Posted: 2/22/16 at 8:53am
araminta18 said: "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!
"
It ended between 10:40 and 10:45 Such a great performance!
Posted: 2/22/16 at 9:17am
I saw this last night too and it was magical on so many levels. I've been obsessed with the score for years but never had the chance to see it, so I had pretty high expectations, but it was everything I could have ever hoped for.
The cast were all amazing, and the sound was phenomenal with the full orchestra and that was huge choir who did a beautiful job. I Heard Someone Crying gave me so many chills. And it was so awesome to also see and hear the audience reaction, there was so much appreciation there last night, many applause just wouldn't die down and during the curtain call (they didn't rehearse this though, did they? Haha, nobody knew where to go) it was just wave after wave of love flooding towards the stage.
Special moments were also DaisyEagan's first entrance as Martha, her first line being "Hello, Mary Lennox", and as others have already pointed out, "Hold On" when she had her moment and got totally chocked up.
I loved Sierra, it was so great to see her use her fantastic legit soprano (I've only seen her live in It Shoulda Been You & School of Rock). Sydney Lucas did a fantastic job. I personally loved Cheyenne Jackson (though I was a bit too far away to really judge acting, mainly going of his voice) and am a little conflicted about Ramin. He had some beautiful moments but also some where I didn't quite like his voice, esp compared to Mandi Patinkin. Didn't love Ben Platt as Dickon for some reason...
However this is all nitpicking on a very high level, I had the best time, this is definitely going down as one of my favorite nights of theater.
I do hope it will go to Broadway, it hasn't been done so I think it's time and just going of the fact that they did 2 production this year, and both very successful, there seems to be demand for it. Of course the sound wouldn't be nearly as magnificent as last night, but the score is wonderful regardless and I would also be really interested to see what they would do with set design. There are so many more opportunities now than 1991.
Posted: 2/22/16 at 9:23am
Ramin's incredible vocals stole the show in my opinion, but everyone was remarkable. Sydney Lucas owned the stage.
Posted: 2/22/16 at 9:36am
I saw this last night too and was soooo excited! The Secret Garden was the first musical I ever saw on Broadway back in late summer 1991 when my family visited NYC. My two favorite songs were Wick and Lily's Eyes. Of all the cast, the one that impressed me the most was Cheyenne Jackson. His duet with Karimloo was simply remarkable though I agree with the other poster that I also preferred Mandy Patinkin's voice for Archie's role. Both were great though! Hopefully there was a recording.
Sadly I can't go tonight to see this but to those who are going, have a great time! We sat in the second tier and were able to see Lin-Manuel Miranda in the audience. We tried looking for John Cameron Mitchell and Mandy Patinkin but didn't see them.
Posted: 2/22/16 at 10:09am
Oh yea, lots of stars! We saw Lin at the BO picking up tickets, and then from your 2nd tier seats spotted Jake & Maggie Gyllenhaal and Neil Patrick Harris & David Burka during intermission.
Posted: 2/22/16 at 11:56am
Thanks for the running time update. At least I know that gives me time to get to Penn Station and still have the last train as a backup.
Posted: 2/22/16 at 1:21pm
Just watched the video clips on TheatreMania
http://www.theatermania.com/video/footage-from-the-secret-garden-starring-sydney-luc_961.html
Did they have body mics for all main actors? From the video it looks like they did. If so, I think that's a smart decision. I was at Parade last year and I thought the mic stands seemed a bit limiting for the actors onstage, plus they had major problems remembering to turn on the right mics at the right time. Hopefully it was better for Secret Garden.
I'm really bummed that I'm missing this, but I'm glad to hear it was so well-done. I'd LOVE to see a Broadway revival of this musical.
Posted: 2/22/16 at 2:33pm
Yes everyone had a body mic which is a better decision. I saw Parade last year also so immediately I realized that there was no stand mic. I truly enjoyed this concert and Sydney Had a great presence as Mary. Both Sierra and Ramin were off the book most of the time which was ideal. While Philip Quast is my definitive Dr Craven, I LOVED Liily's Eyes tremendously. Ben was good but he didn't own the stage as Sydney did.
Btw the program said next year's concert will be on 2/19/17 but didn't say the show. Last year they already announced that they'd do TSG for 2016 in Parade program/insert.
Posted: 2/22/16 at 2:41pm
Has anybody seen both of this year's Secret Garden concerts? I'd love to hear comments about the differences and also which actors you'd pick if you were casting one concert from both casts.
It would have been worth a trip to NYC for me if Max von Essen and Ramin Karimloo had been in the same concert just to hear them sing Lily's Eyes.
Posted: 2/22/16 at 3:00pm
I saw them both and thought they were both excellent, for very different reasons. Seeing and hearing Rebecca Luker sing the score was heavenly, and I did really like the cast of the Lortel concert. Last night's production was so much grander, and that enormous chorus sounded just incredible. Last night's cast was also fantastic, although I don't get the same warmth from Sierra Boggess as I do from Rebecca Luker.
I was reflecting on both concerts last night, and thought that, in many ways, Courtney Wolfson was a better Martha than Daisy Eagan, going solely on Wolfson's voice and the real gregarious warmth I thought she had on stage. But the emotion Eagan showed all night, especially in Hold On, blew Wolfson away.
