The off-Broadway production by Playwrights Horizons began previews at the Duke Theatre on 42nd Street on September 7, 2001, and concluded its scheduled run on October 14, 2001.

The musical depicts the journey of a young woman just released from prison, who decides to start her life anew in a rural town in Wisconsin.

A demonstration tape of a few songs from the score found its way to David Saint, artistic director of the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey.

The off-Broadway production featured Phyllis Somerville as Hannah, Garrett Long as Percy, Liz Callaway as Shelby, Steven Pasquale as Joe, Armand Schultz as Caleb, Mary Gordon Murray as Effie, and Stephen Sinclair as Eli.

Foreign-language versions have been produced in Germany in 2005; in South Korea in 2007, 2012, and 2015; in Japan in 2009; and in The Netherlands in 2018. Notable American versions include a co-production by American Folklore Theatre (co-founded by Fred Alley) and Skylight Opera Theatre (2002), which featured Phyllis Somerville as Hannah, the West Coast premiere at Laguna Playhouse (2002), which won the OC Award for Best Musical, and the Idaho Shakespeare Festival production in 2006, which was conducted by James Valcq.

The cast consisted of Erin Clare (Percy Talbott), Alison Eaton (Hannah Ferguson), Timothy Langan (Joe Sutter), Kelly White (Shelby), Emma Etherington (Effy), Vanessa Powell (Caleb) and Brett Khaou (Eli).

[2] The show received its London premiere at the Union Theatre, Southwark, in a production starring Belinda Wollaston as Percy Talbott and directed by Alastair Knights in July 2015.

In her pocket is a photograph clipped from a travel book with a caption that states "Autumn colors along Copper Creek near Gilead, Wisconsin" ("A Ring Around the Moon").

He leads her through the deserted streets to a ramshackle diner called the Spitfire Grill, run by a crusty old widow, Hannah Ferguson, who has a bad hip and a sharp tongue.

Percy sets to work in a swirl of small-town suspicions led by Effy, the postmistress and village busybody ("Something's Cooking at the Spitfire Grill").

That night, without explaining why, Hannah reluctantly asks Percy to wrap a towel around a loaf of bread and to leave it near the old stump out back of the grill.

Shelby tells Percy about Hannah and Gilead's past, the day her childhood hero went off to war and her hometown changed forever ("When Hope Goes").

As the rest of the town watches the long Wisconsin winter stubbornly give way to spring ("Ice and Snow"), the women at the Spitfire plan the details of the contest.

During a parole session with Sheriff Joe Sutter, Percy tells of her bleak past growing up in the West Virginia coal mines.

As summer approaches, the first raffle entry arrives in the mail, complete with $100 and a rather depressing essay, which stirs up some of Hannah's old wounds ("Forgotten Lullaby").

In gratitude for their role in reuniting mother and son, while admitting she is not offering much in return, Hannah turns over the Grill to Percy and Shelby ("Finale").

The Spitfire Grill is one of the most heartfelt musicals of recent years, its homespun charms as inviting as a warm winter blanket", wrote Matthew Murray reviewing the show for Talkin' Broadway.

[4] The Wall Street Journal's Amy Gamerman wrote, "The Spitfire Grill feels as if it has been transplanted to Times Square directly from an obscure patch of the American heartland.

"[5] Elysa Gardner in USA Today wrote that the score offered "some of the most engaging and instantly infectious melodies I've heard in a musical in some time.

In Show Business Weekly, David Hurst wrote, "The score by James Valcq is a mixture of country, bluegrass, and Broadway-styled pop ballads that is always stirring and pure Americana in sound with heartfelt lyrics by the late Fred Alley."

More than most musicals, the underscoring feels like an extra character, brimming with creative cello, violin, mandolin, guitar, and keyboard solos.

"[8] Also in The New York Times, Alvin Klein declared the show "a soul-satisfying new musical", "a complete work of theatrical resourcefulness", and "[a] story that flows with grace and carries the rush of anticipation".

On first hearing, Mr. Alley's lyrics touch a deeper chord, accomplishing the considerable feat of poetically offering inspiration while holding the syrup.

James Valcq’s score is richly rewarding and creates a genuinely engaging musical atmosphere, which helps shape and drive the narrative.

In The Stage, Mark Shenton found the show "a chamber musical that mines surprising depths in its portrait of the healing qualities of small-town community life.

"[11] In Harper's Bazaar UK, Lucy Halfhead stated, "the songs all hit their emotional marks - whether rousing or heartbreaking - and propel the action along.

"[13] The British Theatre Guide's Howard Loxton wrote of the score: "The songs are part of the storytelling smoothly integrated with a gentle folk influence and an almost operatic treatment in the way they colour in the narrative and elaborate phrases.

[18] Broadway actress Caitlin Kinnunen sang "The Colors of Paradise" with Spencer Glass on a 2020 segment of the BroadwayWorld web series It's the Day of the Show Y'all dedicated to The Spitfire Grill.