The Secret Garden Musical

Hocker teens reveal 'The Secret Garden'

“The Secret Garden” being staged by the Helen Hocker Center for the Performing Arts Bath House Players isn’t as lush as the one that earned a 1991 best musical Tony Award nomination, but pruned to a family-friendly 70 minutes, the “Spring Version” remains a beautiful place to visit.

“The Secret Garden, Spring Version” opens today in Helen Hocker Theater, where a troupe of 14- to 18-year-olds will stage it for two weekends with performances at 1:30 and 7 p.m. Fridays, 7 p.m. Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets, which are $10, can be purchased at the door or in advance by calling 368-0191.

With its book and lyrics by Marsha Norman and music by Lucy Simon, “The Secret Garden” was the musical stage adaptation of the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Norman won the Tony Award for Best Book for the musical, which ran for 709 performances on Broadway from April 25, 1991, to Jan. 3, 1993.

“The Spring Version” edits the tale of regeneration into one act, cutting some songs and replacing the original chorus of ghosts with a chorus of readers (Jessica Kennedy, Caitlyn Lambrecht, Alexus Rodriguez, Cassidy Tilden and Payton Wettengel) who sit on stage and watch the musical unfold between their eyes, singing in most scenes and participating in some.

As the play opens, Mary Lennox (Tori Everett), a British girl who has spent her life in India, awakens from a dream only to be told a cholera epidemic has killed her parents, Albert (William Kenefake) and Rose (Charity McCracken).

Orphaned, she is dispatched to Yorkshire, England, to live with Archibald Craven (Avery Davis), the widower of Lily (Skyler Dykes), the sister of Mary’s mother. Although Lily died years earlier, Archibald still grieves and sees the spirit of his wife wandering the estate.

Archibald has left both the estate and his son, Colin (Bryce Stallons), to the care of his physician brother, Neville Craven (Joseph Rothschild), who would inherit the estate should Colin die and Archibald depart in grief.

However, Martha, who is dealing with her own despondency, changes things when the chambermaid Martha (Krista Pojman) encourages her to go outside where she discovers a garden, which according to the old gardener Ben Weatherstaff (Katie Schieferecke) was the pride of Lily but ordered locked by Archibald after her death.

When Martha’s brother Dickon (Ethan Carlson) teaches her to speak with an English robin, the bird leads Mary to the key for the garden, which when unlocked becomes a magical place to which she introduces Colin despite being forbidden to by Dr. Craven and the housekeeper Mrs. Medlock (Alyssa Pearson).

Hocker teens reveal 'The Secret Garden' | CJOnline.com

“The Secret Garden” being staged by the Helen Hocker Center for the Performing Arts Bath House Players isn’t as lush as the one that earned a 1991 best musical Tony Award nomination, but pruned to a family-friendly 70 minutes, the “Spring Version” remains a beautiful place to visit.

“The Secret Garden, Spring Version” opens today in Helen Hocker Theater, where a troupe of 14- to 18-year-olds will stage it for two weekends with performances at 1:30 and 7 p.m. Fridays, 7 p.m. Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets, which are $10, can be purchased at the door or in advance by calling 368-0191.

With its book and lyrics by Marsha Norman and music by Lucy Simon, “The Secret Garden” was the musical stage adaptation of the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Norman won the Tony Award for Best Book for the musical, which ran for 709 performances on Broadway from April 25, 1991, to Jan. 3, 1993.

“The Spring Version” edits the tale of regeneration into one act, cutting some songs and replacing the original chorus of ghosts with a chorus of readers (Jessica Kennedy, Caitlyn Lambrecht, Alexus Rodriguez, Cassidy Tilden and Payton Wettengel) who sit on stage and watch the musical unfold between their eyes, singing in most scenes and participating in some.

As the play opens, Mary Lennox (Tori Everett), a British girl who has spent her life in India, awakens from a dream only to be told a cholera epidemic has killed her parents, Albert (William Kenefake) and Rose (Charity McCracken).

Orphaned, she is dispatched to Yorkshire, England, to live with Archibald Craven (Avery Davis), the widower of Lily (Skyler Dykes), the sister of Mary’s mother. Although Lily died years earlier, Archibald still grieves and sees the spirit of his wife wandering the estate.

Archibald has left both the estate and his son, Colin (Bryce Stallons), to the care of his physician brother, Neville Craven (Joseph Rothschild), who would inherit the estate should Colin die and Archibald depart in grief.

However, Martha, who is dealing with her own despondency, changes things when the chambermaid Martha (Krista Pojman) encourages her to go outside where she discovers a garden, which according to the old gardener Ben Weatherstaff (Katie Schieferecke) was the pride of Lily but ordered locked by Archibald after her death.

When Martha’s brother Dickon (Ethan Carlson) teaches her to speak with an English robin, the bird leads Mary to the key for the garden, which when unlocked becomes a magical place to which she introduces Colin despite being forbidden to by Dr. Craven and the housekeeper Mrs. Medlock (Alyssa Pearson).

The secret garden, musical book and lyrics

The Secret garden (musical), programs and related material collected by the National Library of Australia].

The secret garden, a musical play based upon the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden

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