It's no secret, 'The Secret Garden' is a collaborative success

June 16, 3:16 PMBoulder Cultural Events ExaminerShoshana Fanizza

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Directors & Cast - Photo courtesy of Parlando School for the Arts 
Olwin-Martin Gallery

After hearing so many arts economic woe stories in the news, it's nice to finally hear some good news. The latest production of The Secret Garden, a collaboration between 30 pre-professional singers, actors from 19 different colleges, high schools, and middle schools along the Front Range, along with a live 17-piece orchestra, is on it's way to a complete line of sold out shows. “Overflow seating” and “standing room only” are quickly becoming the phrases of the day.

The Secret Garden, with a run from Friday, June 12 through Saturday, June 27 at CU's ATLAS Black Box Theatre, is a project developed by The Parlando School for the Arts (Parlando) through their musical theater and dramatic studio, Broadway in Boulder.

“This is the culmination of two years of hard work and talent development and is due in large part to the efforts of our Broadway in Boulder Studio Directors, Angela Gaylor and David Ayers,” said Parlando Executive Director and Founder, Travis LaBerge.

(In this picture: David Ayers and Angela Gaylor with Tony Award winning musical director, Kevin Stites)

The directors, Angela Gaylor and David Ayers, are experienced Broadway performers from New York who now teach at Parlando. With their connections, the cast has worked with an all-star lineup of nationally and internationally renowned figures in the musical theatre field including Jen Rudin, Director of Casting and Talent Development for Disney Theatrical Productions, Tony-Award winning Musical Director Kevin Stites, Tony-Nominated Director Thomas Kail (In the Heights) and Director of Projections for Cirque du Soleil, Eric Ludacer.

In addition to working with the cast during the rehearsal process, each of these individuals held master classes that were free and open to the public. These connections are also helping to serve the individual young talents at Parlando. For example, the ten-year-old playing the lead role in The Secret Garden auditions this week for Disney’s Broadway production of Mary Poppins.

“We believe audiences will be blown away by the quality of the cast,” Co-Director Angela Gaylor said. “This show is highlighting some of the very best pre-professional performers in the region all in the same place at the same time.”

The sets, which are image projections, are also something to talk about. Experts from three companies, Cirque du Soleil, Dreamworks and the makers of The MATRIX, have come together to create the many images required to project the garden.

Co-Director David Ayers explains, “We have utilized state-of-the-art imaging and projections that literally transform the ATLAS Black Box into a Victorian setting juxtaposed with Colonial India. I think people are going to be very surprised at the quality they see from both the cast and the set. ”

To wrap your mind around the word collaboration, groups working with Parlando’s Broadway in Boulder Studio on this project include CU Boulder’s ATLAS Institute, the Boulder Arts Commission, Boulder Youth Symphony, Flatiron String Academy, The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the Dairy Center, The Ritter Family Foundation, Multimedia Audio Visual, Apple Inc., and numerous local sponsors.

Serene Karplus, one of the musicians of this production, fills us in on the storyline and history of The Secret Garden, “The Secret Garden is a story of the healing power of living things, of the mind, and of the will. The story was written by Frances Hodgson Burnett as a magazine serial and was published as a novel in 1911. The author is also famous for other works, such as The Little Princess and Little Lord Fauntleroy. In her lifetime, the story of The Secret Garden was mostly forgotten.”

But thanks to Parlando's Broadway in Boulder studio and their numerous collaborations, The Secret Garden will not be forgotten, and with sold out shows, will no longer be a secret.

 
Event Details -The Secret Garden

When: Show times are Friday, June 12 through Saturday, June 27 at 7:30pm every night, except no shows on Mondays, plus there are 2:00pm matinées on all Saturdays & Sundays.

Where: Black Box theater at the ATLAS center on the CU-Boulder campus (ATLAS Building 223, 1125 18th St., Boulder, CO).

Cost: $20 adult; $15 student/senior

Tickets*: The Dairy Center box office at 303-444-7328 or order online direct:

http://thedairy.frontgatetickets.com/

*Some shows are sold out. Please call in advance for overflow seating and standing room instructions.

About the Parlando School for the Arts and the Broadway in Boulder Studio

Parlando is Boulder’s premier music school with 50 teachers offering lessons and classes to over 650 students of all instruments, ages and abilities including Musical Theater and Drama. Broadway in Boulder merged with Parlando in 2007 and is now headquartered alongside the other Parlando studios at the Dairy Center for the Arts. The Broadway in Boulder Studio was originally founded by Broadway Stars, Angela Gaylor (La Cage Aux Folles, Hairspray, Oklahoma!) and David Ayers (Wicked, Fiddler on the Roof, Mamma Mia!). Ms. Gaylor and Mr. Ayers teach both musical theater classes as well as private voice lessons.

For more information about Parlando School for the Arts and the Broadway in Boulder Studio, please call 303.442.0006, email parlandoboulder@gmail.com or visit www.parlando.org.

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Shoshana Fanizza is the founder of Audience Development Specialists.  For writings specifically about audience development, please visit the Audience Development Blog.