THEATER NOTES : Riverside Is Paradise for ‘Eden’

In the beginning was Genesis. Then Stephen Schwartz and John Caird created “Children of Eden,” a musical based on the first part of the Bible’s first book.

It opened on London’s West End just prior to the 1991 Gulf War--bad timing. Most of the reviews were dismissive. (In a not so amazing coincidence, at least six critics began their reviews with the same phrase: “In the beginning.”)

But despite a relatively short run in London, “Children of Eden” lives. The next stop for this collaboration between composer-lyricist Schwartz (“Godspell,” “Pippin,” lyrics for “Pocahontas”) and Caird (adapter and co-director of “Nicholas Nickleby” and “Les Miserables”) is Riverside, Dec. 8-17.

It isn’t moving straight from London to Riverside. In between, there have been productions in Roanoke, Va., and Wichita, Kan.

How did the Riverside Civic Light Opera, a community theater that sometimes uses a few professional actors under Actors’ Equity Guest Artist contracts, snag a West Coast premiere by such renowned collaborators?

Anthony Rhine, operations director of the group, said he bought the CD when it was released, he loved the score, and he simply called and asked if he could direct it. “We happen to be the right type of theater, in the right location,” he said.

By “type of theater,” Rhine explained, he meant that his outfit’s community theater status was an asset; the scope of “Children of Eden” (at least 100 adults and 50 children onstage) would make a fully professional staging exorbitant. It helps, too, that Riverside’s Landis Auditorium has a 50-foot proscenium and seats 1,353. And “location” is another plus, Rhine said, because his group has relatively easy access to the Hollywood talent pool, so there probably will be a lot of professionals available to audition for the top roles.

The top roles include Father (God), Son (Adam and Noah), Daughter (Eve and “Mama Noah”), Cain/Japheth, Abel/Ham, Yonah and Seth/Shem.

A sort of prequel to “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” perhaps? “Joseph” is “much lighter in the way it tells its story,” Rhine said.

Lest anyone think that humanizing God raises the possibility of controversy, Rhine said he saw the show’s production last year at Wichita Center for the Arts, “in the Bible Belt, and there wasn’t a single word about it being blasphemous.” Cindy Hauptman, director of performing arts for the Wichita Center, confirmed that there were no organized protests, though she did hear a few comments from individuals who felt it wasn’t an accurate rendering of the Bible stories.

Rhine said that Schwartz has made further changes in the show since Wichita, and both Caird and Schwartz plan to be on hand in Riverside to oversee the show’s continuing development. A Schwartz spokeswoman said she doesn’t anticipate “Children of Eden” going to Broadway “because it’s such a big show,” but its creators are hoping for a long life for the show outside the Great White Way.

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NEA GRANT SLIDE: The shrinking of the National Endowment for the Arts has begun to be felt in Southland theaters. In the most recent round of NEA theater program grants, nearly every institution felt the bite.

For example, Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum’s grant for the 1996 fiscal year slipped to $161,980, down from last year’s $215,000 and from the 1985 high of $315,000 during the Reagan Administration (NEA grants haven’t always been a Republican target).

The Old Globe Theatre fell from $168,515 last year to $134,980, South Coast Repertory from $115,000 to $94,580, La Jolla Playhouse from $52,500 to $51,610, San Diego Repertory from $45,000 to $36,000, Odyssey Theatre from $20,000 to $15,300, Cornerstone Theater from $12,500 to $10,800, Deaf West Theatre from $7,500 to $5,400, Stages from $6,600 to $4,500, Sledgehammer Theatre from $6,000 to $4,950, East West Players from $5,000 to $4,950, Los Angeles Poverty Department from $5,000 to $4,500.

But there were three exceptions to the general pattern. Access Theatre in Santa Barbara jumped from $7,500 last year to $13,140. Bilingual Foundation of the Arts moved up from $7,500 to $9,000. We Tell Stories eked out a tiny raise, from $7,000 to $7,380.

Asked if he could explain the big boost for Access Theatre, artistic director Rod Lathim couldn’t point to any particular new programs or any “inside string-pulling.” Given current trends in Washington, Lathim said, he suspects this year’s good news is “a one-time fling.”

Sometimes theaters also receive grants from other parts of the NEA outside the theater program. This year, for example, East West Players won a $40,000 grant for actor and writer training and support programs from the NEA’s Expansion Arts program.