Children of Eden

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Children of Eden is a musical play with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. It is loosely based on the Book of Genesis.

Summary

Act I tells the story of Adam and Eve and their fall from grace, and then of their sons Cain, Abel and Seth and Act II deals with Noah and the Great Flood. It uses the same cast for both acts, recasting Adam as Noah, Eve as Noah's Wife, and Cain, Able and Seth as Japheth, Ham and Shem respectively. God, always referred to only as "Father," appears in both acts, but interacts only with Adam, Eve and Noah. The rest of the characters cannot hear him, and must rely on those who can to tell them what he's saying.

Deviations from Fact

The musical is clearly a fictionalized account, which deviates from the Biblical story many places and should not be taken as a full factual account. For example: in the play Adam is forced to choose between Eden and Eve, knowing she is going to be expelled and chooses not to listen to God imploring him to choose Eden, and Noah must make a difficult decision regarding Japheth's wife, (who in the play is a descendant of Cain) while unable to hear God because of his doubts if the rain will ever stop. Neither of these things happened in the Bible. Most of this inaccuracy stems from an attempt to create parallels where none truly exist in the Bible and tie together the two stories.

Themes

The main themes of the musical redeem it's factual inaccuracies. They are: the importance of the Heavenly Father's guidance, and the (although relatively lesser, still existing) importance of one's earthly father's guidance.

In the stage story, Adam and Noah both demonstrate the weight of the responsibility on a father's shoulders of making decisions for their family, and how much harder those decisions are when one does not listen to God's guidance.

The show also implores it's audience to forgive Adam and Eve for their fall, and not to let it define us but instead aim to live lives worthy of a return to paradise in heaven.

Children of Eden,
Grant us your pardon.
All that we leave to you,
is the unknown.
Children of Eden,
Seek for your garden.
You and your children to come,
Someday to come home.