Act One:

“Let There Be”

“The Tree of Knowledge”
“The Naming”
“Grateful Children”
“Father’s Day”
“Perfect”
“The Spark of Creation”
“In Pursuit of Excellence”
“The End of a Perfect Day”
“Childhood’s End”
“A World Without You”
“The Expulsion”
“The Wasteland”
“The Spark of Creation (Reprise #1)”
“Lost in the Wilderness”
“Close to Home”
“A Ring of Stones”
“The Death of Abel”
“The Mark of Cain”
“Children of Eden”

Act Two:
“Generations”
“The Gathering Storm”
“A Piece of Eight”
“The Return of the Animals”
“Noah’s Lullaby”
“Stranger to the Rain”
“In Whatever Time We Have”
“The Flood”
“What Is He Waiting For?”
“Sailor of the Skies”
“The Spark of Creation (Reprise #2)”
 “The Hardest Part of Love”
“Words of Doom”
“The Hour of Darkness”
“Ain’t It Good?”
“Precious Children”
“In the Beginning”

“Let There Be”

STORYTELLERS
In the beginning
In the beginning
God created the Heaven and Earth
Without form – void – darkness
And God said:

FATHER
Let there be!

STORYTELLERS
Light!

FATHER
I woke up from a curious dream
I dreamed a perfect garden
And there were whirling shapes
And swirling sounds
And I wasn’t lonely anymore

I woke up from a wonderful dream

Woke, full of energy and hunger
And now this hunger will be stilled
And my emptiness be filled
As I set about to build
My dream

Let there be, let there be

 Morning
Let there be
Evening, day
Let there be
Let there be

STORYTELLERS
Let there be

FATHER
Waters, weathers, winters, wonders

FATHER & STORYTELLERS

Let there be
Land and

FATHER
Speeding comets with hearts of ice!
Spinning planets with rings of fire!

FATHER STORYTELLERS
Cosmic sparks Sparks
And quasars and quarks Quasars, quarks

FATHER
And suns convulsing

FATHER & STORYTELLERS

Pulsars pulsing

STORYTELLERS
Let there be

FATHER
Let there be

FATHER & STORYTELLERS

Let there be

FATHER
Whales! Snails! Sharks! Larks!
Apple trees with dappled barks!
And granite mountains and flaxen plains
Giant lizards with tiny brains

FATHER STORYTELLERS
Fluorescent fish and crescent worms Fish, worms
And a million bugs and trillion germs Bugs, germs

STORYTELLERS
Let there be

FATHER
Let there be

FATHER & STORYTELLERS

Let there be

STORYTELLERS
And God saw, it was good, it was good

FATHER & STORYTELLERS

Let there be, let there be

FATHER
It’s not enough! It’s still not enough
There was something more in my dream
Something could see it and share it
What was it, though?
I only know
I wasn’t lonely anymore

There is one more thing to build

One more void that must be filled
I’ll make creatures I’ll call children
Shaped like me!

FATHER & STORYTELLERS

Let there be, let there be

FATHER
Something, someone
Small and skinny
Clawless, furless
Finless, fangless

FATHER & STORYTELLERS

Let there be
Man who can

FATHER
Wander over my flaxen plains
Wonder up at my granite mountains
Count the stars and wish for wings
 And hold a tool and think of things
And search for answers he cannot see

STORYTELLERS
And dream of glory

FATHER
And worship me!

STORYTELLERS
Let there be

FATHER
Let there be

FATHER & STORYTELLERS

Let there be

STORYTELLERS
And God saw, it was good, it was good

FATHER
Let there be

STORYTELLERS
Let there be

FATHER & STORYTELLERS

Let there be

STORYTELLERS
And the father breathed into his children the breath of life

STORYTELLERS FATHER
And the children became living souls Let
And the father gave to his children a garden There
And called the garden… Eden! Be

FATHER & STORYTELLERS

Let there be!
The Tree of Knowledge

EVE
But Father, if the tree isn’t good for us, why did you put it here?

FATHER
There are things a Father knows
A child cannot
I think you would agree
You’re newer here than me
Have faith I have my reasons you cannot see
In your best interest
So, no more questions about that tree
 EVE
But Father –

FATHER
I know! Let’s play a game!

The Naming

ADAM
A game? What sort of game?

FATHER
Naming the animals!
Come and gather in the meadow
In the meadow, in the sun
 Come together everyone
Now the naming has begun

Leave your burrow, field and furrow

For the meadow and the sun
Come and gather everyone
Now the naming has begun
The naming, the naming

ADAM & EVE FATHER

The naming, the naming Ah, ah, ah, oh, way, ah

EVE
Two footed

ADAM
Four footed

EVE
Six footed

ADAM
More footed

EVE
Fleet-footed

ADAM
Sure-footed

ADAM & EVE

What a grand array-o!

EVE
Duck-billed and red-breasted

ADAM
Star-nosed and quill-crested

ADAM & EVE

No wonder you rested on the seventh day-o!
Stripe and spot
Feather and fur
Maybe you forgot
How many there were

Hoot and honk

 Whistle and purr
Flap and gallop and hop
Once you started making them
It seems you couldn’t stop

MEN WOMEN
Come and gather in the meadow Two-footed, four-footed
In the meadow in the sun Six-footed, more footed
Come together everyone Fleet-footed, sure-footed
Now the naming has begun What a grand array-o!

STORYTELLERS
The naming, the naming!

ADAM
All right, let’s start with A, for Adam
A! Ahhh… Aardvark!

EVE
My turn! That one over there is an aardwolf!

