How About a Secret Garden Revival??- Page 2

[mikey2573]

Posted: 5/14/12 at 10:12pm

The problem with a SECRET GARDEN revival is it would be hard to live up to memories of the original production, which was as close to musical theater perfection as one might ever get. Of course, new fans who never saw the original would fall in love with it. But anyone who saw the original would just be sitting in the theater shaking their head in dismay. I think I saw it about 15 times and it never failed to be very moving. And I still remember that final reveal of the garden in full bloom always getting a round of applause for the set designer.
The London version, which I also saw, was simply horrible! Completely devoid of any mystery or wonder. And those clog-dancing landscapers! YUCH!

[finnues]

Posted: 5/14/12 at 10:38pm

LizzieCurry: re APAC production - isn't Archie holding the key to the garden in the opening tableau? (hence the "locking" sound in the blackout?) But the second act scene def shows Archie going to jump off of something...
Also not sure if you are right about doubling Archie/Neville as Drs in the opening, that couldn't happen since Neville is in the later scene that overlaps with the replay of the opening montage.
It's solid production at APAC - totally worth the trip to Astoria for a beautiful under-heard score (pretty sure it's the official touring version presented here) and for director Tom Wojtunik excellent direction (he does great work with tough shows to execute) and for the whole cast/creative contribution.

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 5/14/12 at 11:49pm

I loved this show, the score, the design (thanks for those beautiful photos), the original cast. Could they duplicate this? Not sure, but this is a gorgeous show that was savaged by most critics but had a decent run, and beloved by many theatergoers.

Bring it on!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/14/12 at 11:52pm

Heh. If I mistook it for a gun, then I'm not sure what that says about me!

[My Oh My]

Posted: 5/14/12 at 11:59pm

Wasn't the set designer's name Heidi Landesman? I'm guessing getting hitched has since changed that?

Thank you for those beautiful photographs of the original designs (love that you could see the orchestra pit!!). I saw the national tour once, which I believe was the same set used on Broadway but was later taken on tour when it closed there. I'll never forget that show. Magical and enchanting, totally surreal visual experience. And that music!

[scripps]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 12:10am

I just want to chime in and say that I saw THE SECRET GARDEN with the original cast at the St. James when I was a kid in grammar school. I remember leaning over the balcony railing watching John Cameron Mitchell sing, "Winter's on the Wing." It was one of my first Broadway shows, just magical.

Updated On: 5/15/12 at 12:10 AM

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 12:10am

I had the great fortune of playing Archie in a production of "The Secret Garden" but I do not remember anything about an attempted suicide for the character. Unless the licensed version doesn't include it which very well might be.
I still think "Where in the World" is one of the most haunting and chilling songs about grief. The orchestrations and the lyrics just flow so perfectly and create such a tension. Every night I performed it, I had to fight myself from breaking down because its so...I dont know what the word is. Overwhelming? And the flow into "How Could I Ever Know?" Is perfect.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 12:15am

"Wasn't the set designer's name Heidi Landesman? I'm guessing getting hitched has since changed that?"

I believe it is the other way around. At the time she was Heidi Landesman, wife of Rocco Landesman, but they have since divorced. I believe she has gone back to using Ettinger, which was her maiden name, as her professional name.

She was also the first female to win the Tony for best scenic design for the original production of Big River.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 1:25am

"The problem with a SECRET GARDEN revival is it would be hard to live up to memories of the original production, which was as close to musical theater perfection as one might ever get. Of course, new fans who never saw the original would fall in love with it. But anyone who saw the original would just be sitting in the theater shaking their head in dismay."

While my memories of the tour are faded, I agree it was an exquisite production. However--and it pains me to say this as I'm someone who often would happily have people revive a show in its original production--this could be said about a number of legendary productions, Follies springs most immediately to mind.

Add to that, the original production surely didn't recoup (but maybe it did on tour?). I actually remember some talk at the time about it not quite getting the reception it should because it was a show so overwhelmingly created by women--writers Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon, director Susan H Schulman, designer Heidi Landesman. Some of that is pretty silly, but it is true that it's rare to see so many women in charge of a major, big budget Broadway show (sadly), especially back then.

I had been wondering what happened to Schulman as well. It seems to me she first really got major mainstream praise for her late 80s, intimate revival of Sweeney Todd at Circle in the Square that Sondheim liked so much. I know she later did the Sound of Music revival which I paid zero attention to, and Little Women which I believe did get praise for its direction and performances but not its writing (I think she also did a lot of non Broadway stuff like the York Theater production of Merrily We Roll Along).

My Oh My, I believe they did take the exact same set on tour once it closed. Just inspired, and another reason why the London much more literal version seems to lose the magic.

I know some of Norman's later work, but as I mentioned before would love to hear the reaction to Zhivago and Lucy Simon's score from people who are fans of Secret Garden--the recent Australian production seemed to get decent notices but not much else, but I'd love to hear more stage music from her.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 11:30am

This was the first Broadway show I ever saw, so it will always hold a very special place in my heart.

I'd love to see a revival. It would be neat for McDonald to take on Lily, but she's probably too old now. Kelli O'Hara is the obvious, safe, kind of dull choice. What about Laura Benanti? She'd be wonderful.

