The Secret Garden 2016 Concert Presentation — Page 8

I'm just curious in what ways this director justified that claim, because it seems completely nonsensical to me. I adore the show, but in 1991 it was easily overshadowed by Miss Saigon. It lost Best Musical to The Will Rogers Follies and failed to even get a nomination in several important categories (such as Direction and Choreography). I just can't even fathom what this director said to justify that claim.

I'm planning to. Posting it just in case.

Source, for those interested: https://www.instagram.com/p/BAnsj27SvWq/?taken-by=fintheaterco

I'm excited to attend tonight's performance. This show was the first Broadway show I ever saw, and I can't wait to return to it. Can someone who was there last week please provide the running time?

Just got back. Gosh, I really wish they could do concerts like these more than once a year.

Orchestra was tremendous, chorus sounded glorious, and there was a tremendous amount of love in the atmosphere.

The great:

Sierra Boggess (who sounded absolutely glorious and was the highlight for me), Sydney Lucas (proving again what an incredible talent she is), Daisy Eagan (everything you would have hoped and more, including extremely visceral emotional response to hold on and the finale), Ben Platt, Oscar Williams, Jere Shea (wish he'd come back !!), seeing Barbara Rosenblatt repriese her role, Josh Young (sounded great), and Ramin's acting

The not as great: Ramin's singing, and Cheyenne Jackson (a fine performer, but somewhat miscast in this role)

I was really overcome with emotion multiple times, and what a treat to hear this score player by such a lush, full orchestra.

Gosh I wish I could be there for this. I don't recall any of these concerts leading to a revival, but I think The Secret Garden needs to come back to broadway.

I'm confused ( which doesn't take much ) is there two different concert staging of the secret garden this year?

I loved this so much. The Secret Garden has been one of my favorite scores for many years, but I've never seen it performed. The highlight of the evening for me was getting to see Daisy Eagan sing "Hold On" to Sydney Lucas, and she was so overcome with emotion by the end that after the song was over she just held Sydney for a while as the audience roared. Ben Platt and Josh Young were the other standouts for me, Josh sounded absolutely beautiful and Ben also sounded gorgeous and was charming and sweet as Dickon. Sydney was as wonderful as one would expect her to be, she is really an astounding talent with a powerful stage presence. I agree with what others have said about Cheyenne Jackson; he wasn't bad, but he seemed a little out of place in the role. His voice is beautiful as ever though. Sierra Boggess also sounded amazing, it's always a treat to hear true soprano music.

I've seen all 4 of the MCP concerts and all of them have been excellent. I know none of them have led to a revival of the material, but I would love for The Secret Garden to come back.

Could this production be eligible for Drama Desks?

I've never been a huge fan of his to begin with, but I think his voice works best on straight-toned higher range music. I sat super close tonight and he barely opened his mouth when he sang, which was somewhat bizarre. Archie needs to have a clear, clean sound (which is why I love Steven Pasquale's performance so much from the 2005 concert, and the versatility and power of Mandy Patinkin's voice in the original), and I feel like Ramin's voice can often be a bit too strident/forceful or guttural, especially when he changes from straight tone to vibrato. The "polite" applause he received after "Race you to the top of the morning" was sort of indicative of this for me. He performed it beautifully, but vocally it just wasn't "pretty."

That being said, i thought his acting performance of Archie was pretty spot on and entirely convincing.

I was able to attend tonight and I was honestly blown away-- I am a fan of TSG so I knew I'd like it, but wasn't expecting to be as touched and impressed as I was. It was such a lush, moving production -- the bits of staging they did were perfect. I thought the cast was uniformly strong. I am a fan of Ramin Karimloo, and I thought he did a great job both with the singing and acting. Sydney Lucas anchored the show so amazingly, and I thought she captured Mary's growth so well. Two other standouts for me were Ben Platt (I was actually crying when he and Sydney did 'Wick'- and I don't think that's ever made me cry before) and Josh Young, sounding great and giving a touching performance in a smaller role. All in all, very impressed!!

Echoing the request for the running time, please! I'm seeing it tonight and catching a bus back home afterwards, and am trying to figure out how close I'm going to cut it. So, posting the running time would be super helpful! Thank you!