ADAM
Addax

EVE
Agama

ADAM
Agouti

EVE
Alligator

ADAM
Amphiuma

EVE
This is fun!

ADAM
Anaconda

EVE
Antelope

ADAM
 Armadillo

EVE
Avadavat

ADAM
Axolotl

EVE
Aye-aye

ADAM
Aye-aye?

EVE
Aye-aye!

ADAM
Aye, aye, aye, we’ll never be done!

ADAM & EVE

Wings are waving, tails are wagging
Kangaroo, kinkajou
Komodo dragon
Lion, lemur
Hartebeest, hare
Chimpanzee and cinnamon bear
Numbat, wombat, janguarundi
Deermouse, dormouse, coati mundi
Peccary, porcupine and pronghorn
Tiger, tortoise, unicorn!

ADAM, EVE & STORYTELLERS

Come and gather in the meadow
In the meadow, in the sun
Come together everyone

FATHER
Now the naming…

ADAM
Vicuna

EVE
Walrus

FATHER
 Now the naming…

ADAM
Yak

EVE
Zebra

FATHER, ADAM & EVE

Now the naming…

FATHER ADAM & EVE

Ah, ah, ah, oh, way, ah It is done!

ALL
All done!
Grateful Children

ADAM & EVE

Oh, Father, for all we have received, we thank you
Here we are, your grateful children
All you give is all we know
In this everlasting springtime
May your perfect garden glow!
Father’s Day

FATHER
Sleeping there like angels
Innocent and simple
I think she’s got my nose
I think he’s got my dimple

In my own image
From my likeness are they sprung
They will keep me company
They will keep me young

That’s what it means to be a Father

Planning their future as you watch your children sleep
That’s what it means to be a Father
I never knew that I could feel a love so deep

Well I will be their teacher and I will be their guide

And everything they’ll ever need I’ll be there to provide
And in return, they’ll love me
Stay forever at my side
That’s what it means to be a Father

For I have built a universe, spectacular and new

And I sat there in my universe and learned that this was true:
What use is a universe with no one to give it to?
Not a hill of beans
‘Til you pass along your genes
That’s what it means to be a Father
Perfect

STORYTELLERS
And the night was perfect
And their dreams were perfect
And they woke with the dawn
And smiled with a yawn
At one another

And with a gentle kiss

They soon discovered this
Their love was more than sister and brother

FATHER
Well, after all they were made for each other

ADAM & EVE

Of all this perfect garden’s perfect sights
You are the sweetest of my earthly delights

STORYTELLERS
And their love was perfect
And the day was perfect
And the next was perfect
And the next… was perfect

And the day after that

And the day after that
Each one perfect as could be

WOMEN MEN
Perfect as could ever be And as the days went by
 Ahhh! Though she could not say why

STORYTELLERS
The woman went to spy on the curious tree
And she’d stand there all hesitant and hovering
And each day she drew closer
Until she made an oh!
Surprising and bewildering discovery

EVE
Come, Adam, quick, Adam, wait ‘til I show you what I found!

ADAM
Not now, dear, I’m trying to put the insects into alphabetical order. Ant… aphid…

EVE
No, Adam! Now, Adam!
It’s a thing that will astound you!
When I show you what I found, you won’t believe

ADAM
Eve!

STORYTELLERS
And she brought him to the tree
Where he knew they should not be
The Spark of Creation

EVE
Beyond, beyond
It sounds full of wind and mist, doesn’t it?
It means other things exist, doesn’t it?
Beyond, beyond
It says Adam leave your list, doesn’t it?
Father why does my head feel this joy and this dread since the moment I said
Beyond!

I’ve got an itching on the tips of my fingers

I’ve got a boiling in the back of my brain
I’ve got a hunger burning inside me, cannot be denied
I’ve got a feeling that the Father who made us
When he was kindling the pulse in my veins
He left a tiny spark of the fire, smouldering inside

The spark of creation, is flickering within me

The spark of creation, is blazing in my blood
A bit of the fire that lit up the stars
And breathed life into the mud, the first inspiration
The spark of creation
 I see a mountain and I want to climb it
I see a river and I want to leave shore
When there was nothing let there be something, something made by me
There’s things waiting for me to invent them
There’s worlds waiting for me to explore
I am an echo of the eternal cry of
Let there be!

The spark of creation, burning bright within me

The spark of creation, won’t let me rest at all
Until I discover or build or uncover
A thing that I can call, my celebration
Of the spark of creation

The spark of creation, may it burn forever

The spark of creation, I am a keeper of the flame
We think all we want is a lifetime of leisure
Each perfect day the same
Endless vacation
Well that’s alright if you’re a kind of crustacean
But when you’re born with an imagination
Sooner or later you’re feeling the fire get higher and higher
The spark of creation!

In Pursuit of Excellence

SNAKES
I’ve been watching you for a while now
My pretty little miss
And I’ve got to tell you this
You make me want to hiss
Your aimless curiosity is fast becoming tiresome
Knowledge, dear, is power
And its high time you acquired some
Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb

Lesson one for free

Repeat it after me:
I’m in pursuit of excellence
Excellence is what I wish
Once I was a feckless dreamer
Now no being is supreme

Why waste time wallowing in ignorance?

 Why be just a big fat fish in a tiny little pond?
Look beyond! And if the quickest route
Means a taste of forbidden fruit
What the hey, it’s all in pursuit of excellence!

Time for sophisticating

It’s no sin to be scintillating

So, don’t be such a stiff

Mmm, just take a sniff
Really, what’s the diff?
If a couple fibs are spoken
A couple vows are broken
That’s the price I guess
No pain, no gain!

