Tonight… we brought down the house!!!
Our best performance yet, playing to the most packed audience so far.
Okay, off to celebrate now 🙂...
CHILDREN OF EDEN: Performance #5!
CHILDREN OF EDEN: Performance #4 and wild cast party!
Last night we had our fourth performance of Children of Eden. Widespread consensus is that this was the one thus far most plagued by mishaps. A keyboard went out, there were problems with the microphones early in Act I, at least one cast member fell ill (but bounced back and rejoined the show), Noah’s Ark almost crashed, and I tried hard to hold back a sneeze immediately following “The Flood” and just when I was about to leave the stage, it happened anyway.
But all things considered, the audience seemed to have really enjoyed last night’s show!
Following the performance, just about all the cast and crew met at Pizza Station in Reidsville for a party that stretched well on into the night and may have gotten a little too wild for anyone’s good…
CHILDREN OF EDEN: Final weekend of performances begin tonight!
Children of Eden
Tonight begins the final three performances of Theatre Guild of Rockingham County‘s production of Children of Eden. The hit musical takes to the stage tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 and then one last performance on Sunday afternoon at 2:30. All shows are in the auditorium at the Advanced Technologies Building at Rockingham Community College. So far the show has been a huge success, and many patrons are swearing that it’s one of the best musicals that the Theatre Guild has ever done! Word is that the shows for the next few nights are selling fast so if you wanna go, get yer tickets now and ...
CHILDREN OF EDEN: More photos!
Here are some more pics from the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County‘s production of Children of Eden. Some of these were taken by my wife Lisa and others were taken by Dean Brown…
CHILDREN OF EDEN: The Third Performance
Are we really halfway through our performance schedule already? Sure doesn’t seem like it.
This afternoon was the third performance of Children of Eden, produced by the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County. It was the biggest audience yet! And the show went great again. Today’s performance was especially important for me personally because I was finally able to do something that I’ve been working on all this past week: have some serious tears flowing when I played Seth at the end of Act I. It worked… but man, that was tough! Will try to do it again for the next three times we do this.
My parents got to come and see the show too. One neat moment happened when I got to introduce my real Mom to Rose Cutuli Wray, my “Mom” (she plays Eve) in Children of Eden. Also got to see a lot ...
CHILDREN OF EDEN: The Second Performance
Just got back from our second performance of the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County‘s production of Children of Eden. Somewhat larger crowd tonight than our opener last night. Hopefully word of mouth will bring in bigger audiences tomorrow and next week.
Well, I honestly can’t remember what much of the audience reaction was during the show itself last night ‘cuz we were all so busy making sure we were in place for our cues and such, but tonight I was able to let myself see how the crowd was taking it. The reaction was incredible! There was lots of laughter and applause, but what really caught my attention was what happened as we were about to head down the aisles toward the stage for “Ain’t It Good”: people in the audience were bopping their heads and clapping and snapping their fingers right to the beat! And then ...
After-Action Report from CHILDREN OF EDEN’s Opening Night!
Tonight, the shared sentiment among the cast and crew of Theatre Guild of Rockingham County’s production of Children of Eden is TRIUMPHANT!
The show went beautifully! It was the first time that it had ever been performed in Rockingham County. And judging by the applause and the kind words that members of the audience gave us after the show, this was a huge hit! Lots of people said that they loved the uplifting and powerful message of the story and that the music was “wonderful!” Cast members also received a lot of praise for their acting.
We just got back from a very crazy opening night cast party at a Mexican restaurant in Reidsville (which included the strangest rendition of “In Pursuit of Excellence” that I’ve seen since this production began… and that’s saying something). Everyone involved is ecstatic about what happened tonight. Some have said that this might be ...
Theatre Guild of Rockingham County’s production of CHILDREN OF EDEN opens TONIGHT!
Children of Eden
Here it is at last: Opening Night for Children of Eden, produced by the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County. The curtain opens at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Rockingham Community College Auditorium. The show runs each Friday and Saturday night at 7:30 and then Sunday afternoon at 2:30 between today and June 29th.
If you are coming, and you have never seen Children of Eden before, then prepare yourself for a treat.
Children of Eden, with music by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell and the music for the motion picture Prince of Egypt) based on a book by John Caird (the musical Les ...
CHILDREN OF EDEN: 1 Day Left Before Opening Night
Here’s a photo from rehearsal last night, from the end of Act I. This is right after Eve (Rose Cutuli Wray) has bid goodbye to Seth (me), Seth’s Wife (Tisha Owens) and is now telling the rest of her descendants farewell. Also in this picture are Justin Marcellus, Jamia Parker, Jessica Wray, and Tyler Alverson…
Rehearsal went extremely well! We’ve got one more left before the curtain opens before a real audience tomorrow night for Theatre Guild of Rockingham County‘s production of Children of Eden.
One thing that’s kind of funny is that Pete Barr, the director, came to me the other night and asked if I could “tone down” the boogeying during “Ain’t It Good”. It’s like the story of when George Lucas was filming Star Wars Episode I and Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor kept making the noises with their mouths and didn’t realize it, and ...
CHILDREN OF EDEN: What do I look like as Seth?
Okay, sure…
Here I am as Seth (while holding the Staff of Adam) in the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County‘s production of Children of Eden:
No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you: that is a good part of my Jedi Knight costume! I’m also playing a Storyteller and we needed something to differentiate me when I appear as Seth at the end of Act I. Children of Eden‘s costumer Kathy Morrison and I were talking about what we could do, and I mentioned that I had a Jedi Knight getup and then… click! I brought it in the next night and she worked over the next few days adding some color to the tabard and waist sash.
That is also the very first time in well over 25 years that I have worn sandals. Most of the time I wear sturdy leather hiking boots, either that ...