Dana McAfee, Warsaw Community High School drama teacher, is bringing to the school’s Performing Arts Center stage the first Broadway show she ever saw. The musical adaptation of “The Secret Garden” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $6 for students and senior citizens, and $10 for adults. Seating is reserved, so tickets may be purchased in advance by calling 574-371-5040. While the musical version has a darker spin than the original, McAfee said it still has a happy ending. “I absolutely love this musical. It’s the first Broadway show I saw,” she said. The musical is based on the 1911 book of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Premiering on Broadway in 1991, it ran for 709 performances. The show’s book and lyrics are by Marsha Norman, with music by Lucy Simon. Set in the early 1900s, a young English girl, Mary Lennox, is born and raised in the British Raj. A cholera outbreak leaves her orphaned at 11 years old, so she is sent from India to England to live with family she’s never known. As she cares for a neglected garden, a sickly cousin and an uncle, her life changes dramatically. Cast members in order of appearance include: Audrey Rich as Lily; Tara Rusinack, Mary Lennox; Breanna Mayer, Fakir/dreamer; Korah Gillard, Ayah/dreamer; Allison Zigon, Rose Lennox/dreamer; Matt Grothouse, Captain Albert Lennox/dreamer; Aaron Secaur, Lt. Peter Wright/dreamer; Wyatt Slone, Lt. Ian Shaw/dreamer; Jason Sager, Major Holmes/dreamer; Kathy Frazzetta, Claire Holmes/dreamer; Elizabeth Brown, Alice/dreamer; Briley Gargis, Major Shelley; Katie Yocum, Mrs. Shelley/dreamer; Brooke Neubaum, Mrs. Medlock; Derek Grose, Archibald Craven; Jonathan Warner, Dr. Neville Craven; Kendra Housel, Martha; Cole Hoskins, Ben; Lucas Thomas, Dickon; Jordan Fredericks, Colin Craven; Margot Rheinhardt, Jane; Amanda Pilz, Mrs. Winthrop/dreamer; and Morgan Fuentes, Neil Lothamer, Summer Perry, Haleigh Randall, Joanna Taylor, Emma Tomasik and Annie Wray as dreamers. Along with McAfee as director, the production crew includes: Thomas Hall as musical director; Joseph Peloza, pit conductor; Jean Beeson, assistant director/costumes; Dan Wray, production foreman; Christine Trier, stage manager; Kahler Snow, assistant stage manager; Nikos Schlitt and Dan Wray, set design; Erica Bibler, Emma Bonifield, Gabi Bradley, Gianna Burkholder, Will Denzer, Lydia DeBoest, Briley Gargis, Gus Gigous, Izzy Heiden, Sharon Kim, Megan Lowman, Bryce Mustain, Margot Rheinhardt, Abigail Smith, stage crew; Leonard Gagnon, Nick DiVicarro, lights; Cailin Clay, spotlights; John Lacheta, sound; Kirstin Davis, props mistress; Anne Willmert, waltz choreographer; Karyn Brumbaugh, vocal/acting coach; and Dave Beeson, program/poster design. In the orchestra pit are Kathy Kolbe, Carrie Thornburgh, Beth Koontz, Emily Mikel, Drew Tomasik, Joseph Carlson, Analiese Helms, Madeline Hooks, Jannalynn Niebbia and Ben Meulink.
