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Adrian Noble has created a richly textured musical with moments of both emotional intensity and laughable tweeness. But a talented cast and occasionally soaring score make this an enjoyable, unchallenging evening out.
Based on the classic children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Masha Norman (book and lyrics) and Lucy Simon (music) have opened out the story to achieve a much darker theme where the ghosts of the past are far more intrinsically tied up with the present.
Mary Lennox is still the precocious orphaned child who manages, through her own journey of self-discovery, to reawaken not only the secret garden but the lives of her new family as well. But more interestingly, the story now includes the emotional and obsessive relationship between her uncle Archibald Craven and his dead wife Lily. Suddenly, the themes of rebirth and death are being faced on a more personal level.
The production has made much of the working classes of early twentieth century Britain. There's a chorus of servants and gardeners who litter the show with their fake, chirpy cockney exuberance. This works rather well in the interior scenes as a sense of household life and hierarchy is achieved, but as soon as they start their earthy dancing it all goes horribly wrong.
The endlessly extended ‘colourful' dance breaks are completely unnecessary and distracting. They cheapen the overall product into a cod, foot-stamping hoedown that would look more at home on the stages of Disneyland than your local village square.
Designer Anthony Ward has produced an unmagical set that fails to blossom. His bleak, moving garden panels make the story's central area look like a frosted glass factory, and a couple of green vines and red roses is hardly a transformation into a spring paradise.
What holds the show together is the immensely talented cast. With conviction and passion they overcome the weak material to achieve a surprisingly convincing whole. Philip Quast's powerful Archibald Craven is magnificent in his brooding self-absorption. Craig Purnell and Linzi Hateley bring a perky zest to their respective roles of Dickon and Martha, and successfully make the twee Yorkshire dialogue and unsophisticated songs their own. I've now seen two of the three pairs of children cast and both were magnificent, if very different.
A couple of absolutely beautiful songs also make the show worth seeing. Simon's music is a mix of soaring ballads for the society characters and upbeat country songs for the servants and gardeners. The ballads work best, with ‘Lily's Eyes' and ‘How Could I Ever Know' touching examples of her emotional depth.
The Secret Garden is ultimately a flawed piece of musical theatre, but the cast's assured energy and musical charm make this worth the price of a ticket. Will you discover the secret?
