Drama Desk and Drama League nominee Sierra Boggess (The Little Mermaid, Love Never Dies, Harmony) will star in a new version of the 1991 musical The Secret Garden, reimagined
by co-creators Marsha Norman and the late Lucy Simon. Performances are scheduled for February 19–March 26, 2023, at Center Theatre
Group's Ahmanson Theatre with an official opening February 26.
Tony winner Warren Carlyle (After Midnight), as previously reported, will direct and
choreograph the production with music direction by Rob Berman. Boggess will play the role of Lily, who is Mary's aunt and Archibald Craven's wife. Additional casting and creative team members will be announced at a later date.
Carlyle has been attached to the property for several years. In 2018 it was announced that he would helm a Broadway revival during the 2018-19 season that did not come to fruition. However, a 2018 workshop of the reimagined version, directed by Carlyle, streamed in April 2021 to benefit The Dramatists Guild Foundation and The Actors Fund. The stream was dedicated to the late Rebecca Luker, the musical's original Lily.
Boggess, who has played Lily in concerts of the Tony-nominated musical as well as in the aforementioned workshop, says, “I am so incredibly thrilled to play Lily once again in our production of The Secret Garden. Warren Carlyle has breathed such life into, I think, one of the most iconic stories of our time; love and loss, death and rebirth, innocence, and healing. What I love about Lily is that even from the grave she won’t give up until there is healing for those that can’t find their way. With one of the most beautiful scores ever written by our beloved Lucy Simon, I hope to honor her with every note and give the world this story that we are so in need of at this time.”
Based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett and featuring a book
and lyrics by Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Norman and music by Grammy
winner and Tony nominee Simon, The Secret Garden was first
produced on Broadway in 1991. The musical received six Tony Award
nominations, including Best Musical, winning for Best Book of a Musical,
Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Daisy Eagan), and Best Scenic
Design of a Musical.
Single tickets will go on sale November 2. Visit CenterTheatreGroup.org.
