Review: 5th Avenue's THE SECRET GARDEN Has the Talent But Not the Feels

Way back in 1991 a young fledgling theater geek saw a performance from the new musical "The Secret Garden" by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon on the Tony awards and he became obsessed with it. He listened to the cast album over and over and fell completely in love with it when he saw the first national tour as it came through town. That young theater geek was, of course, me. And since then the show has managed to work its way into being one of my all-time favorites. I've seen several productions over the years, some good and some not so good. I've even been fortunate enough to be a part of a production. So you'll understand, Dear Readers, that I'm quite picky about this show. Well there's a new reworked version of the show currently playing at the 5th Avenue Theatre and the best thing I can say for it is that there's a lot of talent up on that stage. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of missteps including the rework that does nothing to improve the already wonderful show. If fact it saps much of the heart in favor of making it shorter.

Based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett we meet young Mary Lennox (Bea Corley), a young British girl growing up with her parents in India under the British Raj. When a cholera outbreak takes the life of everyone except her she's sent to live with her late Aunt Lily's (Lizzie Klemperer) husband Archibald Craven (Tam Mutu), a recluse due to the loss of his wife and a physical deformity; a hump on his back. Mary soon makes friends with the maid Martha (Daisy Eagan) and her gardener brother Dickon (Charlie Franklin) but also discovers that the house is haunted by the tragedies of the past.

The story should be a beautiful one of a young girl coming into her own and by extension helping those around her find happiness and while the events of the story still happen much of the growth and journey is lost. First let's start with the rework of the show. It's been trimmed down, some songs altered and some completely eliminated including "Quartet" and "Round Shouldered Man" both of which are emotional cores to the adult characters both living and dead. So, we end up knowing that Archie and Lily felt for each other but never get to experience the depth of those feelings.

But the biggest issue I had with the show was the lack of character development and connection within the performances. Everyone in the show has incredible voices especially Klemperer whose voice soars into the rafters and she and Mutu have a lovely scene together in Act Two but those moments of connection are way too few. Corley has a very strong stage presence but for some reason over enunciated and slowed down every bit of dialog putting on a snobbish air. It was a very unnatural cadence and would go away when she had to sing as the speed wouldn't have fit with the music making it all the more evident. Plus, that attitude didn't waver so by the end there wasn't any growth. Also with a lack of a journey is Josh Young as Archie's brother Neville who has one of the finest voices around but, especially with the changes in the script, doesn't get much to do except to sound good.

The few remaining bright spots of the show would have to be Eagan and Franklin. It's just awesome to see Eagan take on this role in the show considering she was the original Mary way back when and she shows off that she's still very much got it. And Franklin was very fun as the wild Dickon with a great voice although I could have used a bit more of an ethereal magical quality to him.

Performances aside, I honestly don't know why they even tried to change the show except to make the run time more accessible to the short attention spans of kids. But it's not that long to begin with. And so, with changes and performances I am left with giving the 5th Avenue Theatre's "The Secret Garden" a disappointed and truncated MEH+. I know I'm being picky about the show and nothing will probably ever come close to the shining gem I have in my memory but it should at least come close.

"The Secret Garden" performs at the 5th Avenue Theatre through May 6th. For tickets or information contact the 5th Avenue Theatre box office at 206-625-1900 or visit them online at www.5thavenue.org.

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