Little Radical Theatrics to Stage THE SECRET GARDEN Next Summer

Little Radical Theatrics, Inc. has announced its summer 2017 production, THE SECRET GARDEN, with music by Lucy Simon and book & lyrics by MarSha Norman, based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Little Radical Theatrics brings the mesmerizing music of composer Lucy Simon and the transcendent text of librettist-lyricist MarSha Norman to the forefront with a reimagined staging of this Tony Award-Winning celebrated contemporary classic. Based on one of the most beloved novels of all time, The Secret Garden is partly a ghost story, partly a love story, and wholly elegant and entrancing.

Set in the early years of the twentieth century, it follows the recently orphaned Mary Lennox, who at ten years old, is sent to live with her embittered, reclusive uncle Archibald Craven and his son in a crumbling mansion on the Yorkshire moors. While coming to terms with her change of scene, she gets acquainted with her uncle's brother, the controlling and jealous Neville; the jovial maid, Martha; the world-worn but wise gardener, Ben; the enigmatic charmer, Dickon, and the other eccentrics of "the house upon the hill". When she discovers the key to one of the estate's many wonders, now a neglected garden hidden away on the property, Mary finds the wick within herself, and brings the weary estate, its occupants, and her dead aunt's garden rejuvenation. By way of soaring melodies, a bit of earth, and the "Dreamers", the collection of spirits - led by the beautiful and benevolent Lily - haunting the halls of Misselthwaite Manor, dramatizing this compelling tale of hardship turned into hope, the power of the child's imagination, and the wisdom that accompanies growing up transports all comers to a world where beauty and love blossom, and a forgotten seed of life can still flourish.

Opening night is slated for July 20, 2017.