You’ll be swiftly overtaken

By some ambitious snake unless
You progress, learn to dress for success! Yes!

We’re in pursuit of excellence

Winners get to take the risks
While the losers discuss
That’s why they’re losers!

Pass the test when you’re tested

Be the best, not the bested
Let all the nervous wrecks
Stay too frightened to stick out their necks
They’re not in pursuit of excellence like us
Like us! Like us!
The End of a Perfect Day

STORYTELLER
And the woman did eat
And her eyes were opened

STORYTELLER
Through her tears, she saw the beauty all around her

BOTH STORYTELLERS
At the end of a perfect day

STORYTELLERS
Nothing was different
And nothing would ever be the same
It was the end of a perfect day
 FATHER
Adam! Eve!

Childhood’s End

STORYTELLERS
And they heard the voice of Father
Walking in the garden in the cool of the day
And from Father’s presence
Among the thickest trees, they hid themselves away

FATHER
So, you have tasted the fruit

EVE
 Yes, Father, but it’s all right. It didn’t hurt me after all, and now I can see so clearly
I can see what you can see!

I can see, I can see

How we can build things from trees
We can use the winds and rivers
I can see there’s so much more for us to see

FATHER
Eve, you see too much
Can you see you have to go?

EVE
Go?

FATHER
Leave the garden

EVE
But why?

FATHER
This is a place of innocence
This is a place for children
And you are a child no more
Adam, Eve is leaving here

ADAM
Well, then, what if I went with her?

FATHER
Then you would never see me again!

A World Without You

ADAM
Oh, my Father, Lord and Creator
You know that half my heart is yours
All that you gave me I can’t repay you
If I betray you, I’ll break in two
How could I live in a world without you?
 FATHER
You’ll stay here, Adam, be my son forever

ADAM
But oh, my life’s partner, my wife, my lover
You know that half my heart is yours
Each time I see you, you fill my spirit
Just knowing you’re near, it makes the day new
How could I live in a world without you?

Oh, Father please don’t make me choose

Either way it’s more than I can bear to lose
Either way it’s ripping out my heart
This choice is tearing me apart

FATHER
You see what you have done
Pain has come into the garden
Where there is choice there is pain
Make this one choice my son
Choose not to eat this fruit
And you will never have to make a choice again

ADAM
Oh, Eve what would you give
If this day you could relive
Would you let the apple go uneaten?

EVE
No, I cannot bear to feel this pain
But I would not go back again

ADAM
Oh, my garden, all peace and beauty
I know that all my heart is yours
I want to stay here, stay here forever
Father forever, I cannot leave
But Eve I don’t know what else to do
How can I live…
I cannot live…
I will not live…
In a world without you!
The Expulsion

FATHER
Oh, my children that I love so well
 What wrong you do to me
Why could you not resist the spell
Of one seductive tree?

When all around you, I gave you fields to roam

Sapphire skies and chromium waterfalls
All that I had to give, I gave to you
Ungrateful children!
Live in the wilderness!

EVE
Why did you put questions in me?

FATHER
Why did you disobey me?

EVE
That’s not an answer!

FATHER
Bear your own children
Answer for yourselves

ADAM
We will!

STORYTELLERS FATHER
Sweat! To make your daily bread
Sweat! While thorns and thistles mock your harvest
Sweat! Sweat ‘til the day you return to the
You will return to the clay Clay for which it seems you yearn
Dust! Dust you were
Dust! Dust you are
You will return! To dust you will return!

FATHER & STORYTELLERS

And at this place
I set my sword
Now and forever will it burn!
The Wasteland

STORYTELLERS
And the man walked through the acrid ash of heaven
To the smouldering tree destroyed by Father’s wrath
And he carved from it a staff
To lean on in the aftermath

And the man and woman went out from the garden
And when they turned to look, the pathway back was gone
So, they turned and set their eyes
To the land that lies beyond

Red rock and outcrop stone

And the sun glares off a bleaching bone
There’s no comfort or softness here
There’s only the wasteland

The land of the hunter, the stalker, and the skinner

Where you’re either the diner of the dinner
And the line between man and beast keeps getting thinner
In the wasteland

In the wasteland, the land laid waste

Fruit of knowledge has a bitter taste
But the bliss of ignorance can never be replaced
It’s lost in the wilderness

And there came a day, in a chilly rain

A child was born in sweat and pain
But they loved him still and they called him Cain
Of the wasteland

In the wasteland, the land forlorn

Two more years and one more morning
There’s another cry heard and another boy born
To be lost in the wilderness

Heat-baked and dust storm-driven

And one false step stays unforgiven
And all that you know is you weren’t made to live in
The wasteland
The Spark of Creation (Reprise #1)

EVE
I feel a coldness in the pit of my stomach
I feel a watchfulness in back of my eyes
I carry a load of heavy foreboding I cannot explain

My boys are healthy; they grow bigger and stronger

No sign of trouble, but I recognize
The heat and hunger of when I was younger
I see it now in Cain

I used to think it was the spark of creation

Was it just a defect in me?
A flaw in my nature
And now look what I’ve done
I’ve passed it to my son
This wild inclination
Is it the spark of creation?
Lost in the Wilderness

ABEL
Here we are your grateful children

ABEL CAIN
Please accept our sacrifice All these years of this cruel joke
May you hear us and forgive us The best harvest going up in smoke
Praying for a future from these silent stony shelves
Bring us back to paradise How much more of this must we take

CAIN
This is the morning we finally make a future for ourselves!

