MK Lawson directs and choreographs a cast that includes NYU Steinhardt students Raphael Anastasiadis, Cathy Ang, Aaron Banes, Colten Blair, Andrea Bush, Tony Carrubba, Aimee Erickson, Frank Fei, Jack Flatley, Alex Guhde, Stephen Heller, Julia Kershetsky, Shelley Mitchell, Alia Munsch, Madeline Raube, Matt Ross, Allie Short, Chelsea Smith, Olivia Threlkeld, Joseph Valle-Hoag, Kuhoo Verma, Parker Wallis and Daniel Youngelman.
The production also has music direction by Stan Tucker, scenic design by Edward T. Morris, lighting design by Jimmy Lawlor, costume design by Rose Bisogno, sound design by Benjamin Furiga and props by Sven Nelson. The production stage manager is Liz Haroian.
The Secret Garden opened at the St. James Theatre in April 1991, playing 709 performances before closing January 3, 1993. The musical, based on the famed novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, features a book and lyrics by Marsha Norman and music by Lucy Simon. The original Broadway cast featured Mandy Patinkin, Alison Fraser, Howard McGillin, Rebecca Luker, Robert Westenberg, John Cameron Mitchell and Daisy Eagan, who won a Tony Award for her performance as Mary Lennox.
The musical, according to production notes, “tells the story of Mary, a ten-year-old British survivor of a cholera epidemic in India that claims her parents’ lives. Sent to live with her miserably unhappy uncle in Yorkshire, she is immersed in a secluded household of lost souls. Ultimately she is able to transform those she encounters, just as she succeeds in reviving the estate’s hidden dormant garden, in a tale of rebirth and redemption.”
NYU’s production of The Secret Garden runs September 22–24 at 8 PM, September 25 at 3 PM and September 26 at 8 PM at the Frederick Loewe Theatre (35 West 4th Street). Tickets are $20 general admission and $5 for students and seniors. The performance on September 26 is a special “Industry” performance, where attendees presenting a union card (AEA, SDC, USA, SAG) will be admitted free. For tickets contact the NYU Box Office at tickets.nyu.edu, call the box office at (212) 998-4941, or visit in person at 566 LaGuardia Place (at Washington Square South).
Watch rehearsal footage for the recent Secret Garden concert:
