Elliot Norton Award Nominees, and Special Award Announced!

See HERE for full posting!

Wheelock Family Theatre is happy to receive a special award from the Elliot Norton Award committee for our 30 years in service of theatre for and with families in the greater Boston community!
We are also pleased to congratulate our Technical Director and resident designer, Matthew T. Lazure, on his nomination for the design of “The Secret Garden” this season at WFT. Congratulations, Matthew, it is a thrill to work with you each day.



In the meantime, we are opening “Aladdin & the Wonderful Lamp” on Friday, 4/15! Still need Tickets?

Click HERE for them!

Yours in blogging,

Beth Peters

The Theater Mirror reviews THE SECRET GARDEN

Looking for a hidden gem in your own backyard? Look no further than Boston’s own Wheelock Family Theatre which is currently producing THE SECRET GARDEN.

THE SECRET GARDEN, based on the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, is a young girl’s struggle to acclimatize to her new surroundings. It’s a tale of the ebb and flow of life, renewal and growth, and the seed of hope and change that lies deep within all of us. Wheelock took Burnett's book and has adapted it for their young audience. Oh, so they dumbed it down, you say? No! With new book and lyrics by Susan Kosoff and original music by Jane Staff, THE SECRET GARDEN is streamlined, straightforward, and suddenly accessible. My 5 year old sat mesmerized for over two hours!

Mary Lennox (Katherine Leigh Doherty) arrives from India to live in the English countryside after the tragic death of her parents. Besides the obvious lack of sun, there is also a severe lack of humor and fun. There are no jump ropes, toys, or anything to keep a young girl’s attention or her spirits up. Despondent and aloof, Mary finally lets her guard and class consciousness down and befriends a rough-n-tumble groundskeeper named Ben Weatherstaff (Neil Gustafson), the ever affable housemaid Martha Sowerby (Jennifer Beth Glick), her adventurous son Dickon (Andrew Barbato), as well as a very smart robin. The robin guides her to a neglected garden. This tiny enclosed plot is alive with the memory of her aunt’s tragic death and thick undergrowth. It’s nothing that a little hard work and sweat can’t fix as Dickon and Mary work to make it a magical and happy place again. But shhhhhhh…….it’s their secret. Before long though, her sickly cousin, Master Colin Craven (Ellis Gage), is in on the fun too. He, like everyone else, re-energizes to the possibilities that life has to offer. The actors, especially Doherty, keep the story moving forward with conviction. Standout singing by Gustafson, Glick, and Gage in “Tha’ an’ Me Are Alike,” “But for the Garden,” as well as “If You Are Ill,” catapults this production upward.

Helping to provide this metamorphosis visually is the clever set design by Matthew T. Lazure. The wall to the garden rotates and you are truly surprised when an upstairs room reveals itself after Mary “discovers” the cloistered Colin. With the help of musical director and orchestrator, Jonathon Goldberg, Jane Staab’s beautiful songs blossom onstage. It’s a group effort that pays off.

With THE SECRET GARDEN, spring has finally come to Boston. This production runs until February 27. Go see it and be transformed!

-Janine de Sousa

Ensemble reveals its depth in 'The Secret Garden'

Katherine Leigh Doherty shines on Matthew T. Lazure's set for the The Secret Garden

Star of Wheelock Family Theatre's [...] production is Matt T. Lazure's [...] set
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The following appeared on Boston.com:
Headline: Ensemble reveals its depth in 'The Secret Garden'
Date: Feb 1, 2011
"The star of Wheelock Family Theatre's latest production is Matthew T. Lazure's creative set. That's not to detract from "The Secret Garden's'' ensemble, which includes 15-year-old Broadway veteran Katherine Leigh Doherty ("Mary Poppins,'' "A Little Night Music'') and award-winning actress Jacqui Parker. It's just that with the simplest and most elegant touches, Lazure's design finds all the magic in Frances ..."
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To see this recommendation, click on the link below or cut and paste it
into a Web browser:

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2011/02/01/the_secret_garden_at_the_wheelock_family_theatre_blossoms_in_a_striking_setting/?s_campaign=8315

A cherished story . . . from the Brookline Patch.

Neil Gustafson and Katherine Doherty in "The Secret Garden" at WFT! 

Read the full article by clicking above! 

Website: http://www.WheelockFamilyTheatre.org

• Phone: 617-879-2300
• Email: tickets@wheelock.edu

• Price: $30, $25, $20, $15
• Tickets: Buy Tickets

Forever young: Jennifer Beth Glick shines, playing 19-yr old Martha!

Forever young - Read the full article at the Boston Herald! And call 617-879-2300! for tickets! 

Live at Tech/Dress Tonight!

Blogspot Tags: Secret Garde, Pictures, Live Blogs

So I’m live here at WFT and we have just started the run. I have to say, the beginning is just plain … spooky. Mary comes all the way from India to the house of her Uncle to stay, it is rainy, cold and dreary.  Like any precocious young lass, she immediately begins to complain, singing , “No, I don’t like it!” which is the mindset of too too many little girls in new experiences. Though . . . you really can’t help but agree with her – this house (the set) looks absolutely cold-hearted and I might even say just plain cold – shivering, wet, brrrr cold. Olde English Country charm turned heartless and sad.

 

This is a photo from a different time in the show, but I think it really shows the beautiful set design and mood of the first act.

I wonder where the story will progress   

One thing that is universal about tech rehearsals is that they seem stressful, even though they aren’t always actually stressful. That sounds odd, but here a few things that you must have to get a dress rehearsal accomplished: Yelling; Stopping; Starting; Repeating; Directing; Disagreeing; and Repeating; and also Repeating.  If you’re not used to it, it can seem like there is too much going on and too many people thinking that their job is the most important – but aha! – that is the brilliance of it. The Director, the Music Director, the Sound Designer, the backstage costume Dresser, and the Actors all have a job to do and they're all correct, their job is  the most important – and it’s all these micro-battles during Tech and the respect that theatre artists have for each other and the work, that makes the Dress Rehearsal and ultimately, the Opening Night so tightly and wonderfully successful.

Yours in blogging, and more this week!

Beth Peters

Still looking for tickets?! 

Click HERE!

Video Number Two

More silliness-- but at least I got a partner this time!

Live Update Number One (test)

What do you think?

Would you watch live updates?

P.S. What is up with the weird tracers in front of my face?!