Posted: 2/22/16 at 6:19pm
Last year they had a slip in the program that announced The Secret Garden as this year's concert. Did they announce next years?
Posted: 2/22/16 at 7:48pm
No, just a date for next year.
Updated On: 2/22/16 at 07:48 PM
Posted: 2/22/16 at 7:52pm
Is it being taped for PBS?
Posted: 2/23/16 at 12:01am
I was there tonight and was misty-eyed to full on sobbing basically the entire night. It was one of those magically evenings that I will truly treasure for a long time coming and this concert reminded me how much we are in need of a full scale revival on Broadway ASAP. I know the OBCR inside out and I worried that I might have trouble checking those voices at the door, but my fears were instantly assuaged and I was able to be in the moment rather than stuck in compare and contrast land all night.
Sydney Lucas was fricking perfection. She maintained a consistent accent better than 3/4 of the adult actors I've seen attempt the same feat and she has better timing than many who've been at it a lot longer than she has. She got so many laughs and played all of Mary's many potentially off-putting tantrums well. When Mary takes the "Come a mild day/Come a warm rain" section of Wick there was so much passion and verve that instead of the smile that the song usually engenders I had to reach for the tissues.
Sierra performed more beautifully this evening than I've ever heard her sing before. I hope she gravitates towards more legit roles like this in the future (not that many people are writing legit soprano roles nowadays, but that's another story). Ramin and Cheyenne were glorious on Lily's Eyes; the former killed all of his big numbers and how! More tears!
It was a treat to see Egan as Martha even if the accent and acting weren't quite as strong as they could haven't been. Still, as others have noted, the emotion was there and her voice is strong. Hold On packed a wallop.
That 200 voice choir really is impressive and allows you to hear the score like you never will again. Whenever they would start ooo-ing and aah-ing to that damn "Come to my Garden" theme I started to lose it again.
I feel like The Secret Garden acted as a spiritual cleanse for me and any stresses in my life have momentarily melted away. I don't care what show they decide to do next year. They've won my trust and I'll be there no matter what.
Posted: 2/23/16 at 12:21am
Odie2 said: "Is it being taped for PBS? "
No. This is being put on by Manhattan Concert Productions, who are just using Lincoln Center as a venue. The ones that get filmed by PBS are the concerts produced by Lincoln Center (at least I believe that's how it works). So far they have yet to film any of the MCP shows for television.
Posted: 2/23/16 at 12:26am
All the pain I'm feeling from being in my limited-view seat is worth it. This was AMAZING.
Posted: 2/23/16 at 1:28am
I saw it Monday night and it was one of the most absolutely beautiful nights I have ever spent in the theater. Magnificent everything and everyone. I will never forget it.
Posted: 2/23/16 at 1:59am
So underwhelmed from my third-tier partial view seat, considering I had to drop a Benji for it. God I am never going back here again if I am not sitting in the first few rows of orchestra. I didn't know the score or plot nor most of the characters, just some very high level basics, and wanted to be swept up and away by the magic of witnessing it live for the first time, but that all backfired. All the pretty but unintelligible music and singing made me drowsy. Missed all the jokes, hard to understand what was going on, as the dialogue was all muffled like they were speaking out of MTA subway mics. I desperately wanted some subtitles. Guess I should have studied. People next to me were trying to google the plot at intermission to see what was going on, lol.
Still, from what I can um... intuit, it seemed like a lovely performance. I have no complaints about the cast. It was lovely to see so many talented stars on one stage.
Posted: 2/23/16 at 7:54am
I just watched the video. PUT. THIS. BACK. ON. BROADWAY. NOW.
Posted: 2/23/16 at 8:24am
mpkie: That's interesting becaase I was wondering how this concert would present itself to a newbie! I know the show VERY well and I went with a friend who'd seen it once before many years ago -- she said the concert was basically made for people who already knew it. And she's right; they didn't bother to explain anything. I don't really fault you, though. I heard people in the restroom explaining the plot to people but others talking about it on a very detailed level. This concert definitely attracted all sorts.
Posted: 2/23/16 at 10:13am
I'd never seen or heard the show before, but based on word of mouth from a lot of friends I decided to give it a shot.
Overall, a really interesting production with some fantastic vocals. I guess I'd expected a more Gothic aspect of the story, but even going in blind it was pretty easy to follow. A wonderful night listening to some wonderful performers.
Posted: 2/23/16 at 10:17am
I knew nothing about the story, but I found it easy to follow. Thought they did a great job getting the facts out. Just shows this is all subjective.
Also, thought the performances were great. Really happy I went.
Posted: 2/23/16 at 10:17am
LizzieCurry said: "the concert was basically made for people who already knew it. And she's right; they didn't bother to explain anything."
How so? Did they only perform the songs and not the scenes? I seem to recall in Parade they performed the full thing, or if not the full thing, enough of the book to set up the songs.
Posted: 2/23/16 at 10:19am
No, it was the entire show, but in a concert setting, it's hard to more easily communicate who's a ghost, etc... Also, I'm not sure if there was a synopsis in the playbill.
I also meant to mention that a couple of times, either a performer came in late or their mic wasn't turned on for the first half of a word of their line, which may not have helped.
