DANVILLE — Anyone who remembers reading the book or seeing the movie “The Secret Garden” already knows the audience is in for a real treat when the Danville Light Opera presents this much-loved story as a beautiful and compelling musical.

“The Secret Garden” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on April 23 and 24 and at 2 p.m. on April 25 in the Danville Area Community College theater at the Bremer Conference Center.

Director Greg Williams said, “In keeping with this year’s ‘Season of Hope’ theme, the plot deals with struggle, loss and reclamation. This theme is especially appropriate in light of the challenging times that we are going through in this country.

“We have a wonderful and talented cast, and actors have come from Champaign-Urbana, Indiana and even Tuscola to be in this show,” Williams said. “The musical score is intricate and vocally very demanding, and our music director, Belinda Smith, is doing a wonderful job.”

Williams said that older children and adults should especially enjoy the production.

“It has some very emotional and touching moments dealing with love, loss, grief, and reclamation,” he said. “It’s also a rather dark show at times, with some spooky characters and settings.”

Williams was impressed and inspired when he saw “The Secret Garden” produced by a national touring company in South Carolina back in 1995. “At that time I told myself that I wanted to direct this show someday,” he said.

Smith has filled the music director’s role in other DLO productions, including “Cabaret” and “The Civil War,” but she still considers this musical score to be challenging.

“All our vocalists have solo parts,” she said, “so they are all talented singers. I’m really excited about this show. It has a most beautiful musical score.”

A 12-piece orchestra will support the singers and provide background music for the show. The instruments also will create sound effects — such as the piccolo and flute coming together to create the sound of a bird in the garden.

The actors all will wear period costumes borrowed from the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana.

“And due to our small staging area, we had to limit the scenery,” Williams said. “For example, the audience will have to use their imagination and create their own secret garden scene.”

“The Secret Garden” is a musical based on the 1909 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The show premiered on Broadway in 1991 and ran for 709 performances.

The story is set in the early 20th century. Mary Lennox, a young English girl born and raised in colonial India, is orphaned after her parents die from cholera when she is 11 years old. She is sent away to Yorkshire, England, to live with relatives she has never met. The girl’s own personality blossoms as she and a young gardener bring new life to a neglected garden, as well as to her sickly cousin and uncle.

Cast members of “The Secret Garden” include Jodi L. Prosser as Lily; Bailey Williams as Mary Lennox; Julia Megan Sullivan as Mrs. Medlock; Sonny Downing as Major Shelley; Matt Hester as Dr. Neville Craven; Libby A. Mueller as Martha; Michael Steen as Archibald Craven; Chris Dunn as Ben Weatherstaff; David Zych as Dickon; Patrick Strader as Colin Craven; Stephanie Keller as Mrs. Winthrop; and Bryan Jenkins as William.

The Dreamers include Marah Sotelo as Rose Lennox; Ian Williams as Albert Lennox; Mallory Williams as Alice; J. J. Bailey as Lieutenant Wright; Dalton Halls as Lieutenant Shaw; Jim Gilmour as Major Holmes; Jeanne Dunn as Claire Holmes; Craig Krukewitt as Fakir; and Lisa Burgess as Ayah.

Several of the actors have been in other productions of the musical, and Jodi Prosser also has directed the show before.

Dance ensemble members include Emily Turner, Kaitlyn Dickson, Sammy Smalley, Sarah Strader and Priscilla Steinberg.

The choreographer is Jesse Pierce, and the show’s producer is Suzy Smalley.

IF YOU GO

Danville Light Opera presents “The Secret Garden” at 7:30 p.m. April 23 and 24 and 2 p.m. April 25 in the Bremer Conference Center at Danville Area Community College.

Ticket prices are $17 for adults and $12 for students. To make reservations, call 431-1660. Tickets also can be purchased at the DLO Center Stage box office, located in the Village Mall (former JC Penney/Steve and Barry’s wing). Box office hours are from 2-4 p.m. today and April 18; and from 6-8 p.m. Monday and April 19, 20 and 21. Tickets are also available at First  Savings Bank, 6 W. Williams St.