The Secret Garden (musical)
Encyclopedia
The Secret Garden is a musical based on the 1911 novel of the same name
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
. The musical's book and lyrics are by Marsha Norman
, with music by Lucy Simon
. It premiered on Broadway
in 1991 and ran for 709 performances.
The story is set in the early years of the 20th century.In the original script of the play, the date is indicated as 1906, but the libretto for the Broadway cast album has the conflicting date of 1911. Mary Lennox, a young English
girl born and raised in the British Raj
, is orphaned by a cholera
outbreak when she is eleven years old. She is sent away from India
to Yorkshire
, England
, to live with relatives whom she has never met. Her own personality blossoms as she and a young gardener bring new life to a neglected garden, as well as to her sickly cousin and uncle.
at the St. James Theatre
on April 25, 1991 and closed on January 3, 1993 after 709 performances. Directed by Susan H. Schulman
with choreography by Michael Lichtefeld, the cast featured Daisy Eagan
as Mary. It won the 1991 Tony Award
s for Best Book of a Musical, Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Daisy Eagan), and Best Scenic Design (Heidi Landesman). Eagan at age 11 was the youngest female recipient of a Tony Award. The set resembled an enormous Victorian toy theatre with pop-out figures, large paper dolls, and Joseph Cornell
-like collage elements.
This Theoni V. Aldredge designed wardrobe was nominated for Best Costume Design. The wardrobe is on display at the Costume World Broadway Collection in Pompano Beach, Florida.
The musical was produced in Australia in 1995 in Brisbane
(opened on 27 July 1995), Sydney
(opened on 7 September 1995), and Melbourne
(opened on 20 December 1995). Directed by Schulman and with sets by Landesman, the cast starred Philip Quast as Neville Craven and Anthony Warlow
as Archibald Craven.
A heavily revised Royal Shakespeare Company
production ran at Stratford
(UK) from November 13, 2000 until January 27, 2001, with Philip Quast
and Meredith Braun and directed by Adrian Noble
, staged and choreographed by Gillian Lynne
. The RSC production transferred to the West End
Aldwych Theatre, running from February 2001 until June 2001.
The Secret Garden was The Third Annual World AIDS Day Benefit Concert, held on December 5, 2005 at the Manhattan Center Studios Grand Ballroom, New York City, directed by Stafford Arima
and
produced by Jamie McGonnigal
.
In February 2010, Mirvish Productions
announced that The Secret Garden will open in Toronto in March 2011.
Act I
Mary Lennox, a 10-year-old English girl who has lived in India since birth, dreams of English nursery rhymes and Hindi
chants ("Opening").The lyrics are transcribed in the script and libretto, but not translated; phrased in poetic language, their approximate meaning is "Lo, the season of magic/ The summer days/ Prayers, rituals, and artifacts/ May deliver her from sickness." She awakes to learn that her parents and nearly everyone she knew in India, including her Ayah have died of cholera
. Found by survivors of the epidemic (officers who worked alongside her father), Mary is sent back to England to live with her only remaining relations ("There's a Girl").
(Note: Throughout the show, these and other songs are sung by a chorus of ghosts, referred to in the libretto
as "dreamers," who serve as narrators and Greek chorus
for the action.)
Her mother's sister, Lily, died many years ago. Lily's widower is Archibald Craven, a hunchback who is still overcome by grief. The management of his manor house
, Misselthwaite, is largely left to his brother, Dr. Neville Craven. The house is persistently haunted by ghosts (i.e. Lily, Ayah, Fakir, Rose and Albert Lennox, officers from India, etc.) and spirits of Archibald's and Mary's pasts, due to their holding on to what used to be. The housekeeper, Mrs. Medlock, coldly welcomes Mary to Yorkshire
on her arrival ("The House Upon the Hill"). Mary has difficulty sleeping her first night there ("I Heard Someone Crying") as she and Archibald both mourn their losses. The next morning, Mary meets Martha, a young chambermaid who encourages Mary to go play outside by telling her about the surrounding moorland
and grounds ("If I Had a Fine White Horse"), in particular, a secret (hidden) garden. Meanwhile, Archibald remains submerged in his memories of Lily ("A Girl In the Valley"), while ghosts waltz to Lily's and Archibald's serenading.
