CH!ILDREN OF EDEN Music & lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by John Caird

Directed by Ian Wilson and Margaret Jones Musical Director: Philip Jones

Ian Wilson discllsses the production jar Llandudno Youth Music Theatre

Llandudno Youth Music 'n1eatre was form ed in 1978 ,15 a feeder g roup for one of the adult socjeties in L1andudno, but grew into a youth group in its own right. Our first musical Anile of Grel'll Gables was performed in 1979 ,1t the loca l Town H,11l in L1andudno on a sm,111 s tage with virtually no sound and lighting and ,1 small set, Sinc 1979 the group has performed a muskal every yea r in various ven u s in the c1 rea.

In September of 1988 ClIildr~1I of Edell was the musical chosen, It was performed ,1t the North VVales Theatre, Llandudno on one of the biggest stages in th UK .

CiJi!drcli of Edell is the story of the fir s t nine chapters of the Old ~ . ,;tament, from the Cre,1tion to Noah's Ark land ing on Mount Ararat, with one big musica l number, "Generations", cove ring the nine hundred years in between,

This version is much shorter than the original West End production, staged in 1991, which I think makes it a tighter, stronger piece and gives it dramatic impact.

CASTI The.re is a cas t of 18 m,1jo r chMacters, some of which may be doubled, plus storytellers who make up the chorus, Ev 'ryone remained on stage throughout the piece only It·aving the stage to either change costume or sugges t a change of scene, The action is continuous throughout.

Of the main chilrilc ters, Father (God) needs to have a presence above everyone else whilst at the same time still be able to blend back into the s tory te llers at the end of the show,

Adam and Eve need to play their first scenes with innocence and gr<1dually age through Act L This was achieved by body language and s lower movements rilther than applying make-up, Our yo ung actors were totally believable,

Cain needs a good range in his singing voice, as his main song is very powerful and quite high,

The snake is usually played by a man but our snake waS played by a

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woma n, equa lly if not mor effectively

Noah is a wonderful part for aT'

actor and he and his family must able to work together as a team ,

ReheMsa ls stMted in March wit lea rning the songs, all tota lly nel' Auditions were held a t th begilming of May

With a s trong cas t we bega flooring, Rehearsals took place (Ii

Thursdays for everyone an Sunday afternoons for script wor and choreography right up unt the show opened at the beginni of September.

The show was split between tw directors , Act [ was directed b myself, Ian Wilson and Act II L1' Margaret Jones. We had work" together in the past.

Act I is longer and needs to flow _ as not to drag, It covers a lo t ' ground , Scenes like The Cre<1t.inn The Naming of the Animals, Th Snake and the Apple, TI Wilderness, Cain and Abel and , Ring of Stones, w hich includes th death of Abel, are all ve ry dramatic but keep the pace going as it build· to a moving climax at the end ('I

Act L

Act II, although shorter, has no Ie- ­impact. The open ing numbe "Genera tions" requires lo ts (' energy as it bridges the generati gap between Act I and Act 1I an introduces Noah to his famil y. Tl rdurn of the animals as they boan: the Ark is one of the nlan highlights of Act II. Creating th' desperation of weeks without sigh of land tes ts the actors in j oah ~ family. As land is found Noah ­wife sings "Ain't it Good", rousing gospel number. It t.,

important for the actor playin~ No~h to bring the audience do,,"!' to earth ready for the final seen which takes us right back to thl beginning,

Then' are similarities that occur 111

Act I and Act II that need to b. worked on so that the audienct sees the connection, The fi gh scene being jus t one to mention,

WhJt also comes across from tlu­show is how parents cope wit~ bringing up thei r children, Fathl ­with Adam and Eve and their son­Cain and Abel. Also in Act II witt­Noa h and his son Japheth, Not S(

different from today

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"""'1e action is continuous in the . ript with no set scenes laid down.

)u can let your imagination run , ild. We did break up the script , here the action dictated the 'haracters moved from one place to nother, this i\.iso helps in plimning

-"hea rsals.

