Secret Garden Reviews

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 2:45am

I'm writing a paper about the musical The Secret Garden. (a favorite of mine) I was shocked by Ben Brantley's review of the original production and the performances.
Was his similar to other reviews or was it Brantley being Brantley?

[blaxx]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 3:08am

I don't think Brantley is as unfair as many seem to think around here. It could be worse, like Liz Smith - giving rave reviews to pretty much every show on earth.

Some will remember better than I do, but I'm sure the reviews were mixed - I did see the original, and I agree with some opinions about how dark and heavy it seemed.

[sanda]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 9:11am

I don't think it's Brantley who reviewed it in NYT. It was Frank Rich.

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 11:30am

It still was a pretty harsh review.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 11:56am

I saw the original production and the reviews seemed about right on. I personally loved it, but subsequent productions I've seen have exposed how dark and plodding and overly intense the material really is. Heidi Ettinger's designs really lightened it up, but Patinkin and Westenberg were so over the top in their bitter melancholy that they overshadowed much of the charm and magic in the story. Thankfully young Daisy Egan just charmed the pants off the audience every time she came onstage. Still, it was not very well received, and audience members around me seemed to feel that it was just trying too hard.

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:07pm

I too saw the original production. While the score and the design were gorgeous, most of us left the theatre that night with a raised eyebrow...feeling like we didn't really "get it."

Oddly, most of the regional/community theatre productions I've seen seem to have made much more sense, and been far more enoyable overall.

[D2]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:08pm

The original reviews were somewhat mixed, and the authors did some reworking early on. I saw the show the first weekend after it had opened, and then again about a month later, and it had been changed quite a bit. The storytelling had been clarified, the ghosts were less obtrusive than they had been and it all worked much more smoothly. Mandy Patinkin left the show relatively quickly, and was replaced by Howard McGillan. With McGillan the show was much lighter, less intense, and there was a palpable, heart-breaking connection between him and Rebecca Luker. She was glorious throughout the run, and gave the show whatever heart it had.

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:10pm

Good point. I saw McGillin.

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:13pm

I did a production of the show last summer. I was Major Holmes and the music is so heart-breaking and haunting and the way that the ghosts from Mary's past end the first act during the final Storm is just so gorgeous.

My production had the version done on the national tour. They made changes to the Bway version after they launched the national tour: thats why the cast recording is different than the national tour.

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:15pm

I was in a production about 10 years ago and played Albert Lennox. Glorious music -- it's definitely a singer's show.