ABSTRACT
From its inception, The Secret Garden musical was helmed by groundbreaking set designer and sometime producer, Heidi Ettinger. In 1985, Ettinger had made Broadway history as the first solo female scenic designer to win a Tony Award for her work on Big River. Ettinger was looking for a new project when she was sent a 1987 recording of a musical adaptation of The Secret Garden that originally premiered in England at the Salisbury Playhouse in 1983. Schulman’s distinctive reimagining of Sweeney Todd away from its original bold, large-scale production demonstrated qualities of interpretation and imagination that would be an asset in developing a new musical. On Thursday, April 25, 1991, The Secret Garden opened at the St. James Theatre. The audience greeted the start of the musical with a cheer and gave two ovations during the performance following musical numbers.
