The futuristic setting of Becoming Adam is a collective where conformity is prized and individuality is outlawed. People don't even have names In this synthetic Eden, our heroine finds a book and convinces the man she fancies to read it. As in the biblical story, his eyes are opened irrevocably, and he becomes human. For their temerity and turpitude, they are expelled from their commune. Composer/playwright Jason Rhyne sharpens the topicality by adding a non-musical frame. Mark Sutton, the only post-collegian in the cast, sits frozen onstage before the story begins, undergoing interrogation from an unseen Inquisitor.
Eventually we perceive that Sutton is portraying our author. In a bold coup de theater, the voice of the Inquisitor calls a halt to the Sondheim-styled musical before we can witness the ultimate fate of the ostracized couple. Sutton bursts onstage and pleads for a full viewing before judgment is rendered. But the invisible Inquisitor is unmoved. What gave this audacious ending extra kick was watching it at Children's Theater, site of Charlotte's latest freedom-in-the-arts flap. As Woman, Lindsey Horne hardly moves when she sings, hardly changes expression. Doesn't need to. Every note is fully ripened. Every word is imbued with urgency and intensity.
Ian Johnson, playing both the commune leader and the biblical Adam, is the only performer who comes close to matching Horne's power. Sadly, Ryan Hice is badly outclassed as the book-reading Man, so the nouveau Adam's transformation is far from a coherent whole. The same, to a lesser degree, can be said of Rhyne's musical, which runs only 85 minutes with an intermission. Once the Man and Woman are expelled, Rhyne seems to run out of gas, and the sudden ending is merciful. With more plot and character development -- and a discernible budget -- Becoming Adam could become a very marketable commodity.
