Review: Manatee Players stage a gorgeous version of 'The Secret Garden'
After the phenomenal season-opening production of "Cats," a lot of people were wondering whether the Manatee Players could mount a worthy follow-up.
They absolutely have. The company's staging of "The Secret Garden" is elegant and ethereal, beautifully sung and expertly acted, and ineffably beautiful to look at.
The musical, which hit Broadway in 1991, is based on the century-old juvenile fiction classic by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Its literary roots are evident in the thematic complexity of the story. As director Rick Kerby said in his pre-show speech, this isn't a show to sit back and enjoy; it's one you need to sit forward and pay attention to.
The story revolves around a young girl named Mary who is raised in India. Her parents die in a cholera epidemic there and she's sent to live with her uncle in England, whom she has never met.
The uncle is miserable and emotionally devastated after being recently widowed and pays no attention to his niece. She's unhappy until she finds a key that unlocks the gate to a hidden garden that seems to have mystical properties.
The show ran for a couple of years on Broadway and won some major Tony Awards, but it's not often staged. The reasons, no doubt, include the requisite large cast, the vocal difficulty of the score and the complexity of the design work.
The Manatee Players are up to all those challenges. The huge cast is full of gorgeous voices -- Kenn C. Rapczynski's singing is awe-inspiring -- and the design team (Ken Mooney, Joseph P. Oshry and Becky Evans, set, lights and costumes respectively) create a perfect array of flavors and moods.
A lovely surprise on opening night came in the performance of two young performers, Samantha Crawford and Judah Woomert, as Mary and her sickly cousin. They have major roles that demand serious acting and singing chops, and they handled both beautifully. (They alternate in the roles with Emma Devine and Sam Howells.)
Steve Dawson, who directs for Manatee Players more often than he appears on stage, and company regular Sarah Cassidy (most recently Cinderella in "Into the Woods") are both powerful in secondary, but essential roles. Dawson is the nefarious brother of Mary's uncle, and Cassidy is the uncle's deceased wife, one of many ghosts who inhabit the show.
Cole Kornell's another standout performer as Dickon, a gardener who spouts folksy wisdom and serves as Mary's guide to the magic of the secret garden.
The music by Lucy Simon (with lyrics by book writer Marsha Norman) is lush, dark and lovely, but not catchy. It's enthralling to listen to, but it's not the kind of music that sticks in your head after the show. The one exception is the heartbreaking "Lily's Eyes," the show's most familiar song.
If there's a downside to this show, it's that the story is awfully complex. A longish novel is compacted into a musical of average length, and the show is extremely song-heavy, so the exposition is scant and the narrative is sometimes difficult to follow. Familiarity with the novel will enhance the experience of the musical.
Details: Through Oct. 4, Stone Hall at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W., Bradenton. Show times: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $27-$37. Information: 941-748-5875, manateeperformingartscenter.com.
Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.
This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Review: Manatee Players stage a gorgeous version of 'The Secret Garden'."