The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden was written in 1909 by Frances Hodgson Burnett and adapted as a musical in 1989. It ran on Broadway for 709 performances and has been adapted several times for TV and film. The 1993 film version directed by Agnieszka Holland is a particular favourite of this reviewer. The story is a Victorian fairy tale about a young girl, Mary Lennox (with a strong central performance by Alexandra Denovan) is sent to live with her Uncle when her parents die of cholera. Her Uncle’s house in North Yorkshire is a vast mansion full of secrets. She stumbles upon a cousin she didn’t know existed and a garden long dead, much like the ghosts that roam  the house.  Along with the help of some servants and a Gardner, Mary is determined to bring both the garden, her cousin and the house back to life. In doing so she also wins the affections of her grieving Uncle.

The Young Australian Broadway Chorus production has used the Spring Version of this musical, which is an adaptation for younger audiences, featuring a chorus of young ‘readers’ who follow the story as it unfolds and a new musical arrangement for a solo piano. 

Aside from the wonderful story about how nature can help us heal, the best part of this show is the chorus of young readers. Whether they are singing or simply playing dour young school children, they are lovely to watch. There is a cast of 12 and around 15 youth chorus, so the stage could be quite packed, but choreographer Jacqui Green and director Robert Coates handled this with ease. The characters started to come alive with Martha (standout performer Emily Hansford), Mary’s maid at the North Yorkshire mansion. Unfortunately, the ghostly sopranos who often materialised (Mary’s mother and aunt) seemed more to screech than sing in Act One. But by Act Two everyone had relaxed into their roles.

The set was a simple few pictures frames hanging high above a garden wall with ivy on it. The picture frames had different projections for each scene and worked well with the simplicity of the set. In Act Two, when the secret garden has finally grown and is supposed to be magical and restorative, all we see are a few plants on stage, which was disappointing.  

The point of this show is that it is a show for young people, by young people and that it does quite well. So take your young person to see it and introduce them to a much loved story told by young, wonderful performers.

April Albert

Images (top) Alec Golinger, Alexandra Denovan and Emily Hansford, & (lower) Alexandra Denovan and Declan Kelly.