The Secret Garden Opens 2022-2023 Hawai'i Opera Theatre Season Oct. 14

Summary: Gasser's The Secret Garden opens the 2022-2023 Hawai'i Opera Theatre season Oct. 14 as an operatic adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 novel.

Hawai'i Opera Theatre's 2022-2023 season localizes Nolan Gasser's The Secret Garden by resetting the same-named classic English children's literature novel in Hawai'i: Hawaii Opera Theatre, via Facebook July 18, 2022

Nolan Gasser's The Secret Garden opens the 2022-2023 Hawai'i Opera Theatre season Oct. 14 as an operatized adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's same-named 1911 novel.

Hawai'i Opera Theatre (HOT) stages The Secret Garden as the first of two new additions to the opera company's repertoire in the 2022-2023 season. The HOT production personalizes the opera by resetting "the same traditional story you love . . . in a tropical Hawaiian oasis," according to Hawai'i Opera Theatre's profile page for The Secret Garden.

The family-friendly opera receives two performances in its HOT debut season. Opening night takes place Friday, Oct. 14, at 7:30 p.m. The happy-ending opera closes with its second performance Sunday, Oct. 16, at 4:00 p.m. Both performances are staged in downtown Honolulu at Hawai'i Opera Theatre's performance venue, the Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall.

The English-language opera is sung in English, along with English supertitles for the audience. The Secret Garden lasts for approximately 2 hours 20 minutes, with one intermission.

The Secret Garden's HOT debut occurs nine years (9 years, 7 months, 13 days) after the opera's premiere Friday, March 1, 2013, at Zellerbach Hall on the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley; UCB) campus. The San Francisco Opera had commissioned American composer and musicologist Nolan Ira Gasser (born Nov. 10, 1964) with operatizing the English children's literature classic by Anglo-American playwright and novelist Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (Nov. 24, 1849-Oct. 29, 1924). The English-language libretto was written by English dramatist and novelist Carey Harrison (born Feb. 19, 1944), son of English actor Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (March 5, 1908-June 2, 1990) and his second wife, German actress Lili Palmer (Lilli Marie Peiser; May 24, 1914-Jan. 27, 1986).

Elizabeth Askren (born 1976) conducts both performances in the 2022-2023 HOT season. The American conductor and pianist's conductorship of The Secret Garden marks her HOT debut.

American stage director and administrator Karen Tiller directs Hawai'i Opera Theatre's production of Gasser's The Secret Garden. She switched to production direction in 2013, after 10 and one-half years (December 2003-January 2013) as Executive Director of Hawai'i Opera Theatre.

Three of The Secret Garden's four principal singers make their HOT debuts in the production. Filipina-American soprano Laura Corina Sanders sings Mary Lennox, whose blooming restoration of an untended garden ultimately gladdens all lives in her new, formerly disparaged home. American mezzo-soprano Abi Levis (Abigail Levis; born March 1987), appears as Martha Sowerby, who tells Mary about the abandoned garden. Cuban-American tenor Andres Acosta portrays Dickon Sowerby, Martha's nature-loving brother.

Japanese tenor Taka Komagata performs as Colin Craven, Mary's cousin, who sheds illness for health via his involvement in the re-discovered garden. Komagata had made his HOT debut as Goro the marriage broker in the 2021-2022 season's three performances (Friday, April 8; Sunday, April 10; Tuesday, April 12) of Madame Butterfly (Madama Butterfly) by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

American mezzo-soprano Leslie Goldman completes the Sowerby family as Susan, Martha and Dickon's loving mother, whose letter brings Colin's father happily home. She most recently sang nursemaid Annina in the 2018-2019 HOT season's three performances (Friday, May 17; Sunday, May 19; Tuesday, May 21) of La Traviata by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).

Chinese-American bass Robert Feng portrays gardener Ben Weatherstaff. Feng returns to Hawai'i Opera Theatre after appearing in two roles in the previous, 2021-2022, season's production of Madama Butterfly. He had performed as Butterfly's monastic uncle and as Prince Yamadori, selected by Goro (Taka Komagata) as Butterfly's next husband, in the season's three performances on Friday, April 8; Sunday, April 10; Tuesday, April 12. He had made his HOT debut in Re-Emerging: HOT Live in Concert. Hawai'i Opera Theatre's two performances (Friday, March 11; Sunday, March 13) of 90-minute operatic selections had celebrated the return to live opera after the 2020-2021 season's coronavirus-compelled cancellations.

Leslie Goldman and Robert Feng return in the 2022-2023 HOT season for the season's third opera, Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. Goldman sings Nella, wife of deceased Buoso Donati's disinherited nephew, Gherardo. Feng sings Betto di Signa, deceased Buoso Donati's disinherited, poor brother-in-law.

Two secondary roles mark HOT debuts for their singers. American contralto Alissa Anderson sings Mrs. Medlock. American bass-baritone Damien Geter appears as Archibald Craven, Colin's father, whose despair transforms into happiness with his son's health and the healthy blooming of his deceased wife's garden.

The 2022-2023 HOT season's second opera, The Elixir of Love, opens four months after The Secret Garden. The Elixir of Love is staged as the English-language version of L’Elisir d’Amore by Italian composer Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848). The season's second opera is slated for two performances. The Elixir of Love opens Friday, Feb. 17, at 7:30 p.m. and closes with a Sunday matinee, Feb. 19, at 4:00 p.m.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Hawai'i Opera Theatre's 2022-2023 season localizes Nolan Gasser's The Secret Garden by resetting the same-named classic English children's literature novel in Hawai'i: Hawaii Opera Theatre, via Facebook July 18, 2022, @ https://www.facebook.com/HawaiiOpera/posts/pfbid02ywXnNXAXje4LeWhyC258fhx9drwLJY2phpF2Fr5wsQsj4zUngwTmjJztYDaTkzMzl

Hawaii Opera Theatre, via Facebook Aug. 18, 2022, @ https://www.facebook.com/HawaiiOpera/videos/hot-is-partnering-up-with-a-maris-gardens-for-our-upcoming-opera-the-secret-gard/604627757887042/

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Hawaii Opera Theatre. "Our 2022/2023 season features three productions that all celebrate light and life! We're excited to announce the first production this season, The Secret Garden. One of the most beloved children's stories blossoms on stage this October with The Secret Garden, an enchanting opera that the whole family will love! This inspiring story -- in a new production featuring a tropical flair -- shows how lives can be transformed when our imagination is unlocked. ⁠Stay tuned to discover which show is next! With tickets starting as low as $30, we invite you to experience opera with aloha this season! ⁠#OperaSeason #ExpericneOpera #SubscribeAndSave #TheSecretGarden #OperaIsForEveryone #Honolulu #HonoluluEvents #Music #Song #LocalTalent #Blaisdell #Opera #Sing #FirstShowOfTheSeason #WhatsNext." Facebook. July 18, 2022.
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Hawaii Opera Theatre. "A ticket giveaway contest is right around the corner! #giveaway #contest #staytuned #thiscouldbeyours #operalover #Bookclub #theatre #thisfall #October #thesecretgarden #HOTsecretgarden #HOTopera." Facebook. Aug. 19, 2022.
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Hawaii Opera Theatre. "Tickets Hot Off the Printer! Rivers and Lore, our incredible box office team, are getting your tickets ready! We are so stoked to open our season in October with The Secret Garden. #tickets #boxoffice #HOTOpera #The SecretGarden #HOT #October #Live #Blaisdell #thingstodo #theatre #event #Honolulu #aloha #hawaii #oahu #hawaiilife #hilife." Facebook. Aug. 25, 2022.
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