Mary explores the garden, laid out in Victorian
style as a topiary
maze
, as do Ben Weatherstaff, an old gardener, and Martha's brother Dickon ("It's a Maze"), each with a different agenda. Ben tells Mary that the secret garden has been locked since Lily's death, as it reminds Archibald of her. Dickon invokes the spring ("Winter's On the Wing") in a rustic druid
-like fashion; he claims to converse with animals and teaches Mary to speak the Yorkshire dialect
to an English Robin ("Show Me the Key"). The bird leads Mary to the key for the garden, but does not show Mary the door.
Archibald has a formal meeting with his niece, who asks him for "A Bit of Earth" to plant a garden of her own; he is startled and compares her to Lily for their shared horticultural interests. As the Yorkshire gloom turns to rain and "Shakes the souls of the dead" ("Storm I"), Archibald and his brother Neville both notice that Mary also physically resembles her aunt ("Lily's Eyes"), with whom both men were in love.
As the rain continues, Mary again hears someone crying ("Storm II"), but this time she finds the source: her cousin Colin, confined to bed since his birth, when his mother Lily died. He has been in bed his entire life because Archibald feared that Colin would also become a hunch back. In reality, Colin's spine is perfectly fine but his father is convinced that he has passed on his curse. Colin confides in his cousin his dreams of "A Round-Shouldered Man" who comes to him at night and reads to him from his book "of all that's good and true". However, just as it seems they have become friends, Neville and Mrs. Medlock burst in and dismiss her angrily, telling her she is never to see Colin again. As the storm reaches its peak, Mary runs outside and finds the door to the garden ("Final Storm").
Act II
Mary has a reverie about "The Girl I Mean to Be," with "a place I can go when I am lost." In reality, the garden is like her uncle and Mary herself, neglected and half-wild.
Archibald relates a dream to Neville about seeing Lily and Mary together in the garden. But Neville's dreams are darker: recalling his unrequited love for Lily, Neville wants Archibald to leave Misselthwaite entirely to him. The two brothers' musings are interwoven with ghostly echoes of old arguments between Lily and her sister Rose (Mary's mother) about Archibald's suitability as a prospective husband and father ("Quartet"). At Neville's urging, Archibald leaves for the Continent, pausing only to read a fairy tale to the Colin as the boy sleeps ("Race You To the Top of the Morning").
Mary asks Dickon for help with the garden, which appears dead; Dickon explains that it is probably just dormant
and that "somewhere there's a single streak of green inside it" ("Wick"). Mary tells Colin about the discovered garden, but he is initially reluctant to go outside until encouraged by a vision of his mother ("Come to My Garden/Lift Me Up"). Mary, Dickon, and Martha clandestinely bring Colin to the garden in a wheelchair. In the garden, the exercise and fresh air begin to make Colin well ("Come Spirit, Come Charm"). The dreamers sing the praises of the renewed garden ("A Bit of Earth (Reprise)").
Back in the house, Mary faces down Neville as he threatens to send her away to boarding school. Martha tells Mary she must "Hold On"--"when you see a man who's ragin'/And he's jealous and he fears/That you've walked through walls he's hid behind for years..." Mary writes to Archibald ("Letter Song") urging him to come home.
At first Archibald feels defeated and frustrated ("Where In the World"), but Lily's ghost convinces him to return ("How Could I Ever Know"). Entering the garden, he finds Colin completely healthy; in fact, he is beating Mary in a footrace as Archibald walks through the door. Archibald, a changed man, accepts Mary as his own, and the dreamers invite all to "stay here in the garden," as Lily and Mary's parents Albert and Rose promise to look over them for the rest of their days ("Finale").
