SECRET GARDEN Revival Workshop To Stream In May

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/30/21 at 11:52am

Well this is interesting! <3

[darquegk]

Posted: 4/30/21 at 12:13pm

Here’s hoping they keep it gothic and don’t get cute like the Australian production.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 4/30/21 at 1:16pm

I promptly dropped the $10 for this. It has been a while since I have seen the show, so I am looking forward to it.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/30/21 at 4:20pm

darquegk said: "Here’s hoping they keep it gothic and don’t get cute like the Australian production."

Which Australian production? Was the original Broadway production considered gothic?

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 4/30/21 at 5:12pm

CATSNYrevival said: "darquegk said: "Here’s hoping they keep it gothic and don’t get cute like the Australian production."

Which Australian production? Was the original Broadway production considered gothic?"

The original production definitely played up the gothic qualities of the story. Various revisions, including the West End production minimized the gothic elements, opting for a lighter tone, playing down the ghostly bits, and changing the atmosphere to be more... light.

[mikey2573]

Posted: 5/1/21 at 9:59am

I think you mean the UK production, not the Australian production.  The original production in Australia kept the same creative team as Broadway.  The sets were the Heidi Ettinger (then Landesman) Tony winning sets that had been reproduced for the US tour.  

When the show opened in England they brought in a whole new creative team and reduced the importance of the ghost chorus, making the household staff at the manor the chorus.  While the new team felt they had improved the show from its Broadway incarnation (they say so in the cast recording's liner notes), they actually stripped the show of much of its mystery, power, and emotion. 

There was supposed to be a SECRET GARDEN revival in Australia last year with the original creators from Broadway (director Susan H. Schulman and designer Ettinger), but it was canceled/postponed due to the pandemic.  Not if THAT were streamed .......

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/1/21 at 4:56pm

I honestly wouldn't mind if they streamlined it a bit and cut the storm songs with the ghosts. Maybe I just need to see it done well but the production I saw the storm scenes and the endless reprises with the ghosts didn't make much sense or really do anything to forward the story. They seemed like they were just there to provide cover for the scene changes.

[Fan123]

Posted: 5/1/21 at 8:51pm

mikey2573, according to the below interview, supposedly there are plans to reschedule that Australian production of 'The Secret Garden'. (But there are no such plans for the cancelled production of 'Fiddler' in Yiddish.)

https://www.stagewhispers.com.au/news/musicals-menu

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/2/21 at 10:51am

I’m glad the production with Anthony Warlow is still in the works. I won’t get to see it but I was excited to see some pictures and press videos of the work from the original creative team.

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 5/8/21 at 7:31pm

I just finished watching the stream and it was really special and what a fantastic cast from top to bottom. 

I loved getting to see what the staging was to look like just before each song and scene and the set design was really simple, but gorgeous. 

The cast was really perfect with Clifton Duncan, Adam Chanler Berat, and Amber Iman being personal highlights to me. Amber Iman singing Hold On was stunning and left me sobbing. 

I hope maybe this stream will bring this project back to the forefront because just from the video of the workshop you can tell it's a labor of love from all involved. 

Updated On: 5/8/21 at 07:31 PM