CHILDREN OF EDEN Update: 38 Days to Opening Night

I've a few nights off from rehearsal for the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of Eden ('cuz those are being used to focus on the solo numbers and I don't have one of those). In the past few sessions we've finished going over all the choral pieces. I'm still amazed at how much work we've done in so relatively short a span of time.

The last major song from the show that we took on was "Ain't It Good" from Act II. I've thought for years that "Generations" might be the most complicated song from Children of Eden but having done "Ain't It Good" now, I'm pretty confident that it might be the more difficult of the two. But by the end of the night last night we'd put together a very rousing rendition. "Ain't It Good" is the kind of style associated with gospel music from traditionally black churches, which I've always enjoyed listening to and this is the first time in my life that I've ever had the opportunity to sing like this. All this number needs now is members of the cast doing cartwheels across the stage, like the church scene from The Blues Brothers. But even without that (I don't think the stage would be big enough) this might wind up being the hit song of the entire show.

Something that I'm doing as personal preparation for this is that each night I've been reading Genesis chapters 1 through 9 again, and trying to "get into the heads" of Adam and Eve and Noah and even God (who's called Father in the production). Even though I'm playing none of those characters, during the songs that accompany the plot I think it's helping to bring some nuance and emphasis as I sing them. Could that be called "Method Singing"? :-)

There's one more practice for the music itself, and then we begin blocking on stage next week.