One With Grace is a relatively new group, formed in January 2000 to perform a rock musical based on the life of Jesus. Our members are made up of people from local churches, many of whom have little or no experience in the Arts. So 'Children of Eden' is a significant challenge for us. The Music Theatre International catalogue lists it as 'easy to sing' and so we took them at their word. Easy is such a subjective term! After our first attempt at 'Let There Be' we realised that their easy and our easy were distinctly different.

We have a cast of 20 Storytellers, from whom all the main characters are pulled, plus Father. We made a decision from the very start that the cast would remain on stage throughout the whole show (apart from a comfort break at half way). For those as Storytellers, and especially the 4 children, this has proved a challenge in itself. It is very easy to lose track of what is going on and start gazing round the room, scratching as if no-one is looking and even starting a little chat about the previous week. It is only now, 4 weeks to go, that the enormity of what is left to do has sunk in.

As musical director there have been moments of real pleasure and intense pain. The joy of actually hearing the harmonies in 'Close to Home' was fantastic. The closing harmonies of several of the company numbers  have been more painful at times. That said, everyone is working really hard, only about 5 of our cast can read music, only 4 have ever sung in harmony, and none have ever hit top A successfully. Friends and family will be amazed at the transformation in some of the company. I am too!

For music we have been truly blessed. To supplement the live musicians, Gary Piacentini has been slaving over his keyboard to sequence the score. There are over 800 pages in the full score ensuring that the music is a real test for any musician, even if only a test of stamina. The results of Gary's hard work are turning out to be a joy. Despite only having 8 weeks to complete the score and living in New York whilst we are in the UK, this is proving to be a great aspect of the production.

There is so much depth to the lyrics in the show that I doubt we could ever truly do it justice. One of the pleasing aspects of working on Children of Eden is the questions it raises in each of us. As a group consisting of committed Christians we all came to the show with established ideas about who God was and how he dealt (and deals) with mankind. The show provides a great challenge to our accepted ideas and leads us down a path of rediscovery. The first night we read through the script one of our members commented on how violent it appeared. I re-read the Genesis account and realised just how violent the original was too! We don't like to think of God as someone who would kick Adam and Eve out of the garden, many of the group felt uncomfortable at Father's expulsion of them. The reality is we have to face the fact that God set the rules and Adam and Eve broke them. The question of mercy and forgiveness was discussed. The way that Stephen Schwartz retells the expulsion deals with this issue nicely, the Christian concept of God teaches of a God who is always ready to forgive those who ask! Adam and Eve in COE reject Father and rebel against him. The remainder of the show explores how Father can restore relationship with his children.

The group is growing in so many aspects, theatrical skills, musically, Spiritually, and in self confidence. We are having FUN too! The next 4 weeks will be tough and telling but I believe that the final result will make it all work while.

Richard Gregg
Designer & Musical Director