You could build a full set for eilCh . cene>, creating all th e locations " ith e1.1borate scenery, but we thought it would be better to hilVe a lrnpll> comp()site sd and use

specialist lighting to crea te it

d ifferent atmosphere for each ocene. Our St,)ge lvlanager designed ,1 set with sca ffolding, Iwo diffe re.n t levels, nnd gave us differen t lev(o'is for working on.

The music from the original production of Cliildrell of Edell has been drasticall)1 chal1ged and \'irtually every song that was in the origina l show h,lVing been altered; indeed many have been co mp letely rewritten, some deleted and new songs added.

The show is a roC' k opera, therefore the music and s taging have to gel in orde r for the story to be told ,1nd und er<;tood by thE' ilLldience . This is a difficult t,1 5k <"I t best, but when Y OLI ar :.> dealing \v ith a ne\v \vork such ,1 , ClII'ldren of Fo dell you have very few guid elines to follow.

The LYMT had recently invested in a computer with music softwclfe. l'his has proved invaluable when working with the RehearScore disc supplied (at a cost) by Jos ph Wei nberge r.

This disc enables the mu~ic to be played ,1 t rehea.rsals at any speed, all the harmonies broken down fo r all parts, and most importantly the music printed off for tlw diffe'rent h,)rmony lines for the cast to leMn.

Once all the songs were lea rnt the music was played "live", first vvith th e piano then with thc kevboard/synthesize r. It was pl~nned th,it we would have an orches tra on stoge for the production and this was part of the magic of the show.

The audience was able to sec the musicians on "tage (albeit in the middle of the se t), ilnd gave the whole company 1\ feeling of "one",

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un.Jjke the traditional "orchestra in the pit musicals" when most of the Inusicians never see the cast, nor the cast the musicians.

Having the orchestra on stage creates its own unique' problems especially for the sound engineers. Not onlv does the audience have to have th~ correct mix and balance, but also the orchestra and MD have to be able to hear the Cilst, and vice versa. This was i-lchieved with additional sound desk and "fold back" monitors for the cast and the orchestr,l strategically placed on stage at several locations.

The music of Cilildr(, 11 of Edell is a joy to learn, play and perform. What more could you ask of allY musical?

COST ME ostumes can be very fl exible. We

brought in a costume d es igner who incorporated the biblical theme on a modern scale, e .g. Cain was dressed in combat trousers ,)nd tee-shirt whilst oah was more tr,lditional. Adam and E VE'S

costumes were chosen by working closely with th costume d esigne r and very si mple costumes dep icting innocence were chose.n. As the actors aged, their costumes changed by adding another piece of clothing.

The animals are a big challenge. Our animals w ere dressed in ,m absract way with mate rial of the anim al th or d epicted adding tails ,lnd ea rs as appropriate.

We hirt" d nine r'ldio microphones plus four hanel-held rad io microphones plus four float mics for the front of the stag"'. This gave us best coverage in a large theatre and meant there was no quick changes of microphones.

Our technician hired in moving lights to provide light exactly where we wanted it but al.5o to injec t a certain amount of spectacle into the show. Haze machines were <llso hired together with ordinary lanterns to au gment the theatre's supply. Scrollers were also used. TIle' ex tra equipment was hired from Stage Elec trics in Birmingham. The lighting is an integral part of the show, especially the final sequence of the rainbow.

CONCL" SION

Children of Edell was a great artistic success for the group, utilising everyone's talents, although not a financial SUCC" S$. It is very difficult persuading audiences to try somcthing new. We performed on a large stage in a 1400 seat theatre and used a lot of high tech lighting to crea te the effects we wanted. However the show can work just as well Ln a sm all venue, studio theatre or church hall. It is the approach to and enthusiasm for the piece that makes the difference.

,,.·ta,

was a very happy atmosphere both on and backstage throughout rehearsals and the week of the show. Our audiences loved it. This was evident from the standing ovations received after every performance - wha t more can I say"

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