THE NATION’S LEADING MUSICAL THEATER APRIL 14-MAY 6, 2017 APRIL 2017 When Only The Best Will Do 3500 Factoria Blvd. SE • Bellevue, Washington 98006 • 425.643.2610 • Dacels.com EAP full-page template.indd 1 2/22/17 9:26 AM April 2017 Volume 14, No. 6 Paul Heppner Publisher Susan Peterson Design & Production Director Ana Alvira, Robin Kessler, Shaun Swick, Stevie VanBronkhorst Production Artists and Graphic Design Mike Hathaway Sales Director Brieanna Bright, Joey Chapman, Ann Manning, Rob Scott Seattle Area Account Executives Marilyn Kallins, Terri Reed San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives Jonathan Shipley Ad Services Coordinator Carol Yip Sales Coordinator Sara Keats Jonathan Shipley Online Editors mozart Leah Baltus Editor-in-Chief Paul Heppner Publisher THE Dan Paulus Art Director Gemma Wilson, Jonathan Zwickel Senior Editors MAGIC Amanda Manitach Visual Arts Editor Barry Johnson Associate Digital Editor FLUTE © Philip Newton Paul Heppner President COLORFUL FANTASY Mike Hathaway Mozart’s unique extravaganza blends MAY 6-21 Vice President myth, magic, and marvelous music to In German with English subtitles. Evenings 7:30 PM Genay Genereux deliver its life-affirming message. Award- Accounting & Office Manager Sundays 2:00 PM winning costumes by fashion designer Sara Keats Featuring the Seattle Opera Chorus Marketing Manager Zandra Rhodes adorn enchanting and members of Seattle Ryan Devlin characters like the high-flying Queen of Symphony Orchestra. Business Development Manager the Night. Don’t miss the many delights of “an intoxicatingly imaginative show” (The MCCAW HALL Corporate Office Seattle Times). 425 North 85th Street Seattle, WA 98103 206.389.7676 p 206.443.0445 f 206.443.1246 SEASON SPONSOR: SEATTLE OPERA GUILD SEATTLEOPERA.ORG/FLUTE [email protected] PRODUCTION SPONSORS: TAGNEY JONES FAMILY FUND 800.308.2898 x105 AT SEATTLE FOUNDATION, ARTSFUND, 4CULTURE www.encoremediagroup.com Encore Arts Programs is published monthly by Encore Media FAMILY DAY MATINEE: SUNDAY, MAY 14: STUDENT TICKETS JUST $15! Group to serve musical and theatrical events in the Puget Visit seattleopera.org/familyday for details Sound and San Franc isco Bay Areas. All rights reserved. ©2017 Encore Media Group. Reproduction without written permission is prohibited. BOARD OF DIRECTORS ABOUT Stephen P. Reynolds Chairman Sterling Wilson THE TH Treasurer 5 Margaret C. Inouye AVENUE THEATRE Secretary • The non-profit 5th Avenue Theatre is one of the country’s leading musical theater Wanda J. Herndon companies. Our mission is to “nurture, advance and preserve all aspects of America’s Immediate Past Chairman great indigenous art form: The Musical. We achieve this by creating extraordinary theatrical experiences that enrich, entertain and inspire current and future audiences Kenny Alhadeff Ann Ardizzone everywhere.” Clodagh Ash Les Biller • The 5th is committed to achieving the highest standards of artistic excellence by Sharon Gantz Bloome employing world-class performers and creative artists, utilizing full live orchestras, and Robert R. Braun, Jr. Debbie Brown staging exceptional and imaginative productions. The 5th places a special emphasis on Margaret Clapp employing our amazing community of Puget Sound-based artists and technicians. Barbara L. Crowe Larry Estrada We are nationally renowned for our production and development of new musicals. Cyrus Habib • Randy Hodgins Since 2001, The 5th has premiered 17 new works, nine of which have subsequently Mike Katz opened on Broadway. They include Disney’s Aladdin, First Date, A Christmas Story, Patrick F. Kennedy Scandalous, Shrek, Catch Me If You Can, The Wedding Singer and Best Musical Tony SaSa Kirkpatrick Award®-winners, Hairspray and Memphis. Elizabeth Lund Heather Sullivan McKay Richard Meadows • We are equally acclaimed for our vibrant new productions of musicals from the John Oppenheimer “Golden Age of Broadway” and contemporary classics. These signature revivals enthrall David Quinn fans of these enduring works and introduce these great shows to new generations of Ann Ramsay-Jenkins Anthony Repanich musical theater lovers. Norman B. Rice Emory Thomas, Jr. • Our celebrated educational programs serve more than 83,000 young people each year Bonnie Towne through a host of projects including our Adventure Musical Theater Touring Company, Eric Trott The 5th Avenue Awards and the unique Rising Star Project. For adults, we offer free-to- Marka Waechter Tom Walsh the-public events such as the popular Spotlight Night series and pre-performance Show Tracy Wellens Talks with Albert Evans. Eileen Glasser Wesley Kenneth Willman • We are the largest arts employer in the Pacific Northwest with more than 800 actors, PAST CHAIRMEN singers, dancers, musicians, creative artists, theatrical technicians and arts professionals OF THE BOARD working for us each season. Wanda J. Herndon (2013-2015) Barbara L. Crowe (2011-2013) • As a non-profit theater company supported by the community, we enjoy the patronage Robert