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Genesis, the Musical

2015 · The Playhouse and the Hoogland Center for the Arts

Genesis, the Musical is Ken Bradbury's affectionate, irreverent retelling of the Bible's first book, performed in the summer of 2015 by a company of ten actors on a stage strewn with "colorful boxes, stools, ladders, poles, bits of costumes and other props." Out of that joyful clutter the cast conjures the whole sweep of Genesis — creation, the garden, Cain and Abel, the begats, the Tower of Babel, and on through the patriarchs to Joseph — opening with the show's thesis-in-a-song, "Got to get it right, right from the start."

Bradbury's script is built on his trademark wordplay and pop-culture mischief: a void that is judged "voider," then "voidacious," then "void-acious"; a parade of beginnings quoted from Plato, Alice in Wonderland, Sparky Anderson, St. Francis, Camus, and Snoopy; soap-opera organ stings under the story of Abram and Sarai; and a sly bit about the bitten-apple icon on a Mac laptop. The humor is grounded by sincerity, and Bradbury's director's notes return again and again to a single goal — keeping the show "consistent but fresh and alive," with the audience treated as "our 11th character."

The 2015 run was a genuine hit. By opening night the company had sold some 900 advance tickets at $25 each, drawing tears and thank-you notes from audiences and overwhelming the production's sponsors at Passavant. As Bradbury wrote to his cast, "You have achieved the ultimate in theatre — consistent but fresh and alive. So hard to do in any theatre."

Musical Numbers

Act I

• Right From the Start — the Company
• We're a Team — Taylor and Chandler
• If You Were the Only — Chandler and Billie
• Temptation Dance — Rowan and Billie
• Empty Garden — Taylor & Company
• Begattin' — London, Chandler, Alex, Rowan, Bailey & Company
• Babble-Babble — London, Shannon, Quinn & the Company
• We Love It! — Taylor & Shannon
• You're Not Alone — Taylor, London and Company

Act II

• The Nature of Things — Alex, London & the Company
• A Rumble in Canaan — Bailey, Chandler, Alex & Company
• You Gotta Sell It! — Bailey & Company
• I Am — Taylor, Shannon, Billie, Quinn & Company

Cast

• Carrie Carls
• Nathan Carls
• Parker Carls
• John Love
• Alec President
• Stephanie Soltermann
• Drew Stroud
• Erin Washington
• Brenda Yale
• Jim Yale

The ten ensemble characters were played under codenames — Taylor, Bailey, Chandler, Shannon, Alex, Morgan, Rowan, Quinn, London, and Billie — who carry the action from creation through the patriarchs.

Production Notes

Written and directed by Ken Bradbury, Genesis, the Musical was staged in July and August of 2015. Rehearsals and the first performances ran at the Playhouse in early July (with shows at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.), before the production moved to the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield, Illinois, for performances in late July and August.

The Genesis Crew included Roger Wainwright as orchestra director, Donn Stephens as vocal director, Brittany Davis as choreographer, Mary Jane Million as stage manager, Kyler Miller on tech, Janet Long on costumes, and Ginny Fanning as production coordinator. The orchestra featured Roger Wainwright, Jerry Kirbach, Sam Roth, Danny McLaughlin, and Kayla Primm. Many in the company were veterans of Bradbury's other shows and of the Green Pastures Christian Camp for the Performing Arts.

Bradbury's surviving rehearsal notes — full of precise, warm coaching about holding for laughs, "less Elvis and more River Dance," and selling every punch line — capture a director delighting in a company that had, by his own account, given the Passavant sponsors "so much more" than they'd hoped for.