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I suppose many little girls will thank heavens for the chance of seeing The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett's adored Edwardian classic for pre-teenagers, transformed into a blooming musical.
But I am not with them. This 1991 Broadway show by Marsha Mason and Lucy Simon, now performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, runs rough-shod through The Secret Garden. It strips away the book's sense of mystery and subtleties. It plants in its place a weeping melodrama that bursts out in a riot of forgettable tunes, unexceptional songs and dreary dance routines.
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There are, however, two terrific, self-possessed child-stars, Natalie Morgan and Luke Newberry, remarkable for their vocal and acting powers, who surely inspired last night's standing ovation. This duo, together with Philip Quast as an anguished widower, are the production's saving grace, but they cannot save enough.
© Associated Newspapers Ltd.
