“Children of Eden, In Concert”

[rating=5]Today was a special day in Chicago. In particular for the theater community and we can thank Broadway In Chicago for making sure that we had the opportunity to view a concert version of Stephen Schwartz and John Caird’s “Children of Eden In Concert” at The Cadillac Palace Theatre. It was a one day only event with two performances, one at 2 p.m  Jane and I attended) and the other at 8 p.m. The “concert” is in two acts with the first running about 74 minutes and after a 20 minute intermission, the second act is about 50 minutes.

Could the two stories in this production been done in one sitting? Possibly, but since we have two stories from the bible, the production peple felt that two acts might better serve the performers as well as the audience members. For sure the bar!

Act One is the story of Genesis and of course Adam and Eve as well as Cain and Abel. The second act is the story of Noah and the flood. The show was written back in 1986 as a religious musical for a Belleville Illinois church, so it has Illinois roots. It was called “Family Tree” musical and Schwartz adapted it to a full length play and changed the title many years later. This was back in 1991- the reviews were bad and so the show closed. It never made it to Broadway ( let’s say, yet). Over the years it has been done by regional theater companies all over the world. In 2014, the first of the one night only concerts was performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts in Washington. In 2015, a junior version was created so that children could learn from the show as well as take part in some wonderful musical experiences. In 2019, Schwartz announced a revised Chicago production with a possible filming and then came Covid-19 and the earth stood still ( at least for theater).

Maybe that will be the intent of what we were shown today. A chilling , thrilling production featuring some very talented voices.  Randal Keith (over 3,000 performances as Jean Valjean- need I say more )as “Father” /God, Koryn Mattani Hawthorne, David Phelps ( who does Adam and Noah and has a range that is amazing),Michelle Williams , Sam Tsui, and an ensemble that is powerful, not only in performance but ability to glide onto the stage with music stands for scripts. This is almost like a reading except that most of these actors were truly off script for the most part.

This is a staged concert presentation with direction, choreography ( a few rehearsals, for sure) and the choreography by Nicholas Ranauro is sheer perfection. You cannot see this production unless they opt to put online at one of the platforms, but I am hopeful that based on the response from this afternoon’s performance, Broadway In Chicago will find a way to make this a play on their season with the hopes of finally getting it to New York and Broadway ( where it truly belongs).

From the opening number “Let There Be” to the ending of the first act,” Children of Eden” where local singers lined the aisles to sing along this was powerful. Act two began with “Let There Be” again and ended with “In Whatever Time We Have” with some wonderful songs in-between. I loved this production and cannot wait to get to see another but with full costumes and sets. This one had great projections and a few dazzling costumes, but when it is ready to take the next steps, I would imagine a great deal more will happen.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Children of Eden In Concert”

Look for it in the future. It is too good not to be done!!!!