Adam and Eve: the First Musical is alternately a humorous and serious play about the first man and woman to inhabit the earth. It begins with the creation of Adam and ends with the banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.
Scene 1 opens with Adam enthralled with his new surroundings. He thanks God for all He’s done and bids Him farewell assuming His work is complete. God tells Adam that one task still remains: Adam needs a wife. Adam protests but God prevails (You Need a Wife). (You Need a Wife is featured in the movie Letters at Christmas)
In Scene 2 Adam wakes up to find Eve next to him. Eve is equally excited about her new surroundings and asks Adam to show her around. Adam refuses stating that he doesn’t need anyone and is quite content living alone. Through Alone, however, Eve is able to elicit within Adam feelings of profound guilt and shame. Adam relents and together they set off to explore their “new and wondrous land.”
Scene 3 opens with Adam telling Eve that God gave him a job to “name things” and asks her to help him. Eve agrees and together they name things and exchange animal puns in a kind of old-fashion comedy routine.
Scene 4 opens with Adam and Eve eating by a campfire. Adam compliments Eve on all the things she does for him such as “cooking, cleaning, naming things.” Eve suspects Adam is starting to like her. Adam denies it but in I Like You he confesses his deepening feelings for her. The scene ends with God warning them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge or “you will surely die.”
Scene 5 introduces the snake. Eve carries a basket into the forest “to pick a few things for dinner.” There she meets the snake who suggests she take an apple from the nearby Tree of Knowledge. Eve tells him about God’s warning. The snake retorts that God is only bluffing and that to eat from the Tree would give her great power, power equal to God. Moreover, in The Snake Song, he portrays himself as a kind, gentle, and trustworthy creature. Believing him, Eve bites into an apple from the forbidden tree.
Scene 6 opens with Eve returning to Adam whereupon she offers him one of the apples she picked from the Tree of Knowledge. Upon taking a bite he senses that Eve is troubled by something and questions her during which she confesses to have eaten from the forbidden tree. Having now both eaten the fruit and realizing they have disobeyed God’s injunction, they hurry into the forest to escape God’s gaze. Though cloistered in tall grass, Adam realizes the futility of hiding. He walks into the open and tells God he willingly ate from the Tree of Knowledge in an effort to shield Eve from God’s wrath. As punishment God commands them to leave the Garden of Eden and “toil the earth upon which you shall eat all the days of your life.”
Scene 7 shows Adam and Eve fully dressed, preparing to leave the Garden. Eve asks Adam if he’s angry at her for eating the apple. Adam answers that he’s not and reassures her they can Build a World Just as Fine in the real world. They exit holding hands as Adam points to something in the distance.
