It's that time of year again! This year's main stage musical is about to open on the IC campus, and everyone's buzzing about it. Children of Eden, the Stephen Schwartz musical directed by Lee Byron, chair of the theatre arts department, previews Tuesday and opens Thursday at 8:00 p.m. "Despite never having played on Broadway," the Musical Theatre International website reports, Children of Eden is a popular show and "consistently ranks among MTI's top 20 most frequently licensed titles." I can see why.

I was lucky enough to catch one of this production's last tech rehearsals this weekend, and I was thoroughly impressed with the scope of it. Eden is a big show, and it's more technically complicated than any I've seen on the IC campus so far. The story is simple enough -- it's based on stories from the Bible -- but the technical aspects are as far from that as a college campus can get. There's a turntable, an arc, glowing apples, smoke and illusion, giraffes and elephants (not REAL ones, but they're pretty cool), and more.

The production itself showcases some of the impressive musical talent in the IC theatre arts department. My favorite performances from the technical rehearsal I saw included those of Bruce Landry '12 as Japheth, Lysie Shutrump '10 as Yonah, and Jessica Bennett '11 as Mama Noah. The show is also superbly lighted by Christine Goldman '10, and choreographed by Mary Corsaro, associate professor of theatre arts.

Even if you're not a Bible story fan, this production is worth a ticket. Snakes dance, and "God" sings, and there's a turntable. And glowing apples. I can't stress that enough.