surprised family ("A Piece of Eight"); however, Noah will not allow Yonah on the ark. All the animals return so that they can board the ark ("The Return of the Animals" and "Noah's Lullaby"). Japeth comes to say good-bye to Yonah. She sings "Stranger to the Rain," in which she says that she has always faced the problem of being shunned because she bears the mark of Cain. Japheth decides to sneak Yonah onto the ark. Japheth and Yonah sing "In Whatever Time We Have," which tells of their love for each other. The rain comes, and it keeps raining and raining ("The Flood" and "What Is He Waiting For?"). Yonah releases a dove to find dry land ("Sailor of the Skies"). Yonah is discovered by the rest of the family, but Noah is unsure as to what he must do. His wife asks him if Father speaks to him anymore, and when Noah answers "No," she tells him, "You must be the father now." Noah has to decide what should be done without God telling him what to do ("The Spark of Creation (Reprise 2)"). Noah sings of the difficulties that he has faced in being a father, while at the same time Father sings of the problems he has faced in being a father ("The Hardest Part of Love"). Noah calls the family together ("Words of Doom"). He decides to give Japheth and Yonah his blessing ("The Hour of Darkness"). Then the dove returns and the family again sees the light of the stars. Mama leads the family in the gospel song "Ain't It Good?". Father gives humanity the power to control their fate ("Precious Children"). The family sings of the problems they will face and their desire to someday return to the Garden of Eden ("In The Beginning"). Shem (שֵׁם renown; prosperity; name, Standard Hebrew Šem, Tiberian Hebrew Šēm; Greek Σημ, Sēm; ) was one of the sons of Noah in the Bible who adhered to the Noahide Laws. ... Ham (חָם, Standard Hebrew , Tiberian Hebrew , , Geez Kam), according to the Genealogies of Genesis, was a son of Noah and the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. ... Japheth (יֶפֶת / יָפֶת enlarge, Standard Hebrew Yéfet / Yáfet, Tiberian Hebrew / ) is one of the sons of Noah in the Bible. ...

Characters

• Storytellers - acting as the narrator

• Father (God)
• Adam/Noah
• Eve/Mama Noah
• Cain/Japheth
• Abel/Ham
• Seth/Shem
• Aphra
• Aysha
• Yonah
• Young Cain
• Young Abel

• Snake

Michelangelos Creation of Adam, from the Sistine Chapel. ... Noahs Ark, Französischer Meister (The French Master), Magyar Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest. ... Michelangelos Creation of Adam, from the Sistine Chapel. ... Cain killing Abel, from a 15th century manuscript. ... Japheth (יֶפֶת / יָפֶת enlarge, Standard Hebrew Yéfet / Yáfet, Tiberian Hebrew / ) is one of the sons of Noah in the Bible. ... Cain killing Abel, from a 15th century manuscript. ... Ham (חָם, Standard Hebrew , Tiberian Hebrew , , Geez Kam), according to the Genealogies of Genesis, was a son of Noah and the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. ... Seth or Shet (Hebrew: שֵׁת, Standard Šet, Tiberian ; Arabic: شيث Shith or Shiyth; Placed; appointed), in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, is the third listed son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel and is the only other son mentioned by name. ... Shem (שֵׁם renown; prosperity; name, Standard Hebrew Šem, Tiberian Hebrew Šēm; Greek Σημ, Sēm; ) was one of the sons of Noah in the Bible who adhered to the Noahide Laws. ...

Musical Numbers

Track Listing for the Original London Cast Recording (1991):

Track Listing for the Paper Mill Playhouse Cast Recording (1998):

External links and references

• Dún Laoghaire Musical and Dramatic Society (Ireland) - performing 24th - 28th April in the Pavillion Theatre Dun Laoghaire
• Pavilion Theatre Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, Ireland
• Children of Eden
• Children of Eden, 1998 New Jersey cast recording, Paper Mill version, RCA 63165.
• Children of Eden vocal selections. Alfred Publishing Co. 1999. ISBN 0-7692-7008-5
• Music Theatre International - owner of performance rights for Children of Eden in the United States