ABEL
But Can if it’s God’s will…

CAIN
Is it God’s will or have we all been conned
Brother, we will never know
We will never grow
If we never go
Beyond

I never made this world, I didn’t even lose it

And I know no one said it was fair
But they had a garden once
They had the chance to choose it
They gave it away including my share

And now we’re lost in wilderness

Lost, crying in the wilderness
And if anyone’s watching it seems they couldn’t care less
We’re lost in the wilderness

You follow all the rules

You swallow all the stories
And every night you wish on a star
Dreaming your day will come, trusting in allegories
 And every morning boy look where you are

Lost in the wilderness

Lost, slowly dying in the wilderness
With no chance of living boy, until you confess
You’re lost in the wilderness

Don’t you ever watch the eagle fly to the sun

And wonder how he got to be so free
If you ever have you know your journey’s begun
Hey what’ve we got to lose boy, when already we are
Lost in the wilderness

And where we are headed boy, I couldn’t guess but

Off we go without a warning
Running as we hit the ground
Where our future lies a-borning
Where our hearts are outward bound
Till one bright and distant morning
We may stop and look around
And there in the wilderness
Finally, we’ll be found!
Close to Home

ADAM
All that I had to give, I gave that boy
Once he was young and once he brought my heart such joy
He’d ride my shoulders and ‘cross the fields we’d roam
I still can see those moments like yesterday
I was a fool to think they’d make him want to stay
At home

YOUNG CAIN & YOUNG ABEL

One two three
Owls are in the tree
Four five six
Foxes in the sticks
Six five four
Goslings on the shore
Three two one
Now we all go home

ADAM YOUNG CAIN & YOUNG ABEL

It’s time to make a home One two three, owls are in the tree
Heaven knows the life’s been hard Four five six, foxes in the sticks
Summers brief and arid Six five four, goslings on the shore
Winters bleak and numb Three two one, now we all go home

ADAM
Look what we call home
These old walls are stained and scarred

EVE
 I can still remember
What each scar was from

ADAM
You could call it run down

EVE
Worn out

ADAM
Threadbare

ADAM & EVE

And I guess you’d come
Close to home
Close to home

ADAM
And I remember, in someone else’s garden long ago
We had all we could eat

EVE
But it seems the fruit our own hands grow
Somehow tastes twice as sweet

ABEL
Six five four
Goslings on the shore
Three two one
Now we all go home

ADAM
On this barren plot

ABEL
One two three
Owls are in the tree

ADAM
We’ll plant our wheat and dig our well

ABEL
Four five six
Foxes in the sticks

ADAM
And we’ll be a family
 ABEL
Six five four
Goslings on the shore

ADAM
Steady as a star

EVE
Look at what we’ve got

ADAM & ABEL

Ba, ba, bum, ba, ba, ba, ba, bum

EVE
Only what we’ve made ourselves

ADAM & ABEL

Eight nine ten, now we start again

EVE
Though it’s next to nothing
Look how rich we are

ADAM
Funny now how Eden doesn’t seem so far

ADAM & EVE

Come sit beside me in the dying light
What storms the morning brings, we’ll weather all right
Your hand in my hand
And as we sit here, huddled in the gloom
Paradise seems strangely close
Close to home

ABEL
Ba, ba, bum, ba, ba, ba, ba, bum

ADAM & EVE

Close to home

ABEL
Three two one
Now we all go

ADAM, EVE & ABEL

Home!
A Ring of Stones

CAIN
Abel! Momma! Poppa!
Come, Abel, quick, Abel, wait ‘til I show you what I found!

ADAM
Cain! Before you say another word –

CAIN
No, Poppa, now Poppa, it’s a thing that will astound you!
When I show you what I found, you won’t believe!

ADAM
Eve!

STORYTELLERS
Over river wide and mountain tall
They travelled far beyond the waterfall
To a place and a day that would change them all
In the wasteland

ABEL
What are they?

CAIN
Stones! It’s a ring of giant stones!
All of my life I think it’s this I’ve been seeking
Pent up inside me like an underground spring
Finally, a future, finally an answer
Written in a ring of stone
Finally, proof of what I’ve always known:
We are not alone
Damned we may be
But we are not alone

EVE
All of a sudden, I can feel the old tingling
The urge to question, the itch to explore
I feel it once more

CAIN
Stones the size of giants
In a perfect circle

EVE
What could be their purpose
What could be their meaning?

CAIN
In a perfect circle

EVE
How could they have raised them?

ABEL
Must have taken hundreds

CAIN
Stones the size of giants

ABEL
How long have they been here?
Could we find the people?

CAIN, EVE & ABEL

 Think about their knowledge, think about their science

CAIN
Think about their strength and skill
Scary they may be bust still
I will never rest until

CAIN, EVE & ABEL

We have found these strange, bewildering
People who would build a ring of giant stone

CAIN
All of my life I think it’s this I’ve been seeking
We are not alone

ADAM
The rain will be here soon
We’d best get back to the shelter of our glen

CAIN
But… what about these people?

ADAM
We will never speak of them again

EVE
Adam!

CAIN
Poppa, listen to me. For once, listen!

ADAM
Tear it all down, is that what you want?
Tear down everything we’ve worked to build
Trust our lives to a bunch of ragged strangers
You see the promise, Cain, but not the dangers

You think they’re so wise, you think they’re so skilled

But you’ve never heard them chanting in their ring of stones
Never seen them dancing here among the bones
Of a beast they’ve killed

CAIN
How do you know what they are?