In the book, Colin's private physician is an otherwise unnamed poor cousin of Archibald Craven; Colin privately remarks to Mary that Dr. Craven is the next heir to Misselthwaite and "always looks cheerful when [Colin's health] is worse", but Burnett also states that Dr. Craven is "not an unscrupulous man, though he was a weak one, and he did not intend to let [Colin] run into actual danger." The musical tightens the doctor's conflict of interest and makes him the primary antagonist as Archibald's brother, Dr. Neville Craven, who once hopelessly loved Lily and whom Mary expressly accuses of wanting Colin to die for the sake of his inheritance.
Act II
A full recording was made with this cast, including all of the songs listed above as well as some interstitial material, and released on CD by Columbia Records
in 1991 (catalog number CK 48817).
An eight-song "highlights" album with Fiddes, Ritchie, and the rest of the above cast was released on CD by Polydor Records
Australia in 1995 (catalog number 579 997-2).
The musical was partially reworked for production by the Royal Shakespeare Company, reducing the emphasis on the adult characters to return the plot closer to the original book. A full recording of this version was released on CD by First Night Records in 2001.
Drama Desk Award
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial format starting in the autumn of 1910, and was first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is considered to be a classic of English children's...
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett was an English playwright and author. She is best known for her children's stories, in particular The Secret Garden , A Little Princess, and Little Lord Fauntleroy.Born Frances Eliza Hodgson, she lived in Cheetham Hill, Manchester...
. The musical's book and lyrics are by Marsha Norman
Marsha Norman
Marsha Norman is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. She received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play night, Mother...
, with music by Lucy Simon
Lucy Simon
Lucy Simon is an American composer for the theatre and popular songs. She is known for the musical, The Secret Garden.-Biography:...
. It premiered on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 1991 and ran for 709 performances.
The story is set in the early years of the 20th century.In the original script of the play, the date is indicated as 1906, but the libretto for the Broadway cast album has the conflicting date of 1911. Mary Lennox, a young English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
girl born and raised in the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, is orphaned by a cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
outbreak when she is eleven years old. She is sent away from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
to Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, to live with relatives whom she has never met. Her own personality blossoms as she and a young gardener bring new life to a neglected garden, as well as to her sickly cousin and uncle.
Productions
The Secret Garden premiered on BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the St. James Theatre
St. James Theatre
The St. James Theatre is located at 246 W. 44th St. Broadway, New York City, New York. It was built by Abraham L. Erlanger, theatrical producer and a founding member of the Theatrical Syndicate, on the site of the original Sardi's restaurant. It opened in 1927 as The Erlanger...
on April 25, 1991 and closed on January 3, 1993 after 709 performances. Directed by Susan H. Schulman
Susan H. Schulman
Susan H. Schulman is an American theater director.Intent on a career as an actress, Schulman studied drama at Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island, New York in the 1960s. She attended Yale University on a playwrighting fellowship, graduating with a Master's Degree...
with choreography by Michael Lichtefeld, the cast featured Daisy Eagan
Daisy Eagan
Daisy Eagan is an American actress.In 1991 she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for playing Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden...
as Mary. It won the 1991 Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
s for Best Book of a Musical, Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Daisy Eagan), and Best Scenic Design (Heidi Landesman). Eagan at age 11 was the youngest female recipient of a Tony Award. The set resembled an enormous Victorian toy theatre with pop-out figures, large paper dolls, and Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell was an American artist and sculptor, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage...
-like collage elements.
This Theoni V. Aldredge designed wardrobe was nominated for Best Costume Design. The wardrobe is on display at the Costume World Broadway Collection in Pompano Beach, Florida.
