The Secret Garden

From Classic Novel to Supernatural Musical and like the glorious garden in its storyline hidden away by walls and time, The Secret Garden is a piece overflowing with a dark beauty capable of warming and healing even the most wounded of hearts.

Adapted from the famous children's novel by British émigré Frances Hodgson Burnett, the musical is no innocent frolic down primrose garden paths. When an epidemic claims the lives of her parents, eleven year-old Mary Lennox is shipped from India to England to become the ward of her reclusive uncle, Archibald, and his stoic brother, Neville.

Haunted by the loss of his beloved wife, Archibald forsakes his ill son, Colin, and guardianship of Mary, until she instils new life into a magical garden shrouded by grief and disuse.

Rife with gothic imagery, unresolved grief, and more than a touch of the supernatural, the rich Lucy Simon score includes several celebrated songs from the contemporary musical theatre canon, including Come To My Garden, A Bit of Earth, and the show-stopping duet Lily's Eyes.

Director Charlotte Conquest returns to Chichester after her triumph with Peter Pan, teaming up with Musical Director Mark Crossland, following his musical direction of Carrie at the Southwark Playhouse.

An amateur production by arrangement with Samuel French. Book and Lyrics by Marsha Norman. Music by Lucy Simon.

Based on the book by Francis Hodgson Burnett.