How 'The Secret Garden' spent years in the making before finally arriving at the Ahmanson this season.
by Sherry Stern
"You give a living thing a little chance to grow."
That lyric, written by Marsha Norman for The Secret Garden, neatly captures the spirit of hope that has engaged fans of the 1911 children’s literature classic, its countless movie and TV adaptations and, of course, Norman and Lucy Simon’s 1991 Tony Award-winning musical.
The lyric also captures the spirit of the revival of The Secret Garden, a major undertaking making its world premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre last month.
A reworked production was a longtime dream of Norman and her musical partner Simon, the composer who died as the project was nearing fruition.
“Now there’s real hope that we have a production that has what everybody wants, including what Lucy wanted and what I want. That it’s all there,” says Norman, who also wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama ’night, Mother and the book of the musical The Color Purple.
Though work on the revival started in earnest five years ago, Warren Carlyle, the show’s director and choreographer, feels now is exactly right for a new staging.
The original Broadway cast. Photo Credit: Mark Kitoaka