The musical was produced in Australia in 1995 in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
(opened on 27 July 1995), Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
(opened on 7 September 1995), and Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
(opened on 20 December 1995). Directed by Schulman and with sets by Landesman, the cast starred Philip Quast as Neville Craven and Anthony Warlow
Anthony Warlow
Anthony Warlow is an Australian opera and musical theatre performer, noted for his character acting and considerable vocal range ....
as Archibald Craven.
A heavily revised Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
production ran at Stratford
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
(UK) from November 13, 2000 until January 27, 2001, with Philip Quast
Philip Quast
Philip Quast is an Australian actor perhaps best known for his role as Inspector Javert in the stage musical version of Les Misérables, or for appearances in numerous Australian soap operas including Sons and Daughters, The Young Doctors and Police Rescue.-Personal life:Quast was born in 1957 in...
and Meredith Braun and directed by Adrian Noble
Adrian Noble
Adrian Keith Noble is a theatre director, and was also the artistic director and chief executive of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1990 to 2003.-Education and career:...
, staged and choreographed by Gillian Lynne
Gillian Lynne
Gillian Barbara Lynne , CBE, born , is a British ballerina, dancer, actor, theatre director, television director and choreographer noted for her popular theatre choreography associated with the iconic musicals Cats and the current longest running show in Broadway history, The Phantom of the Opera.-...
. The RSC production transferred to the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
Aldwych Theatre, running from February 2001 until June 2001.
The Secret Garden was The Third Annual World AIDS Day Benefit Concert, held on December 5, 2005 at the Manhattan Center Studios Grand Ballroom, New York City, directed by Stafford Arima
Stafford Arima
Stafford Arima is a Canadian-born theatre director. Arima studied at York University in Toronto where he was the recipient of the Dean's Prize for Excellence in Creative Work.Arima is directing Carrie Stafford Arima is a Canadian-born theatre director. Arima studied at York University in Toronto...
and
produced by Jamie McGonnigal
Jamie McGonnigal
Jamie McGonnigal is a voice actor, actor, producer, activist and director, who has worked for various companies such as 4Kids Entertainment, NYAV Post, DuArt Film and Video and FUNimation Entertainment....
.
In February 2010, Mirvish Productions
Mirvish Productions
Mirvish Productions is a Canadian based theatrical production company and promoter.The company was founded in 1987 by David Mirvish, son of Toronto retailing icon and owner of the Royal Alexandra Theatre Ed Mirvish....
announced that The Secret Garden will open in Toronto in March 2011.
Synopsis
This synopsis describes the original Broadway production; the reworked London production altered this sequence by moving or omitting several scenes and songs.Act I
Mary Lennox, a 10-year-old English girl who has lived in India since birth, dreams of English nursery rhymes and Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
chants ("Opening").The lyrics are transcribed in the script and libretto, but not translated; phrased in poetic language, their approximate meaning is "Lo, the season of magic/ The summer days/ Prayers, rituals, and artifacts/ May deliver her from sickness." She awakes to learn that her parents and nearly everyone she knew in India, including her Ayah have died of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
. Found by survivors of the epidemic (officers who worked alongside her father), Mary is sent back to England to live with her only remaining relations ("There's a Girl").
(Note: Throughout the show, these and other songs are sung by a chorus of ghosts, referred to in the libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
as "dreamers," who serve as narrators and Greek chorus
Greek chorus
A Greek chorus is a homogenous, non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action....
for the action.)
Her mother's sister, Lily, died many years ago. Lily's widower is Archibald Craven, a hunchback who is still overcome by grief. The management of his manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
, Misselthwaite, is largely left to his brother, Dr. Neville Craven. The house is persistently haunted by ghosts (i.e. Lily, Ayah, Fakir, Rose and Albert Lennox, officers from India, etc.) and spirits of Archibald's and Mary's pasts, due to their holding on to what used to be. The housekeeper, Mrs. Medlock, coldly welcomes Mary to Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
on her arrival ("The House Upon the Hill"). Mary has difficulty sleeping her first night there ("I Heard Someone Crying") as she and Archibald both mourn their losses. The next morning, Mary meets Martha, a young chambermaid who encourages Mary to go play outside by telling her about the surrounding moorland
Moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, found in upland areas, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and heavy fog...
and grounds ("If I Had a Fine White Horse"), in particular, a secret (hidden) garden. Meanwhile, Archibald remains submerged in his memories of Lily ("A Girl In the Valley"), while ghosts waltz to Lily's and Archibald's serenading.
