Shrine production of ‘Children of Eden’ starts today
Relatives to make up audience, others to tune in virtually
Two weeks before their musical was to debut last March, the Shrine High School stage was shuttered and darkened by COVID.
Seniors lost out on a final curtain call and special memories never came to be. But this spring, with a year of pandemic living and adapting, Shrine High School will put stage “Children of Eden.” The musical features 41 on stage performers with another 10 working behind the scenes.
There will be a limited audience of performer’s relatives but everyone else can tune in online to watch the streaming version. The performances are Friday, March 26, and Saturday, March 27, at 7:30 p.m. and a Sunday, March 28, performance at 3 p.m. Tickets for the shows can be purchased at showtix4u.com/ event-details/47984.
The musical is based on the book by John Caird and the music and lyrics are by Stephen Schwartz. The story is based on a concept by Charles Lisanby and follows the Old Testament Biblical stories from the book of Genesis. Act I tells the story of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel. Act II tells the story of Noah and the Flood.
Director Julie Malloy is
is excited to have her students back on stage for this special high school traditional experience.
“I have seniors who haven’t been on stage since their sophomore year,” Malloy said. “I had big dreams for this year. I have a perfect storm of some amazing senior males and junior males – and quite a bit of them. I was exciting to try and do Le Mis but it’s so expensive to pull it off. I did Children of Eden 15 years ago but it has the same flavor as far as really strong and challenging vocal parts for males in particular. It challenges a lot of different kids both male and female.”
She also explains the musical’s message is a timely one for these pandemic times.
“It’s something everyone needs to hear right now. Even in our community.
God is always here with us. Be good people and take care of people and do the right thing. It’s been really great for the students and they love the message and want to share the message,” Malloy said. “This is what they live for. We’ve really witnessed a lot of depression. It’s hard to not be able to do these things they look forward to having. We were shut down two weeks before we were to open last year.”
With fresh faces on stage – a majority have never been on stage – and not in lead roles.
“Now they are starting players in something they don’t have experience in. They are working so hard and doing an amazing job. I’m really impressed,” Malloy said.
Something special with this year’s performance is the addition of younger Shrine students. Malloy’s 8-year-old daughter has the challenge to bring to life a unicorn on stage. Producer
Molly Robinson notes all three Shrine schools’ students will be involved in the show.
“We have kids from the middle school academy and six kids from our grade school that are involved,” Robinson said.
The actors and crew will be sporting singers’ masks that allow more room to sing and talk.
“It adds a lot of space in front of their face and provides them enough space to open their mouth and the mask doesn’t move at all,” Malloy said. “It’s makes everyone a lot more safe.”
Robinson notes the show will not be “on demand” but a live stream at the time of the performance. During last fall’s play, power was lost and their show, Clue, went offline.
“This year we are pre-recording what we are streaming. Then we know our audience won’t be disappointed. The show is about two hours and 15 minutes.”