Ahmanson's Broadway-Aimed THE SECRET GARDEN - Reviews & News Thread — Page 3

JasonC3 said: ""The Secret Garden was the last great romantic musical (emphasis added), the last musical with every number, ballad or uptune to be steeped in a glorious type of melody we never hear anymore."


Light in the Piazza????

Exactly, Piazza, Passion (depending on your definition of romantic...)

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "JasonC3 said: ""The Secret Garden was the last great romantic musical (emphasis added), the last musical with every number, ballad or uptune to be steeped in a glorious type of melody we never hear anymore."


Light in the Piazza????"

Would have been nice if you had left in the "Hmm" that came after the quoted excerpt from my post since it indicates my skepticism about the claim that another poster offered, but in your post looks like it came from me.

You said the orchestra sounds thin. An 11-12 piece orchestra can sound fuller with the proper sound design. The Ahmanson, however, is notorious for its bad acoustics.

Yes, the score for The Secret Garden is beautiful, but the book is pretty weak. I loved the novel when I was a child. It is about two children, Mary and Colin, who are 10 years old who are the focus of story. Norman and Simon made a major mistake of focusing the musical on the adults. They built up the character Dr. Craven. In the novel,

"Dr. Craven is a cousin of Archibald Craven and serves as Colin Craven's doctor. Dr. Craven is shown as not always having the most integrity in trying to help Colin heal, prioritizing his own concerns of inheriting Archibald's estate over helping the child recover from illness. By the end of the story, however, Dr. Craven seems genuinely pleased to see Colin overcoming his sickness."

In the musical, the scenes in India go on and on, so it takes forever to finally introduce Mary who is a secondary character.

No amount of fixing will make the show better. When the show was running on Broadway. Forbidden Broadway did a parody, "The Secret Deodorant Garden."

"Yes, the score for The Secret Garden is beautiful, but the book is pretty weak."

For the record, the original production of THE SECRET GARDEN won three Tony Awards, one of which was for Best Book of a Musical (Marsha Norman).

"In the musical, the scenes in India go on and on,"

In the actor's edition of the script for THE SECRET GARDEN, the India scenes are the first four pages. By page 5 we are at a train station in Yorkshire.

A Director said: "...In the musical, the scenes in India go on and on, so it takes forever to finally introduce Mary who is a secondary character.

No amount of fixing will make the show better. When the show was running on Broadway. Forbidden Broadway did a parody, "The Secret Deodorant Garden.""

With all due respect, this comment left me scratching my head a bit. Watching the ....archival footage of the OBC available in certain places, the India scene begins at time 2:03, with Mary appearing some 30 seconds later. Mary is on stage, singing, and an integral part of this prologue, which concludes 4 minutes and 19 seconds later -- and we shortly thereafter are out of India.

I'm truly not pointing this out as any type of "gotcha" moment, but it certainly seems that Mary is not only an important and active part of this opening, but the "India scene" informs crucial aspects of the rest of show -- how Mary came to be in her Uncle's estate, the life she used to live, who all of these ghosts that haunt the rest of the story are (family members and friends of the family that died of cholera), and maybe most importantly, how Mary came to be Mary.

I don't disagree that it's not a perfect book (of a musical), but I can't find fault with this section.

Updated On: 2/27/23 at 01:11 AM

I was blown away by the pictures I've seen of the set. It's stunning!! I hope it has life after this production

bk said: "I believe this review accurately captures what's going on.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Review-THE-SECRET-GARDEN-at-Ahmanson-Theatre-20230227?fbclid=IwAR2TfczcMr5lxLS8MUvHltdUet-J9Fe2opWUPOJSLcl0nnXrv_PTGKWUWZg"

The show is of its time and I don't see a directorial vision that would make this show a commercial success on Broadway.

I might have cultural blind spots, but I thought “Come Spirit Come Charm” wasn’t “cringe” at all, but in fact a high point of the show, where Mary moves in a distinctly Indian way leading the company in a choreographed dance to bring her Aya’s spirits into play in the garden. I thought that sequence was a great new idea for the show.

Updated On: 2/27/23 at 08:55 PM

Center Theatre Group posted this video of Julia Lester singing "Hold On":

https://fb.watch/j6mRU6m1oP/

Dan6 said: "Center Theatre Group posted this video of Julia Lester singing "Hold On":

https://fb.watch/j6mRU6m1oP/"

She sounds terrific, but WHY are we doing The Secret Garden with such a minuscule orchestra?!? Far and away the best part of the show is the music, and it feels like we’re getting shortchanged. I hope it sounds fuller in person.

I've seen the show twice, and saw the Mary alternate, Sadie Reynolds perform on Sunday, 3/5. I found her Mary to be more likeable and her voice to be better than the main Mary (who performs on the weekdays). The other Mary alternate (Ava?), based on the reels she posted on her Instagram has an amazing singing voice. Not sure how her acting is, but her singing voice would have been on par with the adult principals.

My parents are huge Phantom fans, so I took them to see the show for my mom's birthday. The talent of the adult principals goes without saying. It's rare to get a cast with four cast members who have been in Phantom on Broadway (Sierra Boggess, Ali Ewoldt, Derrick Davis, and Aaron Lazar), and Julie Lester, who steals the show with Hold On, and John Michael Lyles were outstanding. My parents were disappointed to not hear the adults sing more, which is understandable. I share that disappointment with them. I can hear them sing all day.

My biggest gripe is that after watching videos of original Broadway production on YouTube is that the staging and set design left a lot to be desired. The set design felt quite simplistic, which i think a few others on this board already mentioned. While the ribbon/swirl worked in the storm sequences, I found it distracting and limiting the use of the full stage. In the day and age where you see Elsa easily transform the stage into her ice castle, it would have been neat to see a similar effect done to make the garden bloom.

I also missed the choreography and interaction between Lily and Archibald in A Girl in the Valley and How Could I Ever Know from the OBC videos. A Girl in the Valley feels a bit more like a playful flashback in part due to Lily's costume change, while in the OBC it feels like both Lily and Archibald are both reminiscing what it would be like to dance with each other again. For How Could I Ever Know, seeing Lily comfort Archie makes the scene. The love she has for him becomes palpable.

I hope the show does make it to Broadway, but there is definitely some room for improvement. I also could just be biased. As much as I like Sierra Boggess, Rebecca Luker will always be Lily to me.