Mary explores the garden, laid out in Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
style as a topiary
Topiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, perhaps geometric or fanciful; and the term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. It can be...
maze
Maze
A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. In everyday speech, both maze and labyrinth denote a complex and confusing series of pathways, but technically the maze is distinguished from the labyrinth, as the labyrinth has a single...
, as do Ben Weatherstaff, an old gardener, and Martha's brother Dickon ("It's a Maze"), each with a different agenda. Ben tells Mary that the secret garden has been locked since Lily's death, as it reminds Archibald of her. Dickon invokes the spring ("Winter's On the Wing") in a rustic druid
Druid
A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
-like fashion; he claims to converse with animals and teaches Mary to speak the Yorkshire dialect
Yorkshire dialect and accent
The Yorkshire dialect refers to the varieties of English used in the Northern England historic county of Yorkshire. Those varieties are often referred to as Broad Yorkshire or Tyke. The dialect has roots in older languages such as Old English and Old Norse; it should not be confused with modern slang...
to an English Robin ("Show Me the Key"). The bird leads Mary to the key for the garden, but does not show Mary the door.
Archibald has a formal meeting with his niece, who asks him for "A Bit of Earth" to plant a garden of her own; he is startled and compares her to Lily for their shared horticultural interests. As the Yorkshire gloom turns to rain and "Shakes the souls of the dead" ("Storm I"), Archibald and his brother Neville both notice that Mary also physically resembles her aunt ("Lily's Eyes"), with whom both men were in love.
As the rain continues, Mary again hears someone crying ("Storm II"), but this time she finds the source: her cousin Colin, confined to bed since his birth, when his mother Lily died. He has been in bed his entire life because Archibald feared that Colin would also become a hunch back. In reality, Colin's spine is perfectly fine but his father is convinced that he has passed on his curse. Colin confides in his cousin his dreams of "A Round-Shouldered Man" who comes to him at night and reads to him from his book "of all that's good and true". However, just as it seems they have become friends, Neville and Mrs. Medlock burst in and dismiss her angrily, telling her she is never to see Colin again. As the storm reaches its peak, Mary runs outside and finds the door to the garden ("Final Storm").
Act II
Mary has a reverie about "The Girl I Mean to Be," with "a place I can go when I am lost." In reality, the garden is like her uncle and Mary herself, neglected and half-wild.
Archibald relates a dream to Neville about seeing Lily and Mary together in the garden. But Neville's dreams are darker: recalling his unrequited love for Lily, Neville wants Archibald to leave Misselthwaite entirely to him. The two brothers' musings are interwoven with ghostly echoes of old arguments between Lily and her sister Rose (Mary's mother) about Archibald's suitability as a prospective husband and father ("Quartet"). At Neville's urging, Archibald leaves for the Continent, pausing only to read a fairy tale to the Colin as the boy sleeps ("Race You To the Top of the Morning").
Mary asks Dickon for help with the garden, which appears dead; Dickon explains that it is probably just dormant
Dormant
Dormant means lacking activity. It can refer to:*Dormancy in an organism's life cycle*Dormant volcano, a volcano that is inactive but may become active in the future...
and that "somewhere there's a single streak of green inside it" ("Wick"). Mary tells Colin about the discovered garden, but he is initially reluctant to go outside until encouraged by a vision of his mother ("Come to My Garden/Lift Me Up"). Mary, Dickon, and Martha clandestinely bring Colin to the garden in a wheelchair. In the garden, the exercise and fresh air begin to make Colin well ("Come Spirit, Come Charm"). The dreamers sing the praises of the renewed garden ("A Bit of Earth (Reprise)").
