Media Information and Resources

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: UNTIL JULY 16, 2006

            Please add to your listings / announcements.

             Media Contact:  Derrick Chua, (416) 889.3398 or dchua@pathcom.com

 

WELCOME TO EDEN, POPULATION: 2.

A Divine New Musical Premieres At Toronto Fringe

 Written by Allison McWood, Music by Mark Selby

Directed by Geoff Whynot, Produced by Derrick Chua

 Starring: Mark Allan, Robert Laughton, Julie Martell and Brett McCaig

 

Toronto, Ontario… Genesis Productions is thrilled to announce that Welcome to Eden, Population: 2.  A Divine Musical will premiere at the Toronto Fringe Festival, opening Wednesday, July 5 at 10:30 pm at the Tarragon Theatre Mainspace, 30 Bridgman Avenue, Toronto.  If you are unable to attend the opening, our second performance is on Saturday, July 8 at 5:15 pm.  Running time is approximately 85 minutes.

 

Welcome to Eden is a full musical, featuring 15 songs written by Allison McWood (lyrics) and Mark Selby (music); a light new musical take on the Adam and Eve / Garden of Eden tale.  A plot summary with song titles is attached herewith, for more details on the show itself.

 

Welcome to Eden’s cast is led by JULIE MARTELL (Gypsy on Broadway opposite Bernadette Peters and on Grammy Award-Winning Broadway Cast Recording, and at Shaw Festival opposite Nora McLellan; pre-Broadway workshop of Beach Boys musical Good Vibrations;  Sophie in Mirvish’s Mamma Mia opposite Camilla Scott) as Eve and MARK ALLAN (most recently Forever Plaid at Stage West, and also at Sudbury Theatre Centre, Bluewater Summer Playhouse, Drayton Festival, Red Barn; My Fair Lady at Port Hope; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Cabaret at Sudbury Theatre Centre; Sound of Music at Theatre Aquarius; Pelagie at CanStage) as Adam.  Also playing is ROBERT LAUGHTON (Anne of Green Gables, Something Wonderful, Dracula at Charlottetown Festival; You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, The Secret Garden in Victoria) as Lucifer and BRETT MCCAIG (Forever Plaid, Grease, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, all for Stage West; The Last Resort, The Buddy Holly Story, Joseph, Pirates of Penzance, all for Drayton Festival; Top Gun! The Musical in the New York premiere) as the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost!

 

It is directed by GEOFFREY WHYNOT (directorial credits include Over the River and Through the Woods, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Twelfth Night for the Globe Theatre; Forever Plaid, Nunsense, Pirates of Penzance for Weathervane Playhouse) and produced by DERRICK CHUA (BoyGroove; Top Gun! The Musical; The Arab-Israeli Cookbook; The Laramie Project; Sleepless; Lust’s Labour’s Lost; Waiting For Trudeau: The Return of the King; Poochwater).

 

  

WELCOME TO EDEN, POPULATION: 2.  A DIVINE MUSICAL 

Written by Allison McWood.  Music by Mark Selby

Directed by Geoff Whynot.  Produced by Derrick Chua 

PLOT SUMMARY INCLUDING SONG TITLES 

            The musical opens with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost talking amongst themselves, leading to the creation of Adam (“I’m Alive”).  After a few moments, Adam realizes something is missing and God creates Eve to join Adam in Eden (“There’s Never Been a ‘Me’ Before”).  Adam and Eve notice each other and start to talk, but are unsure how to initiate a relationship (“Do You Think She Likes Me?”).  Once Adam and Eve begin to communicate, they immediately hit it off, much to the dismay of Lucifer, who despises them for being in God’s favour while he has fallen in disgrace (“Fallen Angel”).  Lucifer vows to come between Adam and Eve, disrupting their relationship and threatening their happiness (“Isn’t That Just Like a Woman/Isn’t That Just Like a Man?”).  Eve begins to question her place in the garden, wondering if there is more to life than just being a wife (“Outside the Garden”).  Meanwhile, Adam confides in God that he is madly in love with Eve, even though she makes him frantic with frustration (“I Love Her, But She’s Giving Me an Ulcer”).  Lucifer, in the form of a snake, approaches Eve, trying to warp her mind with thoughts of self-loathing and inadequacy, but Eve has an overwhelming instinct that the snake is dangerous (“Weird Intuition”).  Lucifer does convinces Eve that Adam is having an affair with an alleged other woman in the garden.  Eve pours her heart out to the Father about her feelings of uselessness while Adam complains to the Holy Ghost about the wrongful accusation brought against him by his wife.  Lucifer disguises his voice, pretending to be the Holy Ghost, as he tries to deceive Adam and Eve into resenting one another (“Mayhem”).

 

The second act opens with Adam and Eve engaged in a meaningless argument.  Lucifer observes the results of his work and is amused by the turmoil.  After Adam storms off in frustration, Eve is once again approached by Lucifer, who now tries to convince her to eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and be like God.  Eve is so frightened of the snake that her hysteria makes Lucifer’s task difficult (“Hysterical Woman”).  The Holy Ghost intervenes just in time, warning Eve to resist the snake.  Meanwhile, Adam comes home hungry after a long day working in the field.  When Eve tells him not to eat anything before dinner, Adam hallucinates with hunger, fantasizing about food (“A Man’s Gotta Eat”) culminating in him accidentally eating the forbidden fruit.  Embarrassed, Adam causes Eve to unknowingly eat the forbidden fruit.  With their newly discovered “knowledge”, they realize that they are naked and become ashamed (“Good God, We’re Naked”).  God confronts them and Adam blames Eve.  They are both punished (“Curses”).  Lucifer is also punished by having his legs removed (“Good Bye, Legs”).  Ironically, Lucifer, having been devastated and conquered by the love in the garden, makes Adam and Eve realize that love is stronger than the power that was keeping them apart and the show ends with them ready to face a new world together (“Maybe Not Eden”).

 

 

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