Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic 1909 children's novel "The Secret Garden" has been called mystical, poetic and enchanting, descriptions equally befitting the musical stage version that opened on Broadway in 1991.
Considering Chance Theater's annual holiday stagings of similar shows like "Anne of Green Gables," it's a surprise the company hasn't tackled this one sooner. Perhaps it was waiting until enough musical theater talent had coalesced around it. At any rate, that time has come, resulting in a superb staging whose flaws are minimal when compared with its riches.
With Marsha Norman's libretto and Lucy Simon's music (lyrics by Norman), "The Secret Garden" joins "Anne" and the Broadway musical version of "Little Women" as the third offering of Chance's annual "Holiday Literature" series.
Set in 1906, the story begins in India, where 11-year-old Mary Lennox (Sarah Pierce) survives a cholera epidemic that takes the lives of her parents. Soon, the authorities ship Mary to England and into the care of her only living relative, her uncle Archibald (Paul Kehler).
Happy ending? Hardly. Archibald and Mary are practically strangers. His wife Lily, Mary's aunt, died in childbirth, and her spirit haunts Archibald's gloomy estate on the moors in North Yorkshire.
Still consumed with grief, Archibald also agonizes over his sickly son Colin (Dillon Klena), bedridden for all ten years of his young life and convinced he's fated to die. His doctor, Archibald's stern brother Neville (Jason James), does little to alter that perception.
Of course, "Secret Garden" would have little uplift if something in this glum scenario didn't give or change. What happens is that the lonely Mary gradually befriends Colin, the estate's young gardener Dickon (Kyle Cooper) and Dickon's sister, the young chambermaid Martha (Kellie Spill).
More importantly, she discovers her aunt Lily's immense garden, whose metal doors have been locked by Archibald since Lily's death. The story traces Mary's finding the hidden key and restoring the once-glorious garden. The spiritual counterpart to this process sees Mary and nearly everyone around her become revived.
Unlike most large-scale musicals, this one is deliberate, pensive and thematically (and here, visually) dark, a mood only partly tempered by lighter, more fanciful moments. The result of this balance is a lyrical musical that evokes the mixture of hope and fear, and the sense of something mystical, found in Burnett's novel and, often, in other successful children's books.
Chance audiences will recognize Pierce from "Little Women," "Anne of Green Gables" and "Sunday in the Park with George," among others. With this role the young actress comes close to breaking through as a legitimate leading lady, her performance providing a constant as we follow her from a delicate, sullen miss to a kind, mature young lady.
Pierce's slim, reedy soprano is still young and girlish, something time will remedy. This "Garden," though, flourishes anyway, with solid vocal work from the leads and the show's skilled chorus.
Kehler's dark clothing, dark hair and beard, solemn mien and soft, expressive, plaintive tenor project Archibald's nature – gentle, shy, considerate, and painfully aware of his inability to successfully parent Mary.
Klena is an engaging Colin whose initial petulance gives way to touching optimism, and his pure vocal style serves him well in duets with Pierce and with Laura M. Hathaway as Lily. Cooper's playful portrayal of Dickon is a delight, complemented by his vigorous tenor, and Spill's Martha is equally cheery.
James makes the tricky role of Neville work by balancing his smug, priggish, inflexible exterior with private self-loathing and an almost crippling grief for his unrequited love, Lily.
Hathaway is lovely as the ghostly Lily, with Rachel McLauglan giving us a sour turn as Rose, Lily's sister, and showing that Mary initially inherited her mother's cranky disposition.
The songs reflect recent musical theater classics like "Les Misérables" and the powerful influence of Stephen Sondheim, especially in choral numbers where the use of dissonances is pronounced.
Mike Wilkins' musical direction capably rearranges Simon's score for a small ensemble. On piano, Gloria You provides the score's underpinnings, with Callie Galvez's cello and Jonathan Proctor on various woodwinds filling in around her.
The direction by Casey Long and KC Wilkerson pulls the show's many disparate elements into a cohesive whole that will challenge young audiences and hold the interest of older viewers.
Robert Hahn's choreography seems an organic outgrowth of Simon's sublime score. Wilkerson's sets, lighting and projections, Long's sound design and Erika C. Miller's costumes likewise look and feel like part of Burnett's novel.
The climactic, full flowering of the once-secret garden is suitably bright but could use a wider variety of colors to visually express the intended metaphor. This, though, is a small quibble for a production that does so much to serve its story and characters.
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