THE SECRET GARDEN

82

“THE SECRET GARDEN” 2022. 82 minute adaptation of Lucy Simon’s 1991 musical the secret garden.

site specific for norton hall. live performance

secret garden, 2022

LIVE PERFORMANCE, CHAUTAUQUA NY

82 minutes

SECRET GARDEN (1991) SIMON / NORMAN

CREATED FOR THE CHAUTUAQUA CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC 2022. PERFORMING EDITION BY MARCUS SHIELDS AND JULIUS ABRAHAMS.

This production of Secret Garden is 82 minutes and is cut to match the 1991 broadway original cast album. Growing up in South Carolina, I didn’t have much opportunity to travel to New York and see broadway productions so instead, I listened to and loved the cast albums as a proxy for the real experience. To this day, I think I might prefer them. I love the missing information; I love the audio first experience; and I love piecing together bits of narrative that I think might go with the song structure. The result is more abstract and engaging. It is less of an entertainment experience and more of an investigation.

IMAGES

I was thinking about the work of Pedro Cabrita Rice, Precious Okoyomon, and Dimitris Papaioannou. 

I was thinking about restarting, Especially, after tragedy. And how the spirit to live is found in the willingness to begin again. 

Secret Garden is often misunderstood as a children’s story. It is not. It is a story of suffering and spirit, observed through the eyes of children. 

 I was thinking about silence and stillness and presence.

I was thinking about how often the best way to listen to music is to close your eyes, and how theatrical productions should always help enhance the listening experience.  

The production uses raw materials: water, dirt, plastic, wood, metal, glass, rubber.

Direct titling and translation is withheld to remove distraction. This is designed as an audio first experience with an accompanying visual component.