Back in the house, Mary faces down Neville as he threatens to send her away to boarding school. Martha tells Mary she must "Hold On"--"when you see a man who's ragin'/And he's jealous and he fears/That you've walked through walls he's hid behind for years..." Mary writes to Archibald ("Letter Song") urging him to come home.
At first Archibald feels defeated and frustrated ("Where In the World"), but Lily's ghost convinces him to return ("How Could I Ever Know"). Entering the garden, he finds Colin completely healthy; in fact, he is beating Mary in a footrace as Archibald walks through the door. Archibald, a changed man, accepts Mary as his own, and the dreamers invite all to "stay here in the garden," as Lily and Mary's parents Albert and Rose promise to look over them for the rest of their days ("Finale").
Changes from the original novel
Burnett's novel primarily focused on Mary and her interactions with Colin, Martha, and Dickon. The musical adds more emphasis to the adult characters by presenting (and to some extent, inventing) the shared history entwining the two families. Originally, Burnett stated that the name of Archibald's wife was Lilias, and that she was the sister of Mary Lennox's father; in the musical, Colin's and Mary's mothers are sisters named Lily and Rose.In the book, Colin's private physician is an otherwise unnamed poor cousin of Archibald Craven; Colin privately remarks to Mary that Dr. Craven is the next heir to Misselthwaite and "always looks cheerful when [Colin's health] is worse", but Burnett also states that Dr. Craven is "not an unscrupulous man, though he was a weak one, and he did not intend to let [Colin] run into actual danger." The musical tightens the doctor's conflict of interest and makes him the primary antagonist as Archibald's brother, Dr. Neville Craven, who once hopelessly loved Lily and whom Mary expressly accuses of wanting Colin to die for the sake of his inheritance.
Songs
Act I- Opening — Lily, Fakir, Company
- There's a Girl — Company
- The House Upon the Hill — Company
- I Heard Someone Crying — Lily, Mary. Archibald
- If I Had A Fine White Horse — Martha
- A Girl in the Valley — Archibald, Lily
- It's a Maze — Mary, Ben, Dickon, Martha
- Winter's on the Wing — Dickon
- Show Me the Key — Mary, Dickon
- A Bit of Earth — Archibald, Mary
- Storm I — Company
- Lily's Eyes — Archibald, Neville
- Storm II — Mary, Company
- Round-Shouldered Man — Colin
- Final Storm — Mary, Company
Act II
- The Girl I Mean to Be — Mary
- Quartet — Archibald, Lily, Neville, Rose
- Race You to the Top of the Morning — Archibald
- Wick — Mary, Dickon
- Come to My Garden — Lily
- Lift Me Up — Colin
- Come Spirit, Come Charm — Mary, Dickon, Martha, Lily, Fakir, Company
- A Bit of Earth (Reprise) — Lily, Rose, Albert
- Disappear — Neville
- Hold On — Martha
- Letter Song — Archibald, Mary, Martha
- Where in the World — Archibald
- How Could I Ever Know — Archibald, Lily
- Finale — Company
Original Broadway cast
- Mary Lennox - Daisy EaganDaisy EaganDaisy Eagan is an American actress.In 1991 she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for playing Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden...
- Archibald Craven - Mandy PatinkinMandy PatinkinMandel Bruce "Mandy" Patinkin is an award-winning American actor of stage and screen and a tenor vocalist. He is a noted interpreter of the musical works of Stephen Sondheim, and is best-known for his work in musical theatre, originating iconic roles such as Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park...
- Lily Craven - Rebecca LukerRebecca LukerRebecca Luker is an American musical theatre actress and soprano who has appeared in several prominent Broadway productions.-Life and career:...