ADAM
Because I’ve been here! I have seen them
 EVE
Adam!

CAIN
When were you here?

ADAM
The two of you were babies still
A long, long time ago

EVE
You never told me

ADAM
It was better not to know
It would still be better not to know

(Cain, Eve and Adam’s lines are sung simultaneously.)

CAIN
All these years you’ve lied to us
All these years denied to us our future

EVE
All these years you never told, never discussed
After all these years, couldn't you trust me?
Couldn't you trust me?
After all these years

ADAM
We don't even know who their father was
Would our Father feel betrayed?
What if these are people he never made?
After all these years, to lose the chance he might forgive

ABEL
Everybody, stop fighting!

EVE
All I see is you are still afraid
There was a time once, you were so brave then

ADAM
And look what we got, look where it brought us
Look at the lesson our bravery taught us
 We are lost in the wilderness
We belong out here in the wilderness

CAIN
Well then stay here forever!
If that's how you want to live
But Abel and I could find comrades and wives
And learn what it is to have hope in our lives
Be part of a tribe, part of a clan
Not just one family
But a family of man
Come on, Abel!

ADAM
Abel! If you go now, you will never see me again.

ABEL
Oh, Cain, please don't make me choose
Either way, it's more than I could bear to lose
Either way, it's ripping out my heart
This choice is tearing me apart

CAIN
Is this what it means to be a father?
Crushing the spirit of your children like an egg
Is that what it means to be a father?
Binding them to you with a chain around the leg!

The Death of Abel

STORYTELLER EVE
 In the wasteland Abel, my child
The land bereft You must not die
The heart can shatter You must not die
With a final cleft You must not die
And what hope for the future You must not die
You have left You must not…

STORYTELLER
Is lost in the wilderness
The Mark of Cain

FATHER
Cain! Cain!
The voice of your brother’s blood
Cries to me from the ground
I curse that ground
And I curse you

Be a fugitive and a vagabond

All your wretched life
And should you find a wife
I curse her too
And all your tainted progeny
Your children’s children’s children

FATHER & STORYTELLERS

Even to the seventh generation!
Let the righteous hear:
The seed of Cain with guilt and shame is ridden
All concourse with them is forever more forbidden

Shun them like the scorpion and shark

And that you may know them
On Cain I set this mark
The race of Cain must ever bear this mark!

STORYTELLERS
The wild beast howl and the wild winds blow
And the seeds of the tree of knowledge grow
And you know things now you wish you didn’t know

In the wasteland…
In the wasteland…
In the wasteland…
Children of Eden

EVE
Like this brief day
My light is nearly gone
But through the night
My children you will go on
You will know heartache
Prayers that don’t work
And times of bitter circumstances
But I still believe in second chances

Children of Eden
Where have we left you
Born to uncertainty
Destined for pain
Sins of your parents
Haunt you and test you
This your inheritance
Fire and rain

Children of Eden
Try not to blame us
We were just human to error prone
Children of Eden will you reclaim us
You and your children to come
Someday you’ll come home

STORYTELLERS
Children of Eden
Where is our garden
Where is the innocence
We can’t regain

EVE & STORYTELLERS

Once eyes are opened
Must those eyes harden
Lost in the wilderness
Must we remain

EVE STORYTELLERS
Oh, my precious children Children of Eden
If you think of us try not to blame us Ohhh
We were just human to error prone Ohhh

EVE & STORYTELLERS

Children of Eden you will reclaim us
You and your children to come
Someday you’ll come home

Generations

STORYTELLER
Generation…

STORYTELLERS
Generation…

STORYTELLER
Generation

STORYTELLERS
Generation… Generations of Adam…

STORYTELLER
Son follow father, birth follow birth
Spread the people all over the earth
Mamma tell daughter how boy follow girl
Spread the people all over the wide, wide world

STORYTELLERS
Generations…
Procreations…
All the nations…
Multiplications…

STORYTELLER
Beget, Begat, Begot, Begotten

STORYTELLERS
Generations of Adam

STORYTELLER
Helping with the cattle and the kettle and the cotton

STORYTELLERS
Generations of Adam
 STORYTELLER
Generation…

STORYTELLERS
Generations…
Procreations…
Generations of Adam

STORYTELLER
Generation…

STORYTELLERS
All the nations…
Multiplications… Generations of Adam

STORYTELLER
Cain met a wife on the east side of Eden

STORYTELLERS
Generations of Adam

STORYTELLER
They did a little lovin’
Did a little breedin’

STORYTELLERS
Generations of Adam

STORYTELLER
Enoch, Irad and Mehujael
Lamech come from Mister Methusael
Sheep of Jabel
Harp of Jubal
Brass and Iron from the children of Tubalcain

STORYTELLERS
Generations… Multiplications

STORYTELLER
Mountain to valley, ocean to plain
Beget, Begat, Begot, Begotten

STORYTELLERS
Generations of Adam

STORYTELLER
Helping with the cattle and the kettle and the cotton
 STORYTELLERS
Generations of Adam

STORYTELLER
Generation

STORYTELLERS
Generations…
Procreations…
Generations of Adam

STORYTELLER
Generation

STORYTELLERS
All the nations…
Multiplications… Generations of Adam

STORYTELLER
Seth to Enos, to Cainan

STORYTELLERS
Generations of Adam

STORYTELLER
The shoulder of the son for the Father to lean on

STORYTELLERS
Generations of Adam

STORYTELLER
Mahalaleel and Jared
Follow in their shoes
Another Enoch to bring us to Metheuselah

STORYTELLERS
Generations…
Procreations…

STORYTELLER
He lived nine hundred years or so
A papa to Lamech, Grandpapa to Noah

STORYTELLERS
Noah…
 STORYTELLER
Noah…

STORYTELLERS
Noah…
Oh, Noah –
You go-a
All the way back to the protozoa!

