THE SECRET GARDEN to return to Broadway

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:21am

YES YES YES 

http://www.playbill.com/article/broadway-revival-of-the-secret-garden-is-in-the-works

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:23am

Those that I know who saw the show in DC thought it needed a lot of work and questioned a lot of the cuts in the material. I'm still not sure this show is commercially viable but I do love it so I'd love to see it revived - if its really a production worthy of coming in.

[Kad]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:23am

This is one of those "I'll believe it when it starts performances" situations.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:23am

I'm dying to see it in DC, but I can't afford it right now.

[AC126748]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:25am

Kad said: "This is one of those "I'll believe it when it starts performances" situations.

 

"

Thinking the exact same thing. More likely, they're using this announcement to shop the production around to multiple regional theaters as a "pre-Broadway engagement." The article says as much.

Updated On: 1/6/17 at 10:25 AM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:27am

QueenAlice said: "Those that I know who saw the show in DC thought it needed a lot of work and questioned a lot of the cuts in the material. I'm still not sure this show is commercially viable but I do love it so I'd love to see it revived - if its really a production worthy of coming in."
 

I saw it in DC. I enjoyed it a lot. I didn't think it needed a lot of work, nor did I question the cuts. There weren't that many.

I'd suspected this was happening since the original creative team was the one working on the cuts. We'll see what format it ends up in in Seattle!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:28am

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "I'm dying to see it in DC, but I can't afford it right now."

It closed on New Year's Eve.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:29am

Sounds more like a "pre-Broadway tour" to me with his remark about it playing multiple regional theaters.  

I'll believe this when I see it. That being said, I'd love to hear James Barbour sing this score. 

Updated On: 1/6/17 at 10:29 AM

[barcelona20]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:30am

ZZZZZZZ boring. Who really needs a revival on Broadway?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:32am

barcelona20 said: "ZZZZZZZ boring. Who really needs a revival on Broadway?"

You tell us, edgelord.

[broadwayguy91]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:36am

has there ever been a straight play closely based on the original novel? I've read through the liberetto and listened to the OBC cast recording and find it so hideously overbloated with all the side characters and the "love triangle" with the ghost of Lily etc. lol. 

(I do like the songs, don't get me wrong. but I find the added plotlines to be utter filler / bloat that it makes it more like a fanfiction of sorts.) #puristtalking

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:38am

Thanks Lizzie for your report. I saw the truncated production years back at the RSC (which the original creative team also worked to re-tool) and thought the cuts there were disastrous. So I guess I am wary.  I hated hearing that "Round Shouldered Man" was cut and I heard that there were songs,like "Fine White Horse" - that were cut in rehearsals and reinstated only after the cast protested.

I don't always trust writers to "improve" their shows when they re-visit them and change them significantly. I hated the changes Jason Robert Brown put into PARADE and I don't really think the original script and score of THE SECRET GARDEN needs changing.  But that's just me

Updated On: 1/6/17 at 10:38 AM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:46am

I've seen various productions of The Secret Garden (a really good community theatre near my hometown, Astoria Performing Arts Center, Lincoln Center Concert, NYU, Shakespeare/5th Avenue) and enjoyed all of them for various reasons. I already knew going in that this production had edits, but none of them really bothered me all that much. 

The two dialogue changes that stuck out for me (for better or for worse) were that Mrs. Medlock explicitly tells Mary in the train on the way to the Manor that Lily died falling out of a tree (usually it's "When she died..." "How did she die?" "...it made him worse than ever) and they cut the line from Neville to the lady from the boarding school about keeping all the scenery outdoors. They also expended on an existing song to sort of give Neville a solo, and various other small edits and directorial changes made Neville more sympathetic and less "the bad guy."

[Kad]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:49am

The recent Lincoln Center concert really made me realize how mediocre the material is, aside from a few standout songs, and how dependent it is on production value. The show is really a relic from the 80s epic, public domain sourced, soaring emotional aria-filled, large production musical era.

I can't see a full-scale commercial revival being particularly viable in this day and age.