And whomever suggested Brian D'Arcy James as Archibald...brilliant idea! I'd kill to see that! Maybe with James Barbour as Neville? Bob Cuccioli would also be fantastic in either role.

Updated On: 5/15/12 at 11:30 AM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 11:37am

At this point there are probably far more people who saw regional and community theatre productions than the one on Broadway -- I'm not sure if that whole "but the memories!!!!" argument holds up.

[Jon]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 11:39am

Besides Audra as the Ayah, the tour also featured Roger Bart as Dickon.

[cviolett]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 11:50am

Adamgreer; Benanti would be fabulous and haunting as Lily. Or how about Erin Davie?

Who would be a good choice for Dickon? I know I'd heard people say that Andrew Keenan-Bolger along with his sister as Martha would be a match made in musical theatre heaven. I just want to see a full scale revival...

I'm really sad that I am not in town to see the APAC production, or the one in White Plains right now that features a fantastic Lily, Caitlin Fischer.

Cheers,

C.

[DeNada]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 12:16pm

Laura Benanti's already played Lily in a concert version a few years ago. That production had Steven Pasquale, Will Chase, Celia Keenan-Bolger and Michael Arden - pretty cool casting all round. There are clips on the Tube of You of all their performances, I believe.

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 12:10am

My local theater is doing this show this November and we almost didn't get the rights. Sam French told us the show is going on restriction because of a tour that is going out. Anyone know about this tour?!? And add me to the list of people that would love to see the Keenan-Bolger siblings play Dickon and Martha!!! And I'd love to see Raul Esparza as Archie with Brian d'Arcy James as Neville!!!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 9:36am

That concert was back in 2009 and it was for World AIDS Day. Sounded great: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/96585-Pasquale-Chase-Benanti-Arden-Von-Essen-Keenan-Bolger-and-Gettelfinger-Enter-The-Secret-Garden-Dec-5

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 9:56am

The concert was in 2005, not 2009. I was there. Benanti was in glorious voice. She'd be my absolute first choice to play Lily in a revival still. Pasquale was glued to his script (he might have been a last minute replacement) but he sounded amazing, as did Michael Arden as Dickon.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 10:02am

Whoops. Thanks!

Didn't Pasquale replace Terrence Mann?

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 10:06am

Mann was supposed to play Neville. Will Chase replaced him.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 10:10am

I'm not exactly sure how a revival of THE SECRET GARDEN would fare in a post-Disney Broadway. It was one of the last 'family' shows in a pre-family friendly New York, and as such the original production was actually fairly dark and emotionally distant.

All the things people have mentioned here already about the original - the cast, the score, the direction, the design are truly stunning, but audiences (despite a fairly long run) never especially warmed to it.

The London revisal was an attempt to make the musical more accessible; but I agree lost a lot of the psychological underpinning that made the original haunting.

I think this would actually be a good show for the Roundabout. I don't see it being especially commercially viable, though I think critics this time around would be more appreciative of the material.

Eric - the touring production was mostly the same but it didn't have the double turn table of the New York staging.

The original production was announced to be taped for PBS. Its a shame that didn't happen.

Updated On: 5/16/12 at 10:10 AM

[matineeidol2013]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 4:34pm

Susan Schulman is currently a professor at Penn State University. She teaches a few classes for their BFA Musical theatre program, and she is the head of their MFA Program in Directing for Musical Theatre, the only program of its kind in the country. Schulman and Michael Lichtefeld are re-mounting their Broadway production of "Sweeney Todd" at Penn State in October.

[mikey2573]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 5:51pm

"I had the great fortune of playing Archie in a production of "The Secret Garden" but I do not remember anything about an attempted suicide for the character."

It is mentioned several times in the lyric of songs. During the Quartet that opens Act 2 Archie tells of walking through the gardens and seeing Lily and other ghosts in the garden. He then sings:
"Then I longed to join them
Know the peace they feel,
Their journey done."

And it is basically what "Where In THe World/How Could I Ever Know?" are all about.
Archie sings:
"Why did you have to want me?
Won't you let me put my life behind me?
How in hte world can I live
Without your love?
WHy on the earth
Should I stay now that you are gone?"

The entire song is Archie contemplating suicide until Lily's spirit comes in and convinces him to keep living for the sake of their child.
"How can I say to go on without me?
How when I know you still need me so?"

"All I need is there in the Garden,
All I would ask is care for the child
Of our love."

I am not sure how else that song can be interpreted except that Archie is contemplating suicide and Lily convinces him to live on for the sake of Colin.

[cviolett]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 6:50pm

Michael Bennett, Roundabout is a great idea! I hadn't thought about a non-profit before. How about Lincoln Center? Bartlett Sher at the helm in the Beaumont? Think of the beauty that would be created there!

Cheers,

C.

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 7:21pm

Wow, I didn't know that the reading in 2005 was on You Tube, but it appears it's almost all there! I love Will Chase so I'm excited to see this!

[greensgreens]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 9:13pm

Count me among those who loved Secret Garden, although I only got to see the tour (but I didn't know I had seen Audra and Roger before they hit the big time). I seem to recall that all the lovely garden drops were laminated and rolled up though to be taken from city to city. Is that correct? And perhaps more importantly, was that the way it was done on B'way? Just curious...