STORYTELLER
Beget, Begat, Begot, Begotten

STORYTELLERS
Generations of Adam

STORYTELLER
Helping with the cattle and the kettle and the cotton…

STORYTELLERS
Generations of Adam

STORYTELLER
And Noah, in his turn, Sons had he:

STORYTELLERS
Shem was one

STORYTELLERS STORYTELLER
Hem was two Shem was one
Japeth three Hem was two
That’s how it should be Japeth three

STORYTELLER
For son follow father, birth follow birth…

STORYTELLERS
Mamma tell daughter how boy follow girl

STORYTELLER
Spread the people all over the earth…

STORYTELLERS
Spread the people all over the wide, wide world

STORYTELLER
Generation…
 STORYTELLERS
Generation… Generations of Adam…

STORYTELLER
Generation

STORYTELLERS
All the nations…
Multiplications… Generations of Adam
Ahh… ohh

STORYTELLER
Son follow Father!

STORYTELLERS
Generation!

The Gathering Storm

NOAH
I know we’ve been through this before
I know you’re weary of my asking
But one time more
I stand imploring you
I know you have just cause
With all the faults and flaws of humankind
But I think of all the souls
With dreams and goals and such
And I try to be resigned
But I wish you’d change your mind
I wish you’d change your mind

FATHER
I’ve watched and waited since the time of Seth
And hoped as new generation drew its breath
I’ve hoped forever
Now may my earth be filled
With good and grateful children
I’ve hoped in vain
 Fool, greedy, violent
They’re all the race of Cain
Now only you and your family remain
This is the last time I will hope
This is the last chance I will give
I will let your family live
But this is the last chance I will give

A Piece of Eight

STORYTELLERS
And Noah and his family worked
From son to son to son
Till the day before the prow
He stood and said

NOAH
With this peg of gopher wood
Your ark, O Lord, is done

STORYTELLERS
With one final peg of gopher wood
The ark at last was done

Ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, ba, bum, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum
 And Noah called to his servant girl
Yonah was her name
He had always treated her kindly
Though she bore the mark of shame
As a daughter of the tainted race
Ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum
She bore the mark of Cain

Ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, ba, bum, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum

And she came and bowed, the servant girl

With the mark upon her head
And she asked

YONAH
What do you wish my lord?

STORYTELLERS
And this is what he said
He said:

NOAH
Yonah lay the table
For tonight we celebrate
And tonight instead of seven places
Tonight there will be eight

Ba, ba, bum

STORYTELLERS
Tonight instead of seven places
Tonight there would be eight

Ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, ba, bum, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum

MALE STORYTELLERS
For this was the night
The youngest son
Japheth was his name

FEMALE STORYTELLERS
Would bring to dinner his wife to be
And his choice proclaim

STORYTELLERS
And the empty chair was meant for her
The girl to be his wife
 Who would journey with him on the ark
To a post diluvian life
He said:

JAPHETH
Yonah lay the table
Don’t forget the extra plate
For tonight instead of seven people
The family will be eight
Ba, ba, bum

STORYTELLERS
Tonight instead of seven people
The family would be eight

Ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, ba, bum, ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, ba, bum

First came Noah and his wife in a bright and merry mood
Eager to meet their daughter in law
And share their home and food
And add her to their brood
Bum, bum, ba, ba, bum

MALE STORYTELLERS
Next there came the brothers two
Ham and Sham

FEMALE STORYTELLERS
And the daughters of the race of Seth
They chose to marry them
Their beautiful wives from the race of Seth
They brought along with them
Hmmmmmmm…

NOAH, MAMA, HAM, APHRA, SHAM, AYESHA & JAPHETH

Oh, Father, for all we have received
We thank you
Once more we gather in the dying light

YONAH
Oh, Father, for all I have received

NOAH, MAMA, HAM, APHRA, SHAM, AYESHA & JAPHETH

Once more we pray you Father
Bless us tonight

YONAH
 I thank you

STORYTELLERS
Ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, ba, bum, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum
And the courses came and the minutes passed
But the girl did not appear
Till Noah turned to Japheth and he said

NOAH
My son, I fear

STORYTELLERS
But Japheth laughed and laughed some more
And told them all

JAPHETH
She’s here!

STORYTELLERS
Ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, ba, bum, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum

FEMALE STORYTELLER
Well by now you’ve guessed
What happened next
For its quiet a familiar fable

MALE STORYTELLER
He went to Yonah, the servant girl
And led her to the table
He said:

JAPHETH
Yonah join the table
Come and sit here at my side
For its you I love best in all the world
And you shall be my bride
It’s you I love best in all the world
And I want you for my bride

STORYTELLERS
He brought Yonah to the table
And he did not hesitate
Though his father said to wait
And his mother was in a state
And the brothers and wives
Felt the shock of their lives
And they all of them dropped
 Their forks and knives
For they all could calculate
The family was eight

Ba, ba, bum, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven
Ba, ba, bum, bum, ba, ba, bum
Eight!

