Though commercially the musical has had very little success, it is popular in community and regional theatres worldwide, due to its ability to accommodate a large or small cast, religious subject, and its universal themes of family and love.

The show's publisher, Music Theatre International, reports that Children of Eden is one of its top 20 most frequently licensed properties.

[1] Children of Eden was originally written in 1986 as Family Tree for a production by Youth Sing Praise, a religious-oriented high school theatre camp performed at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, Illinois.

The production was directed by John Caird, and starred Ken Page as Father, Richard Lloyd-King as the Snake, Martin Smith as Adam, Shezwae Powell as Eve, Adrian Beaumont as Cain, Kevin Colson as Noah, Earlene Bentley as Mama Noah, Frances Ruffelle as Yonah, Anthony Barclay as Japheth, Craig Pinder as Shem, Ray Shell as Ham, Hiromi Itoh as Aysha and Ruthie Henshall as Aphra.

The show closed on April 6, 1991, due to poor reviews and the negative effects the Persian Gulf War had on tourism worldwide.

Schwartz believes the show has not played on Broadway because of the expense required to produce it in an Actor's Equity house, due to the cast of characters.

[2] Throughout the 1990s, the show received numerous productions at both the amateur and professional levels; it was also reworked and edited, with songs and scenes being added and cut.

The cast featured William Solo as Father, Adrian Zmed as Adam/Noah, Stephanie Mills as Eve/Mama Noah, Darius de Haas as Cain/Japheth, Hunter Foster as Abel/Ham, and Kelli Rabke as Yonah.

The concert featured Norm Lewis as Father, Julia Murney as Eve/Mama Noah, Jonathan Dokuchitz as Adam/Noah, Darius de Haas as Cain/Japheth, Max von Essen as Abel/Ham, Kate Shindle as Yonah, John Tartaglia as Seth/Shem, Ann Harada as Aysha, and Laura Benanti as the Snake.

[4] In 2013 Children of Eden was presented in Melbourne, Australia by award-winning production company Magnormos, as the finale of their Stephen Schwartz Celebration Triptych, which also featured Godspell and Pippin.

The production was accompanied by the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra and the National Broadway Chorus, and was attended by composer Stephen Schwartz.

In celebration of this achievement, Youth Sing Praise, the same religious-oriented high school theatre camp that premiered it in 1986, performed the show at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, Illinois, on June 25, 2016, to a crowd of over 1,000 people.

[8] The production was set to feature Norm Lewis, Deborah Cox, David Phelps, America's Got Talent alum Brian Justin Crum, and Kirstin Maldonado of Pentatonix.

The cast featured Randal Keith as Father, David Phelps as Adam/Noah, Michelle Williams as Eve/Mama Noah, Sam Tsui as Cain/Japheth, Chris Graham as Abel/Ham, and Koryn Hawthorne as Yonah.

It starred Norm Lewis as the Father, Auli’i Cravalho as Yonah, Nikki Renée Daniels as Eve/Mama Noah, and Lucas Pastrana as Abel/Ham.

But unlike in the Genesis tale, Adam is made to choose his fate: he can either stay with Father in Eden, or he can eat the fruit and be banished with Eve.

Adam, deeply torn by the decision, decides that, even though it means he has to leave the garden he loves with all his heart, he must be with Eve ("A World Without You").

Adam and Eve, out of fear for their children's safety, have set their glen as a boundary, preventing them from going beyond a nearby waterfall.

As the children grow into adulthood, Eve sees the same fire she once had present in her son, Cain ("The Spark of Creation (Reprise 1)").

Cain begs Abel to run away with him, claiming Father doesn't care about them and that the boys should not be stuck with the consequences of their parents mistakes ("Lost in the Wilderness").

While Eve and Abel are just as excited as Cain, Adam, however, becomes distant, cold, and mean, telling the family to return home.

Adam's betrayal quickly leads to a family-wide fight, culminating with Cain threatening to leave forever, taking Abel with him and starting a new life.

The storytellers reconvene and continue their story, following the lineage of both Seth and Cain, tracing the descendants all the way down to Noah and his family ("Generations").

Japheth finds Yonah and attempts to convince her to sneak on to the ark with him, telling her that he doesn't care about the consequences it may bring, as long as he can be with her.

Yonah, having stayed undiscovered, releases a dove to find dry land and save the residents of the ark ("Sailor of the Skies").

This quickly escalates into a fight, directly mirroring the one between Adam and Cain generations ago, with Noah slapping Japheth to the ground.

Father decides to give humanity the power to control its fate and offers his blessing for all to find their future without his direct influence ("Precious Children").

As they say their final goodbyes, the family addresses the problems they know the future holds, but vow to face them with love and open eyes.