- Neville Craven - Robert WestenbergRobert WestenbergRobert Westenberg is an American musical theatre actor and acting teacher. He married actress and singer Kim Crosby on June 19, 1991, and the couple now have three children.-Early Life:...
- Martha - Alison FraserAlison FraserAlison Fraser is an American actress and singer who has appeared in concert at such venues as Carnegie Hall, The White House, Town Hall, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden, The Tisch Center for the Arts, The Folger Shakespeare Library, The Wilma, The Emelin, Joe's Pub and Symphony space.Fraser is a two...
- Dickon - John Cameron MitchellJohn Cameron MitchellJohn Cameron Mitchell is an American writer, actor, and director. He is best known for his motion pictures Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus and Rabbit Hole.- Early life:...
- Colin - John Babcock
- Ben - Tom Toner
- Rose - Kay Walbye
A full recording was made with this cast, including all of the songs listed above as well as some interstitial material, and released on CD by Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
in 1991 (catalog number CK 48817).
Australian Cast
- Mary Lennox - Samantha Fiddes, Sarah Ogden
- Archibald Craven - Anthony WarlowAnthony WarlowAnthony Warlow is an Australian opera and musical theatre performer, noted for his character acting and considerable vocal range ....
- Lily - Marina PriorMarina PriorMarina Prior is an Australian singer and actress.- Early life :When she was a young child her parents returned to Australia and she grew up in Melbourne, attending Syndal South Primary School and Korowa Anglican Girls' School...
- Neville Craven - Philip QuastPhilip QuastPhilip Quast is an Australian actor perhaps best known for his role as Inspector Javert in the stage musical version of Les Misérables, or for appearances in numerous Australian soap operas including Sons and Daughters, The Young Doctors and Police Rescue.-Personal life:Quast was born in 1957 in...
- Dickon - Tom Blair
- Martha - Susan-Ann Walker
- Colin Craven - Bart Ritchie, Ross Hannaford
- Ben - Raymond Duprac
- Mrs. Medlock - June SalterJune SalterJune Marie Salter AM was an Australian actress.-Biography:June Salter was born in Bexley, New South Wales, the youngest of six children. As a child she studied piano and elocution and attended Kogarah Secondary School...
An eight-song "highlights" album with Fiddes, Ritchie, and the rest of the above cast was released on CD by Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
Australia in 1995 (catalog number 579 997-2).
Original London Cast
- Mary Lennox — Natalie Morgan
- Colin — Luke Newberry
- Archibald Craven - Philip QuastPhilip QuastPhilip Quast is an Australian actor perhaps best known for his role as Inspector Javert in the stage musical version of Les Misérables, or for appearances in numerous Australian soap operas including Sons and Daughters, The Young Doctors and Police Rescue.-Personal life:Quast was born in 1957 in...
- Neville Craven - Peter PolycarpouPeter PolycarpouPeter Polycarpou is a British stage and TV and film actor, best known for playing Chris Theodopolopoudos in the television comedy series Birds of a Feather.-Career:...
(*Note: On the cast recording, this role was sung by Christian Patterson) - Lily — Meredith Braun
- Martha - Linzi HateleyLinzi HateleyLinzi Hateley is an English stage actress who is currently starring as one of the leads in the West End production of the musical Mamma Mia!. Her performance as Donna started on 5 March 2007....
- Dickon — Jordan Dunne
The musical was partially reworked for production by the Royal Shakespeare Company, reducing the emphasis on the adult characters to return the plot closer to the original book. A full recording of this version was released on CD by First Night Records in 2001.
2005 World AIDS Day Benefit "Dream" Cast
- Mary Lennox - Jaclyn Neidenthal
- Archibald Craven - Steven PasqualeSteven PasqualeSteven Pasquale is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Sean Garrity in the critically acclaimed series Rescue Me. He made his debut on the HBO series Six Feet Under, playing a love interest for David. He also starred in the film Aliens vs...