The Return of the Animals

 STORYTELLERS
There they gather in the meadow
In the meadow two by two
The world’s most legendary zoo
Noah’s Lullaby

NOAH
Children of Eden
How you must blame us
We who are human
We spoiled your home
God made you
Our charges
We made you our victims
Now that we’re starting anew
Can we give Eden back to you?
Stranger to the Rain

YONAH
Shed no tears for me
There’ll be rain enough today
I’m wishing you Godspeed
As I wave you on your way
This won’t be the first time
I’ve stayed behind to face
The bitter consequences
Of an ancient fall from grace
I’m a daughter of the race of Cain
I am not a stranger to the rain

Orphan in the storm

That’s a role I’ve played before
I’ve learned not to tremble
When I hear the thunder roar
I don’t curse what I can’t change
I just play the hand I’m dealt
When they lighten up the rations
I tighten up my belt
I won’t say I’ve never felt the pain
But I am not a stranger to the rain

And for the boy who’s given me the sweetest love I’ve known
I wish for him another love so he won’t be alone
Because I am bound to walk among the wounded and the slain
And when the storm comes crashing on the plain
I will dance before the lightning to music sacred and profane

Oh, shed no tears for me

Light no candle for my sake
This journey I’ll be making now
Is one we all must make
Shoulder to the wind
I’ll turn my face into the spray
And when the heavens open
Let the drops fall where they may
If they finally wash away the stain
From a daughter of the race of Cain
 I am not a stranger to the rain
Let it rain!

In Whatever Time We Have

JAPHETH
I don’t give a damn for the thunders of fathers
Come hell or high water whatever they do
I could not live in a world without you

In whatever time we have

For as long as we are living
We can face whatever comes
If we face it now as one
I could make on my own
Let me know that I don’t have to
No one really wants to be alone
In whatever time we have

If at times we are afraid

With so little to believe in
It’s alright to feel afraid
I will hold you in the dark
All we know for sure is this
Though the world could end tomorrow
You and I will be together
In whatever time we have

YONAH
In whatever time we have
For as long as we are living

JAPHETH
We know life can be a battlefield

YONAH
We can face whatever comes
If we face it now as one

JAPHETH
 But we won’t run and we won’t yield
You’ll be my fortress and I will be your shield

JAPHETH & YONAH

No one really wants to be alone
In whatever time we have

YONAH
There are time I’ve been afraid
In a world that’s so uncertain
Then I feel your hand in mine
And there’s courage in my heart

JAPHETH
We could live a hundred years

YONAH
Or the world could end tomorrow

JAPHETH & YONAH

But we know we’ll be together in whatever time
From this day forward nights don’t seem so black
From this day forward we will never look back
In whatever time we have
We will make the most of time
And at least we’ll be together in whatever time we have
 The Flood

FATHER
This was the last chance I would give
Now it is corrupted, defiled and vain
Is there no escape from the race of Cain?
Except to make it rain and rain and rain

STORYTELLERS
Windows of heaven and fountains of the deep
Windows of heaven and fountains of the deep

FATHER STORYTELLERS
Behold I will blot out mankind from the face of the earth Open!
Both man and beast and every creeping thing Open!
The end of all flesh is come before me Open!
Rain until the end of time Rain!
And let the raging skies Rain!

FATHER
Send it down as an endless hurricane
I made everything out of nothing
Now nothing will remain
And to the skies I send my word
Forever will it rain

Oh, my children that I love so well

My heart is dark and cold
I thought that you would keep me young
 But you have made me old
All my labour, all my love
I wonder now why did I bother
That’s what it means to be a father
I have destroyed the thing I loved
And now I feel so old

STORYTELLERS
And the waters were upon the face of the earth
Drowning out the promise of their first hopeful birth
Without form, void, darkness

What is He Waiting For?

NOAH, MAMA, HAM, APHRA, SHAM, AYESHA, JAPHETH & YONAH

Forty days and forty nights
Come and gone
All the world is dead and drowned
Still the rain goes on
There are no beasts or people anymore
What is he waiting for?
What is he waiting for?

Forty days and forty nights

Black and bleak
And what rations we have left
Will not last a week
Papa calls and calls to God

NOAH
Why won’t you speak?

NOAH, MAMA, HAM, APHRA, SHAM, AYESHA, JAPHETH & YONAH

Where is the sun he said, he would restore?
What is he waiting for?

NOAH
 Father!

NOAH, MAMA, HAM, APHRA, SHAM, AYESHA, JAPHETH & YONAH

What is he waiting for?

Sailor of the Skies

YONAH
Hush now stop trembling
We’ve got to do something
Before all we are is a skeleton crew
There’s got to be something someone can do
But all I can think of is you

Little sailor of the skies

Will you be our eyes
Is there land that lies
Beyond

Fly beyond the rain

Like a prayer on the wing
In this winter of the storm
Seek a harbinger of spring
You’re the only one can bring us home

Children of Eden
 Cry for salvation
Fly far as wings can fly
Bring home

The Spark of Creation (Reprise #2)

MAMA
He doesn’t speak to you anymore, does he? Not since before the rain

NOAH
No. No. I don’t know what father wants

MAMA
You must be the father now
The spark of creation
That’s all you’ve got left now
The spark of creation
Will have to be your guide
If no outer force
Will show you your course
You’ll have to look inside
 Your only illumination
The spark of creation

The Hardest Part of Love

NOAH
Oh, father please don’t make me choose
Either way it’s more than I can bear to lose

Oh, this son of mine I love so well

And all the toil it takes
I’d give to him a garden and keep clear of snakes
But the one thing he most treasures is to make his own mistakes, ohh
He goes charging on the cliffs of life
A reckless mountaineer
I could help him not to stumble
 I could warn him what to fear
I could shout until I’m breathless
And he’d still refuse to hear, ohh

