TheatreWorks, the nationally acclaimed theatre of Silicon Valley, will present the Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of THE SECRET GARDEN. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s delightful novel springs to life in a soaring musical about the healing power of love, created by Pulitzer-winning author-lyricist Marsha Norman and Grammy-winning composer Lucy Simon, and with Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley at the helm. THE SECRET GARDEN plays November 30-December 31, 2011 (press opening December 3) at TheatreWorks at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto. For tickets ($19-$72) and information the public may call (650) 463-1960 or visit www.theatreworks.org.
Set during the early 20th century, this classic tale weaves mystery, magic, and a melodic score into the quest of an orphaned girl to revive a once magnificent Victorian garden. After a deadly cholera outbreak sweeps through her home in India, Mary Lennox is sent to England to live with her distant uncle, Archibald Craven. Forbidden to wander about the house and left to her own devices, Mary discovers an old key rumored to open a door to a secret garden, left unattended for many years. To solve the mystery, Mary must enlist the help of Martha the kindly chambermaid and her brother Dickon, a lad with a green thumb and a gift for communicating with animals. With charming determination, Mary and her friends uncover the many secrets haunting the manor and instill hope into the hearts of its inhabitants.
Marsha Norman (Book, Lyrics) is the winner of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize, Blackburn Prize, Hull-Warriner, and Drama Desk Awards for her play ‘night, Mother. In l992 she won a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for her book for the Broadway musical, The Secret Garden. She also wrote the book for the Broadway musical, The Color Purple, for which she received a Tony nomination. Her play The Master Butcher’s Singing Club premiered at the Guthrie Theatre in the fall of 2010. She won a Peabody Award for her writing on the HBO television series In Treatment starring Gabriel Byrne and Dianne Wiest. Her most recent work is the adaptation of The Trumpet of the Swan: A Novel Symphony for Actors and Orchestra, with music conducted and written by Jason Robert Brown. In April 2011, she received the William Inge Distinguished Lifetime Achievement in Theatre Award.
Lucy Simon (Music) made her Broadway debut in 1991 as the composer of The Secret Garden, for which she received Tony and Drama Desk nominations, The Drama-Logue Award, and a Grammy nomination for the recording of the score. She received two Grammy Awards for her In Harmony albums, which she co-wrote and produced. Simon began her professional career at age 16 with her sister Carly as part of The Simon Sisters. Her newest theatrical work Doctor Zhivago began its development with Des McAnuff in 2005 at the La Jolla Playhouse.
TheatreWorks Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley directs THE SECRET GARDEN. Kelley received the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle (BATCC) Paine Knickerbocker Award for lifetime achievement as well as BATCC Awards for TheatreWorks’ productions of Caroline, or Change; Ragtime; Rags; Another Midsummer Night; the West Coast Premiere of Jane Eyre; and the Sondheim classics Sunday in the Park with George; Pacific Overtures; Into the Woods; and Sweeney Todd. Additionally, he is the recipient of Bay Area Drama-Logue Awards for his direction of Pacific Overtures, Ah, Wilderness!, and Once in a Lifetime; and Back Stage West Garland Awards for his direction of Side Show and Sunday in the Park with George. Since founding TheatreWorks in 1970, Kelley has directed over 150 productions for the company.
