'The Secret Garden' challenges new Lake Forest Theatre
Launching a new theater company can be an arduous task, especially if the inaugural show comes with a number of technical and storytelling challenges like “The Secret Garden.” So, perhaps, Lake Forest Theatre bit off more than it could chew by selecting this beloved and tuneful 1991 Broadway musical for its first production.
Adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 novel of the same name, “The Secret Garden” follows the emotional and spiritual journey of an initially sour young girl named Mary Lennox (Kailey Albus and Carly Meyer, a Suburban Chicago's Got Talent finalist, alternate in the role).
Following a 1906 cholera epidemic in colonial India, the orphaned Mary is sent to England to live with her long-grieving Uncle Archibald Craven (Edward Fraim) in his gloomy Yorkshire mansion. Tantalizingly to Mary, the house and grounds are full of secrets — particularly a walled-in garden that once belonged to Archibald's late wife, Lily (Michelle Jasso).
With encouragement from housemaid Martha (Elizabeth Mazur), her nature-loving brother Dickon (Dustin Rothbart) and the brusque groundskeeper Ben (Ken Rubenstein), Mary investigates this “secret garden.” Along the way, she uncovers a scheme devised by Archibald's brother, Dr. Neville Craven (Edward MacLennan), to keep her sickly cousin, Colin (Zachary Fewkes), in a hidden and perpetual state of bed rest.
For “The Secret Garden,” Lake Forest Theatre features an ensemble that is vocally beautiful (save for Fraim cracking on high notes as Archibald), and the cast pairs well with the lush offstage orchestra conducted by music director Aaron Kaplan. The characters also look great in costume designer David Lundholm's period Edwardian outfits.
Where Lake Forest Theatre stumbles is with its staging. Building upon Burnett's novel that suggests how nature has the power to heal, composer Lucy Simon and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Marsha Norman went a metaphysical step further by incorporating a chorus of nearly omnipresent spirits of relatives and friends (cloyingly called “The Dreamers”) who watch over and comment on Mary's journey until the happy conclusion.
Unfortunately, the concept is tough to pull off onstage, as is the musical's introductory cholera epidemic sequence set to the children's song “Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary.” The Dreamers have frequently been a problem for “Secret Garden” productions beyond the original Broadway staging, and Lake Forest Theatre also succumbs.
Director and theater founder Steve Malone peoples his stage with far too many Dreamers, even if they do provide a big choral sound. Their presence also can be confusing to those unfamiliar with the show, since David Miller's rudimentary lighting design does little to spectrally separate the dead from the living.
David Geinsoky's darkly gray set design lacks a wowing transformation to show the garden in full bloom by the end, and the cast could do with the help of a dialect coach to present more convincing British accents.
Housed in the renovated 309-seat John & Nancy Hughes Theater of the Gorton Community Center, the Lake Forest Theatre has professional ambitions and has already announced a full season of shows. Let's hope the Lake Forest Theatre will build upon the plusses of “The Secret Garden” with growing success in their future endeavors.
“The Secret Garden”
★ ★ ½
<b>Location:</b> Lake Forest Theatre at John & Nancy Hughes Theatre at Gorton Community Center, 400 E. Illinois Road, Lake Forest, (847) 604-4975 or <a href="http://lakeforesttheatre.org">lakeforesttheatre.org</a>
<b>Showtimes:</b> 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; through July 2
<b>Tickets:</b> $49
<b>Running time:</b> About two hours, 30 minutes with intermission
<b>Parking:</b> Free adjacent lot
<b>Rating:</b> For general audiences