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Freely based on the story of Genesis, CHILDREN OF EDEN is a frank, heartfelt and often humorous examination of the age-old conflict between parents and children. Adam, Eve, Noah and the "Father" who created them deal with the headstrong, cataclysmic actions of their respective children. The show ultimately delivers a bittersweet but inspiring message: that "the hardest part of love... is letting go."

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 at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, Illinois. Stephen Schwartz adapted the script and music of Family Tree into a full-length musical, giving it the title it uses today.

The original cast production of Children of Eden was developed as a Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) workshop, directed by John Caird, and starring Ken Page as Father, Richard Lloyd-King as 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 Japeth, Craig Pinder as Shem, Ray Shell as Ham, Hiromi Itoh as Aysha and Ruthie Henshall as Aphra. After the RSC's budget was cut, it opened at the Prince Edward Theatre in London's West End on January 8, 1991. The show closed on April 6, 1991 to poor reviews and after the Persian Gulf War put a damper on tourism worldwide.

The show's poor reviews and quick closing meant that any hope of a Broadway transfer was abandoned. The original London cast album was released on LP and CD, but quickly went out of print. The CD release was marred by manufacturing defects that caused most of the discs to "bronze", becoming unplayable. Consequently, a playable copy of the disc is highly prized by musical theatre collectors. 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.

There is an extremely rare concept recording of the show that exists. The recording features Stephen Schwartz himself playing the piano. The recording was made before the Papermill Playhouse production in an effort to review the rewrites and revisions. The recording was made available only for a limited time on Stephen Schwartz's website via RealAudio streaming. The recording is considered to be the rarest version of the show that exists. Only a handful of people possess CD or digital copies of it, including Stephen Schwartz himself and Michael Kohl.

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. In 1997, a major production was mounted at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, featuring Stephanie Mills. A cast recording of this production was produced by Schwartz himself. This revised version, commonly known as the "American version" or "Paper Mill version", is substantially what is currently licensed for production in the United States. The New York City premiere of the piece was as the inaugural World AIDS Day Concert presented by Jamie McGonnigal and Kate Shindle. The concert featured Julia Murney, Norm Lewis, Darius de Haas, and Jai Rodriguez and raised funds for The National AIDS Fund. The show's publisher, Music Theater International, reports that Children of Eden is one of its top 20 most frequently licensed properties, which is very unusual for a show that has never had a Broadway or Off-Broadway run. Its popularity is partly due to its ability to accommodate a large or small cast; its universal themes of family, love, greed, anger, and others; and its religious material, which make it a favorite for churches, synagogues, and post-secondary schools. The most recent production of Children of Eden was played at NIDA (St. Andrews), Sydney, Australia, on the second and third weekends of March, 2011. A world premiere of the symphonic version will run in Kansas City from July 15 to 24, 2011, accompanied by a 55-piece orchestra.

1991 Prince Edward Theatre Production)
Acte I
Let There Be – Father and Angels
The Naming – Father, Adam, Eve, Animals and Angels
The Spark of Creation – Eve
In Pursuit of Excellence – Snake and Eve
A World without You – Adam
The Expulsion – Father, Adam, Eve and Angels
Wasteland – Angels
Lost in the Wilderness – Cain and Adam
Close to Home – Adam, Eve and Abel
Children of Eden – Eve and Her Children
Acte II
Generations – Ham and Company
Degenerations – Father, Noah and Civilised Society
Shipshape – Shem, Ham, Aysha and Aphra
The Return of the Animals – Noah’s Family and Animals
Stranger to the Rain – Yonah
In Whatever Time We Have – Japeth and Yonah
The Flood – Antediluvian Mankind
What Is He Waiting For? – Noah's Family
Children of Eden (Reprise) – Yonah
The Hardest Part of Love – Noah
Ain't It Good? – Mama Noah, Her Family and Angels
In the Beginning – Company

Track Listing for the Paper Mill Playhouse Cast Recording (1998)
Acte I
Let There Be – Father & Full Company
Perfect (Part 1) – Storytellers, Father, Adam & Eve
The Tree of Knowledge – Father & Adam
The Naming – Father, Adam, Eve & Storytellers
Grateful Children – Adam & Eve
Father's Day – Father
Perfect (Part 2) – Storytellers, Father, Adam & Eve
The Spark of Creation – Eve
In Pursuit of Excellence – Snake & Eve
The End of a Perfect Day – Storytellers
Childhood's End – Storytellers, Father & Eve
A World without You – Adam, Father & Eve
The Expulsion – Father & Storytellers
The Wasteland – Storytellers
Wilderness Family – Adam, Young Cain & Young Abel
The Spark of Creation (Reprise 1) – Eve
Lost in the Wilderness – Cain & Abel
Lost in the Wilderness (Reprise) – Cain
Close to Home – Adam, Eve, Abel, Young Cain & Young Abel
A Ring of Stones – Adam, Eve, Cain & Abel
Clash of the Generations – Adam, Eve, Cain & Abel
The Death of Abel – Eve & Storytellers
The Mark of Cain – Father & Storytellers
Children of Eden – Eve & Full Company

Acte II
Generations – Storytellers
The Gathering Storm – Noah & Father
A Piece of Eight – Storytellers, Noah, Mama Noah, Japheth, Yonah, Ham, Shem, Aphra & Aysha
Blind Obedience – Noah
The Return of the Animals – Orchestra
The Naming (Reprise)/Noah's Lullaby – Storytellers & Noah
Stranger to the Rain – Yonah
In Whatever Time We Have – Japheth & Yonah
The Flood – Father & Storytellers
What is He Waiting For? – Noah, Mama Noah, Japheth, Ham, Shem, Aphra & Aysha
Sailor of the Skies – Yonah
The Spark of Creation (Reprise 2) – Mama Noah
The Hardest Part of Love – Noah & Father
Words of Doom – Storytellers
The Hour of Darkness – Noah, Mama Noah, Japheth, Yonah, Ham, Shem, Aphra & Aysha
Ain’t it Good? – Mama Noah & Full Company
Precious Children – Father
In the Beginning – Japheth, Yonah, Noah, Mama Noah, Father, & Full Company

Aucun dossier informatif complémentaire concernant Children of Eden

While many productions of the show have used the same principals in both acts, with the actors each taking on a different character for the story of Noah, the original West End production did not utilize doubling of principals.