Music in the garden

Forty singers and actors and a 12-member instrumental ensemble will descend on Beit Shmuel for Encore!’s rousing performance of ‘The Secret Garden’

By BARRY DAVIS
Michael Sacofsky (center) with Sraya Goldstein of Efrat (photo credit: Brian Negin)
Michael Sacofsky (center) with Sraya Goldstein of Efrat
(photo credit: Brian Negin)
Michael Sacofsky doesn’t exactly sing for his supper – it is more a matter of singing for his joie de vivre. “You know we all have a hobby, something that lifts us and gives us that extra-special energy,” says the 48-year-old London-born vocalist and resident of Efrat. “This is mine.”
Sacofsky’s side venture certainly contrasts with his nine-to-five occupation. During the day he keeps busy at a law practice in Rehavia, and in between tending to the needs of his six kids, he manages to get out to exercise his vocal chords. Right now he is putting the finishing touches on preparations for his latest musical role, that of the none-too-benevolent uncle – a certain Archibald Craven – in the English children’s classic by Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden, which is the latest production of the Talpiot-based Encore! Educational Theatre Company. As with all its projects, Encore – under its artistic director, chief cook and bottle-washer Robert Binder, musical director Paul Salter, and business manager and choreographer Arlene Chertoff, not to mention dedicated scenery designer Roxane Goodkin- Levy – has gone the whole hog on this new venture. The show involves a cast of no fewer than 40 singers and actors, with Salter presiding over a 12-member instrumental ensemble. In addition to Sacofsky, the leading roles will be played by Aviella Trapido, Avital Sykora, and junior performers Sapir Nachman and Sraya Goldstein, with opera singer Samuel DeBeck Spitzer, a newcomer to the Encore! lineup, in one of the supporting roles.
Understandably, with his professional pursuits and large family, Sacofsky had to think long and hard about getting in on the Encore! act this time. “I kind of got roped into this. It wasn’t really a matter of getting dragged into it kicking and screaming because it involves a lot of time and effort, but I kept being approached about doing this kind of thing.”
Legal work and familial responsibilities apart, Sacofsky has a long and rich history of musical endeavors. “I was in a Jewish choir in London, and I had a hassidic rock group here in the ’90s, which was quite popular. At the time it was a small market, and I cornered a certain niche.
But then the market got flooded by dozens of bands and my family was expanding, so I decided to stick to being a lawyer.”
Mind you, it wasn’t as if Sacofsky could get away from music at work either. “My secretary, Aviella, is a wonderful singer. She plays my wife, Lily [in The Secret Garden], who has died and comes back to haunt me.
Aviella was on my case the whole time to be in the show, and it’s a wonderful thing to do,” says Sacofsky, adding that time consuming as it may be, he gets a lot from his extracurricular activity. “Winston Churchill was thrown out of the government in 1918 and he went into depression, and someone gave him a paintbrush, and he became a very capable and wonderful artist. He never went anywhere after that without his painting equipment, and he wrote an article in the 1940s saying how critical it is to have a serious hobby, and that it affects everything else you do in your life. So, for me, working on this show has been a real tonic. The other people in the show are wonderful.”
The Secret Garden, which was initially published in a serial format in 1910, is considered to be a classic of English children’s literature, although there are some pretty adult elements in there. It tells the story of Mary, a 10-year-old English girl born in India to wealthy parents who have no time for her. Her predicament is compounded when a cholera epidemic kills her mother and father, and she is sent to Yorkshire, England, to live with her uncle Archibald.
Mary is a spoiled, neglected and unhappy child, but with the help of good-natured maidservant Martha, and Maratha’s brother Dickon, Mary discovers the eponymous mysterious spot, and her fortunes and disposition change for the better.
Many years after its publication, the story was turned into a musical, with a score by Lucy Simon – sister of famous pop singer Carly Simon – and was a Broadway hit in the early 1990s. It was revived by the Royal Shakespeare Company in London around 20 years later.
Presumably, psychologists would have a field day with the plot and multi-layered subplot of The Secret Garden, as Sacofsky explains. “The secret garden was Lily’s place of calm and love, and Archibald has it closed down after she dies, because it is too painful for him to be there and to deal with her death. Lily used to spend all her time in the garden. Mary is, in fact, Lily’s niece. Actually, it’s not that complicated,” Sacofsky notes.
Sacofsky says that the score gives him plenty of scope to strut his vocal stuff. “The music is quite charming. It is typical Broadway ’90s material – you know, a sort of Andrew Lloyd Webber feel, with a nicesounding orchestra, warm, very delicious music.”
Even so, Sacofsky says there has been a learning curve to climb. “The music is challenging. Mandy Patinkin, a Jewish guy, played the role of Archibald in the Broadway show in the ’90s. He is also an actor, and he now appears in Homeland [TV series]. I think the part of Archie was written with him in mind. Archie’s role is quite a prominent singing role in the play.”
So, presumably, Sacofsky is the star of the show. “No, I wouldn’t say that,” he protests. “It’s not that kind of show. Encore is basically run by Robert Binder and Paul Salter, and Roxane [Goodkin-Levy] works day and night on putting together the props, which are quite spectacular. This is an amateur production, but it is as close to professional as it gets, and all on a shoestring budget. Everybody involved in the show, does it from love. There is a family atmosphere. There’s a great buzz.”
The Secret Garden will be performed at the Hirsch Theater, Beit Shmuel on May 29 and 30, and June 4 and 6 (all at 8 p.m.).For tickets and more information: 054-578- 9006 and (02) 620-3463 •