But you cannot close the acorn

Once the oak begins to grow
And you cannot close your heart
To what it fears and needs to know
That the hardest part of love
Is the letting go

As a child, I found a sparrow

Who had fallen from the nest
And I nursed him back to health till he was stronger than the rest
But when I tried to hold it
It would peck and scratch my chest
Till I let it go
And I watched it fly away from me
With its brightened self-resolve
And part of me was cursing I had helped it grow so strong
And I feared it might go hungry and I feared it might go wrong, ohhh

But I could not close the acorn

Once the oak began to grow
And I cannot close my heart
To what it fears and needs to know
That the hardest part of love

FATHER
Is the letting go

NOAH
Is the letting go

FATHER
And it’s only in Eden grows a rose without a thorn
And your children start to leave you
On the day that they were born
They will leave you there to cheer for them
They will leave you there to mourn ever so
Like an ark on uncharted seas their lives will be tossed
And the deeper is your love for them
The crueller is the cost
And just when they start to find themselves
Is when you fear they’re lost, ohhh

NOAH & FATHER

 But you cannot close the acorn
Once the oak begins to grow
And you cannot close your heart
To what it fears and needs to know

NOAH
That the hardest part of love

FATHER
And the rarest part of love

NOAH & FATHER

And the truest part of love
Is the letting go

Words of Doom

STORYTELLERS
And there on the deck of the rotting leaking ark
The little family gathered in the rain and cold and darkness
 One little family
Shivering in the gloom
Waiting for words of doom
Waiting for words of doom

The Hour of Darkness

 NOAH
As we well know
Our end is very near
And God’s priorities are no longer clear to me
And so I ask you if all we’ve got
Is just the little while
Here and now
Every one of us
Reconcile

YONAH
In whatever time we have

YONAH & JAPHETH

For as long as we are living

NOAH, MAMA, HAM, APHRA, SHAM, AYESHA, JAPHETH & YONAH

We can face whatever comes
If we face it now as one
If there’s silence in the sky
In a world without a future
We will swear to be together
In whatever time we have
Ain’t it Good?

MAMA
Thank God the stars are still in the sky, I thought they drowned with everything else

Oh, look out there in the eastern sky

Is that a hint of light, oh, come and look
I need to know if I am seeing right
We lived so long in dark
I’m almost frightened to believe
Those clearing skies on
That glistening horizon please
Tell me my eyes do not deceive me

Ain’t it sweet to smell the morning

In a world washed fresh and clean
Now the storm has left its warning
And we see, we see a hint of green
Pale grey light, grow strong and golden
And release us from our pen
Where we rocked for endless days
On a sea of endless greys
Now we sing a song of praise, Amen
Ain’t it good, ain’t it good now
Ain’t it good to see the sun again

MAMA STORYTELLERS
When my ears When my ears
Were filled with thunder They were filled thunder
And when my soul And my soul, and when my soul began to shake
Began to shake There were times
There were times I would truly wonder
I'd truly wonder Those dark and gloomy rain clouds
If those clouds If those clouds would ever break
Would ever break But there's no storm
But no storm No storm can last forever
Would last forever We felt so helpless then
Though we felt
So, helpless then Can't remember when it felt so good
Now we raise a joyful chant When skies are clearing
For a glimpse of olive plant Now our hearts begin to dance
Haven't seen one since I can't And now our hopes are reappearing
I can't remember when Since we've been granted a second chance
Ain’t' good And for now
 Oh, ain't it good We are done with fearing
Our hearts are dancing We thought we'd be the final generation
Hopes In a dawn
Since Open wide
We got a second chance And deliver

And for now Brother ain't it good

We are done with fearing Oh, ain't good
We might be Ain't good
The final generation Ain't it good to see the sun again
In a dawn that's new and fresh My Lord
Open wide this floating cresh Ain't it good
And deliver Oh, ain't it good
Every precious specimen To see the shining golden sun again

MAMA & STORYTELLERS

Ain't it good now
Ain't it good to see the sun again
My Lord

MAMA
After all the nights, we stood
Smelling rain and gopher wood

STORYTELLERS
Ain’t it good!

MAMA
To see the sun again!
Precious Children

FATHER
Fare thee well
My precious children
In your hands
I place a key
To the prison
Made of gratitude
That has held you close to me
Now I know I cannot hold you
Till at last I let you be
In the Beginning

JAPHETH & YONAH

This step is one again our first
We set our feet upon a virgin land
We hold the promise of the earth
In our hands

JAPHETH, YONAH, NOAH & MAMA

No flood from heaven comes again
No deluge will destroy and purify
We hold the fate of man and men
In our hands

NOAH, MAMA, HAM, APHRA, SHAM, AYESHA, JAPHETH & YONAH

Now at this dawn so green and glad
We pray that we may long remember
How lovely was the world we had
In the beginning…

COMPANY
Of all the gifts, we have received
One is most precious and most terrible
The will of each of us is free
It’s in our hands

And if one day we hear a voice

If he should speak again, our silent father
All he will tell us is the choice
Is in our hands

Our hands can choose to drop the knife

 Our hearts can choose to stop the hating
For every moment of our life
Is the beginning

FATHER
There is no journey gone so far
So far we cannot stop and change direction
No doom is written in the stars

COMPANY
It’s in our hands
We cannot know what will occur
Just make the journey worth the taking
And pray we’re wiser than we were
In the beginning
It’s the beginning
Now we begin

Children of Eden
Grant us your pardon
All that we leave to you
Is the unknown

Children of Eden
Seek for your garden
You and your children to come
Some day to come home
Home!