Theater Review—

‘Children Of Eden’ Is A Pleasant Surprise

by Julie Stern

DANBURY — Two talented Newtowners star as forbidden lovers in Musicals at Richter’s season finale presentation of Stephen Schwartz’s The Children of Eden, which continues to August 15. Jacob Eventoff and Kate Cummings play Japet, the youngest son of Noah, and Yonah, the servant girl he loves despite the fact that she bears the hereditary brand of Cain.

There have been a number of musical interpretations of the Book of Genesis, ranging from Marc Connelly’s Green Pastures and Richard Rodgers’ Two by Two to The Apple Tree (Bock and Harnicks’ adaptation of Mark Twain’s Diary of Adam and Eve) and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock musical about Joseph and his Technicolor Dream Coat.

What is particularly interesting about this one — for which Schwartz composed words and music for some 36 songs — is the liberty he takes in departing from traditional versions of the stories, including the way in which he portrays God as a very realistic, exasperated — and exasperating — Father.

Schwartz, who explained that Genesis was not simply a written text, but rather a compilation of myths passed on by oral tradition over many centuries, shaped by the prevailing values and attitudes of an evolving culture, chose to place his emphasis on human psychology, the need for children to break away from parental domination, and the saving power of human love over the forces of vengeance and vilification.

Thus God the Creator is presented as Father — well meaning, sanctimonious, a bit of a control freak — whose entire focus is on creating a perfect world, with two perfect children to live in it and keep him company. Walter Cramer plays him very well. Looking a bit like Alan Rickman, he gets flustered by the precocious curiosity of Eve (Lauren Romeo) who asks persistent questions, and when she doesn’t get clear answers, develops a devilish gleam in her eye that drew appreciative smiles from a nine year old sitting next to us.

When Eve and Adam (the handsome Marc Fanning) discover love, they realize that they don’t want to be the brother-and-sister that God had in mind, and this leads to trouble, especially when the Serpent — marvelously played by a quintet of Apache dancers clad in red and black stripes — materializes to invite Eve to check out that beautiful tree in the center.

Where traditional religious interpretation makes the expulsion from the Garden as the punishment that doomed human beings to mortality, here it is portrayed more as a conflict between a controlling Father and children who are becoming adults. Adam’s act of Free Will is less a matter of Original Sin, than a choice to go with Eve (who has been expelled for offering Adam apple juice) because he loves her.

Torn between his happiness in the beautiful Garden, and his love for Eve, he chooses to leave the Father’s Perfect World, for exile in the desert with the woman he loves.

Years later this theme is replayed in a reworking of the Cain and Abel story, as played out by Nathan Mandracchia and Steven Michelsson.  The conflict between the brothers is not (as we were taught in Sunday School) about jealousy over God’s acceptance of Abel’s sacrifice while rejecting Cain’s. Rather, it comes out of Cain’s defiance of his father, Adam. Cain wants to search the desert for signs of other living humans, and lead them back to the comforts of Eden, of which they have only been told.

Adam forbids it, demanding that he stay home. They have a physical struggle, in the course of which Abel steps in to intervene, and is accidentally struck by Cain, wielding the staff that Adam used on his original trek from Paradise.

Many generations later God the Father is still angry about this. In his plan to destroy the world by flood, he chooses to save Noah and his family because they alone are descended from Adam and Eve’s third son, Seth. (Everyone else on earth is descended from Cain. They still bear the brand, and now they are doomed to die.)

As Noah (Ted Schwartz) and his wife, Mama Noah (Stacey Snyder) get things ready for the trip, they are anxious to find a wife for their unmarried third son. He turns down all their suggestions, announcing that he will produce his own bride. Because Yonah bears the damning mark, Noah will not accept her, even though she has served the family all her life, and they all love her.

As Noah and his other two sons try to throw her overboard, Japeth seizes the staff and attacks them. Suddenly Noah realizes that “all of us carry the spirit of Cain inside us” i.e. we all have the potential to do violence to others. Ironically, it is only Yonah, who bears the literal brand on her forehead, who is totally good.

With this realization, Noah and Mama make a decision: we children of Eden must live as adults now. We will not turn to the Father to ask Him what to do. We must make our own choices and follow our hearts.

All told, this is a musically rich, thoughtful and provocative work, beautifully directed by Kyle Minor, filled with colorful touches, quaint animals, vivid costumes, and a large cast that successfully mixes children and adults. It doesn’t get produced often. In fact, this reviewer had never even heard of it, and had no idea what to expect.

In the end, it was a very pleasant surprise, and a great way to spend a summer evening.

(Performances continue this weekend and next, Friday through Sunday nights at 8:30 pm, at Richter Arts Center, 100 Aunt Hack Road in Danbury.

Call 748-6873 for ticket and other information and reservations.)