A. Sexton (2009-2011) of more than 20,000 season subscribers (one of the largest theater subscriptions in Norman B. Rice (2007-2009) America). More than 330,000 audience members attend our performances each year. Kenny Alhadeff (2004-2007) William W. Krippaehne Jr. (2002-2004) Bruce M. Pym (2000-2002) OUR HISTORIC THEATER John F. Behnke (1998-2000) Faye Sarkowsky (1996-98) The 5th Avenue Theatre’s breathtaking design was inspired by ancient Imperial China’s Donald J. Covey (1994-96) Kenneth L. Hatch (1992-94) most stunning architectural achievements, including the magnificent Forbidden City. John D. Mangels (1990-92) Built in 1926 for vaudeville and silent pictures, The 5th Avenue Theatre reigned for Robert F. Buck (1988-90) decades as Seattle’s favorite movie palace. In 1979, 43 companies and community Stanley M. Little, Jr. (1986-88) R. Milton Trafton (1983-86) leaders formed the non-profit 5th Avenue Theatre Association and restored the theater W.J. Pennington (1981-83) to its original splendor. The 5th Avenue Theatre re-opened in 1980 as Seattle’s premier D.E. (Ned) Skinner (1979-81) home for musical theater. Founding Managing Director The 5th Avenue Theatre gratefully acknowledges our 43 original founders and sponsors. Marilynn Sheldon Please visit www.5thavenue.org for specific information on these important companies and individuals. WELCOME TO THE WELCOME TO 5TH FROM THE DESK OF DAVID ARMSTRONG EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR COME TO OUR GARDEN rom the day it was first published in serial form in The American Magazine in 1910, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic novel The Secret Garden Fhas enchanted and captivated both adults and children alike. Over the 107 years that have followed, countless editions of the novel have been published and at least a dozen major film and television adaptations have been produced, including a 2015 multimedia web series and a 39-episode Japanese anime version! The novel has also frequently been adapted for the stage, most successfully in this 1991 Tony Award®-winning Broadway musical by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon. We outgrow most of the stories we loved as children, but a few special tales are able to hold our interest for a lifetime. Even after repeated readings and exposure to multiple versions in various media, these stories never lose their impact. We connect with these plots and characters so Ultimately, in order to heal and grow, Mary and deeply that we are able to become engrossed in the action Archibald must see themselves in the mirror of each every time, even though we know exactly how it’s going to other’s face. They must learn to care for the garden, as turn out. For me, that is the true definition of a “classic”: a well as each other. Eventually the healing power of nature great story that is open to endless retelling and an infinite will work its spell on them. Like the secret garden itself, number of reinterpretations. they are “wick.” Just below the surface, life is waiting to be The Secret Garden is that kind of story. On the surface, it reborn. As Dickon sings to Mary: has all the elements of a great Gothic mystery. Dark secrets lurk behind the doors of Misselthwaite Manor. Ghostly When a thing is wick it has a way of knowing apparitions wander the hallways and strange voices cry When it’s safe to grow again, you will see. out in the night. Most intriguingly, hidden somewhere When there’s sun and water sweet enough to feed it behind cold, ivy-covered walls is a secret garden that all are It will climb up through the earth a pale new green. forbidden to enter! Into this world comes Mary Lennox—a spoiled, difficult Perhaps the reason The Secret Garden has had such child whose only living relative is the brooding and staying power is that at its heart it is the story of life melancholy lord of the manor, Archibald Craven. Both itself—the changing of the seasons, the cycle of nature. As have been traumatized by sad, lonely childhoods and the the seasons progress, this grand drama of rejuvenation is sudden deaths of close family members. And both have enacted over and over again, year after year, millennium responded by shutting down their emotions and turning after millennium. What dies in the winter is inevitably their backs on life. For Mary and Archibald it is much safer born again, or gives life to something new, in the spring. to feel nothing than to experience the pain and grief that It is my pleasure to invite you to come to our garden threatens to engulf them. and experience the timeless story that Marsha Norman, Frances Hodgson Burnett was remarkably ahead of her Lucy Simon and Frances Hodgson Burnett have time in so truthfully portraying characters struggling to cultivated so vividly. overcome anxiety and depression—what we might today call post-traumatic stress disorder. Remarkably, she was able to combine Gothic mystery, realistic psychological drama, and magic realism into a cohesive and captivating whole.