THE SECRET GARDEN at CCM

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

I31L05aythHTJt7NBVo2goH3n8HE9OMxBneq176Bzkc=

The Musical Theatre Department of the College-Conservatory of Music at UC pulled off yet another stunning production. This time it is a top-notch mounting of Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman’s magical musical The Secret Garden.

Other than the superb guest director and choreographer Connor Gallagher, the imaginative set designer Joshua E. Gallagher, and the unfailingly great costume designer Dean Mogle, everyone else in this superb production on and off stage is a student. That in and of itself is pretty close to a miracle, considering that what the capacity audience witnessed tonight on the Corbett Auditorium stage was a show on the level of a Broadway hit production.

Jeremy Robin Lyons in the pit led the sizeable orchestra in a musically flawless performance, drawing out terrific turns from a large cast headlined by Zoe Mezoff as Mary Lennox, Delaney Guyer as Lily, Madison Hagler as Archibald Craven, and Sam Pickart as Dr. Neville Craven. In significant supporting roles Anna Chase Lanier as Martha, Kurtis Bradley Brown as Dickon, and Jenna Bienvenue as Colin stood out in a cast of two dozen uniformly gifted singing, dancing, acting talents.

To get to the punch line I would encourage those readers still not holding tickets for this show to cancel whatever else you have planned for this weekend and give the box office at CCM a call at 513-556-4183 and try and see if there are any tickets left for any of the remaining three shows this weekend. You will not regret it.

Rafael de Acha    http://www.RafaelMusicNotes.com

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”