[mpkie]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:52am

Since everyone raved about SECRET GARDEN, I jumped on the chance to see the Secret Garden concert back in Feb 2016. I found it to be confusing and hard to follow since there were no staging elements. Also I was in a terrible seat with bad sound, which did not help. Money not well spent. I couldn't figure out who was who, and who was dead or alive, the concept of that didn't even occur to me naturally! A stranger kindly explained the plot to me on the bathroom line! 

I decided to started reading the book for the first time shortly after that. It's an enjoyable light read that I have been doing on and off. It's technically a book for kids, right? I feel like I've been reading it for forever and still haven't completed it though!

But what the book did make me realize is there is so much time that passes and physical/mental change occurring in the characters that I couldn't pick up at all during the concert.

Would be nice to revisit the show with full staging if it does come back to Bway (assuming it is a good one?!).

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:53am

I largely agree Kad, though I have a certain nostalgic fondness for that brand of musicals having lived through that era.  I don't know if its really true or not, but there has always been a rumour surrounding this show that Jeanine Tesori ghost wrote some of the music for THE SECRET GARDEN - or at the very least took a lot of Lucy Simon's musical ideas and 'enhanced' them into fully fledged musical pieces.  

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:54am

I agree that the Lincoln Concert was NOT a good entry-level introduction to the show. It was great as a celebration of it and for the nostalgia factor, but I agree if you didn't know much about it, you'd have been lost.

Not to mention the love triangle isn't in the book.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 10:56am

This has been the plan with the STC production since long before it was announced. Not sure if it will make it. 

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 11:32am

LizzieCurry said: "disneybroadwayfan22 said: "I'm dying to see it in DC, but I can't afford it right now."

It closed on New Year's Eve."

It extended and closes this Sunday (the 8th). I'm in the midst of booking a ticket for this weekend. They have a Under 35 ticket option you can find more information on their website. Tickets are $25.

 

Updated On: 1/6/17 at 11:32 AM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 11:41am

D'oh!

Yeah, you should go. When I went on a Saturday in mid-December, the theatre was definitely not sold out. May not bode well for them, but there ya go.

[Kad]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 11:57am

QueenAlice said: "I largely agree Kad, though I have a certain nostalgic fondness for that brand of musicals having lived through that era.  I don't know if its really true or not, but there has always been a rumour surrounding this show that Jeanine Tesori ghost wrote some of the music for THE SECRET GARDEN - or at the very least took a lot of Lucy Simon's musical ideas and 'enhanced' them into fully fledged musical pieces.  "

I've never heard that rumor! It wouldn't surprise me to learn that someone, Tesori or otherwise, was involved in the score.

 

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 12:06pm

Shout out to my friend for letting me know about the Under 35 discount from Shakespeare Theater! Just snagged a $25 ticket for awesome seating for closing night!

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 12:07pm

I think what gives the rumour some credence is that Lucy Simon hasn't since written anything for the theatre remotely approaching her best work in THE SECRET GARDEN.  The score to DR. ZHIVAGO actually feels like it was written by someone with ....well, musical ideas that needed help to be fully realized.

[broadwayboy222]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 12:29pm

This is actually more of something I'd LOVE to see Bart Sher and LCT tackle. I can't imagine how glorious the score would sound with a huge orchestra in the Vivian Beaumont. 

I also have a dream cast as well: 

Nathaniel Hackmann as Archie Craven
Paul Nolan as Neville Craven
Jessica Vosk as Martha
Sierra Boggess as Lily
Betsy Morgan as Rose
Ben Platt as Dickon
Sydney Lucas as Mary
Anthony Rosenthal as Colin
Josh Young as Albert
Quentin Darrington as Major Holmes

I know LCT wouldn't be doing this revival that appears to be in the works, but it's nice to dream. ??

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 1/6/17 at 12:54pm

Bartlett Sher would likely do a wonderful job with the show. Years back when it was still in operation, NY City Opera apparently tossed around the idea of doing it. In some ways, an opera company that stages the occasional Broadway musical would be the ideal presenter of this show.