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Musicals based on well-loved literary works tend to dilute or distort them, and The Secret Garden (book and lyrics by Marsha Norman, music by Lucy Simon) is no exception. It gives the story an adult slant, and it is strongly tinged with the ethos of counselling and therapy - which helped make it a big success when it was first seen in New York 10 years ago. But this kind of thing comes with the territory. Does it really depart much further from the spirit of Frances Hodgson Burnett than Oliver!, say, departs from the spirit of Oliver Twist?
That doesn't mean that it is as good a musical as Oliver! It's tunes are less catchy; some of its scenes and characters are more corny (or less effectively corny); it makes the tactical mistake of letting the ghosts of the dead parents appear on stage and even sing. Yet it works. At its best, it works very well indeed, and it is more pleasant to dwell on its virtues - or those of Adrian Noble's RSC production, which opened at Stratford last November and has now transferred to the Aldwych Theatre.
The children, despite all the changes, remain at the heart of the show, and the juveniles who played them on the evening I saw it - Natalie Morgan as spoiled, petulant Mary, Eddie Brown as crippled, or apparently crippled, Colin - were exceptionally good. (No doubt the juveniles who alternate with them are too). You enter into their sorrows and their sense of wonder, Mary's especially; you understand their tantrums and their stubbornness; at the big emotional moments it is hard to hold back a few tears.
The best of the adults also make a strong impression. Philip Quast is in fine voice as Mary's tragic uncle; Freddie Davies's wizened, stumpy, bowler-hatted gardener is just right. As Martha, the good-hearted Yorkshire maid, Linzi Hateley breathes life and warmth into a cliche, while Craig Purnell cuts an attractive figure as her bird-befriending, woodland-haunting bother.
Other assets are Gillian Lynne's energetic dance routines and Anthony Ward's evocative designs. Even here, there are blemishes : the wreaths of roses in the final scene look horribly artificial. But whatever its imperfections, the show carries you along with it. I assume it is meant to have a long shelf-life and it deserves to.
(Thanks to Carol for sending this review)