- Lily - Laura BenantiLaura BenantiLaura Benanti is an American actress of television, film and Broadway theatre noted for her award winning performance as Louise in the 2008 production of Gypsy.-Early years:...
- Neville Craven - Will ChaseWill ChaseWill Chase is an American actor and singer, best known for his work in Broadway musicals.Chase was born in Frankfort, Kentucky to Jerry and Betty Chase and is the youngest of three boys...
- Albert - Max von EssenMax von EssenMax von Essen is an American musical theatre actor and vocalist.A son of Rita and Thomas Von Essen, who was the New York City Fire Commissioner during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, he is the youngest of four children.Von Essen is a 1992 graduate of South Side High School,...
- Dickon - Michael ArdenMichael ArdenMichael Jerrod Moore , also known as Michael Arden, is an American stage actor, singer, and composer. He was born in Midland, Texas.-Early and personal life:...
- Martha - Celia Keenan-Bolger
- Colin Craven - Struan Erlenborn
- Ben - David CanaryDavid CanaryDavid Hoyt Canary is an American actor, who starred in both soap operas and prime time television. He is best known for his roles as the ranch foreman, Candy Canaday on Bonanza and identical twins Adam Chandler from 1983 to 2010 and Stuart Chandler from 1984 to 2009 on the daytime serial, All My...
- Claire - Jenny PowersJenny PowersJennifer Diane Powers is an American actress, singer, and beauty pageant contestant. She won the title of Miss Illinois in 2000, and has had major roles in Broadway productions such as Little Women and Grease....
- Alice - Deborah S. Craig
- Lt. Wright - Matt CavenaughMatt CavenaughMatt Cavenaugh is an American stage, film, and television actor. He graduated from Ithaca College with a BFA in 2001. Cavenaugh's film debut was in Little Monsters as a child actor, and has more recently played starring roles on Broadway and Off Broadway...
- Mrs. Medlock - Barbara Rosenblat
- The Ayah - Reshma ShettyReshma Shetty-Education:Shetty was born to Indian parents and was raised in England and Richmond, Virginia. She originally studied pre-med at James Madison University, but success in vocal competitions prompted her to switch majors and graduate with a B.A. in opera performance...
- The Fakir - Nehal Joshi
- Rose - Sara GettelfingerSara GettelfingerSara Gettelfinger is American actress, singer, and dancer.-Early life and education:Gettelfinger was raised in Kentucky and Jeffersonville, Indiana. She graduated from the Youth Performing Arts School at duPont Manual High School in 1995...
Broadway
Tony AwardTony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
- Best Musical (nominee)
- Best Book of a Musical (winner)
- Best Original Score (nominee)
- Best Featured Actress in a Musical
- Daisy Eagan (winner)
- Alison Fraser (nominee)
- Best Scenic Design (winner)
- Best Costume Design (nominee)
Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
- Outstanding Musical (nominee)
- Outstanding Book of a Musical (winner)
- Outstanding Actor in a Musical-Mandy Patinkin (nominee)
- Outstanding Actress in a Musical-Daisy Eagan (nominee)
- Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical-John Cameron Mitchell (nominee)
- Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
- Alison Fraser (nominee)
- Rebecca Luker (nominee)
- Outstanding Choreography (nominee)
- Outstanding Director of a Musical (nominee)
- Outstanding Orchestration-William D. Brohn (winner)
- Outstanding Lyrics (nominee)
- Outstanding Music (nominee)
- Outstanding Lighting Design (nominee)
- Outstanding Set Design (winner)
External links
- The Secret Garden plot and production listing at The Guide to Musical Theatre www.guidetomusicaltheatre.com
- Yahoo Answers: "I need help with the translating the following Sanskrit: A'O JADU KE MAUSAM. GARMIYO KEDIN. US KI BI MARI"
- Photographs from the April 2007 production of The Secret Garden by The Melodramatics