Musicals are like hothouse flowers. They can take years of tender care to make blossom. Children of Eden is a full length musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell) and book by John Caird, which has been germinating since its inception as a project for a high school theater camp in 1986.  It received its first full production in 1991 under Caird’s direction in London for the Royal Shakespeare Company, but closed quickly in the wake of generally negative reviews.

However, everything has its season. I think this is the time for Children of Eden to blossom on the Broadway stage…or at least, Broadway in Chicago. This presentation is the admirable effort of Producer Mark Michelson’s Chicago Theater Fund, and Onesti Entertainment, the company of entrepreneur Ron Onesti, who has purchased both the Arcada Theater in St. Charles and the Des Plaines Theater with an eye towards bringing first class entertainment to these suburban Chicago venues.

They had originally planned to present a pre-Broadway production at the Arcada with  Broadway veteran Norm Lewis, which was sidelined by the pandemic. So it is to their credit that they have taken this unusual step forward by presenting a fully staged concert at one of Chicago’s major Broadway style venues, the Cadillac Palace Theater.   Children of Eden was given two performances there last Saturday in the hope of launching towards a major run. If the quality of this concert version is any indication, a Broadway run could well be in its future.

Children of Eden, based on the biblical book of Genesis, begins with the creation of the world, through the fall from the Garden of Adam and Eve, the murder of Abel and the mark of Cain, and the salvation of the human race through the Ark of Noah. It’s necessarily a more reverent and somber show than Schwartz’s other religious themed musical, Godspell.  But hey, we’re talking Old Testament God of Vengeance vs. warm and fuzzy You-know-who. It was also written some twenty years later by a more mature and seasoned artist.

This production, billed as  a concert, would have qualified as a full production in my mind if not for the books in hand, and the music stands that came in and out. Kyle Hass (Artistic Producer), Derek Van Barham (Director), and Nicholas Ranauro (Choreographer)  created a richly beautiful evening in light, movement and song, so much so that any more scenery would really have seemed superfluous. The show began with some of the the most beautiful and awe inspiring projections I’ve seen on any stage, filling the theater with the wonder of Creation, the beauty of the Garden, and the pain of its destruction. An onstage chorus of over 30 actor/dancers was supplemented at the end of the first act by a small army of local choristers lining the theater walls. Whether collectively representing the Snake in the Garden, or dancing in Fosse-esque costumes, this talented ensemble brought every sung and spoken image vibrantly to life. Their soloists also all gave beautiful vocal performances.

Leading the outstanding cast of players was the magnificent actor-singer Randal Keith. Mr. Keith logged nearly three thousand performances as Jean Valjean in Les Miz, one of which I was privileged to see some fifteen years ago in Los Angeles, not to mention playing the Phantom and three of the other principal roles in the touring company.  In short, this man has major chops. His powerful baritenor voice was the glue that held this company together.

As the show illustrates, it’s not easy being God. On one hand, God manages to be what we all want our parents to be: Loving and kind, warm and well-meaning. On the other hand, this God shares the flaw of all parents: That he wants his children to be copies in his image, and expects them to bend entirely to his will throughout their lifetimes. We all know how well that turned out.

In their dual roles as Adam/Noah and Eve/Mama Noah respectively, David Phelps, formerly of the Gaither Vocal Band, with his creamy, three octave voice, and Grammy winning artist Michelle Williams were equally beautifully voiced as singers and nuanced as actors. Particularly strong among the supporting roles was internet singing sensation Sam Tsui as Cain/Japheth. Mr. Tsui is a young tenor with a powerful emotional range. He is also a very compelling actor, who galvanized the attention of the audience as the darkest and most challenged characters in the story. As Yonah, the“daughter of the race of Cain” who throws a rock into God’s plans to maintain the purity of the human race, American gospel singer Koryn Mattanah Hawthone sang well and was credibly sincere as an actress, although the thinly written part didn’t give her much chance to shine.

The prayerful origins of this show make the material very reverent, and at times simplistically straight forward in its observations. The female characters in particular are nothing more than good wives and mothers, and there is no modern perspective challenging their thinking, or their traditional roles. Don’t come looking for the “woke” bible here.

But Children of Eden is, in its own way, a very good show, and its popularity in amateur productions attests to that. However, despite a handful of compelling songs that have made it into the musical theater zeitgeist, like “Lost in the Wilderness,” It’s not as memorable or well known musically as other scores by Schwartz. The analogies drawn between God the Father and parents in general in the book and lyrics may not be as wittily observed as in a Sondheim show; but they are still compelling. Even as a concert version it is a stirring and engrossing entertainment. If you come to this production hoping to be moved and awe struck, you will be. Just don’t come looking for the sacrilegious snark of The Book of Mormon.

At the end of Children of Eden, God accepts the faults, errors in judgment, and determined independence of man. He makes his peace with the idea that we won’t always do what he wishes, and forgives us for that.  But every time I listen to the news these days, I wonder if God might change his mind again. As I look at the increasingly troubled world around us, I can’t help but wonder if we should be building another ark. I often ask myself not if, but when, the wrath of God will return. Seeing this show in this beautiful revival made me reflect on that question even more deeply.

So it will do you well to plan a pilgrimage to a performance of Children of Eden when it returns again. Just don’t eat that apple before you come.