At a time when dinner theaters are being hit particularly hard by the economy, Greeley’s Union Colony has managed a lovely presentation of “The Secret Garden” that’s sophisticated and surprisingly deep — both in content and ensemble.
The dinner’s not what it used to be, but director Bryan Bell’s staging of this starched, gothic musical is pretty to look at, and prettier to listen to.
It’s just not a ton of fun.
This is Marsha Norman’s 1991 stage adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s classic about that other little orphan — Mary, a major-league British brat who is sent to live with her reclusive, hunchbacked Uncle Archibald when her parents die of cholera in India.
For a children’s favorite, “The Secret Garden” is remarkably dark and melancholy. Mary is sent to a foreboding and isolated mansion in Yorkshire. The aloof uncle she’s foisted upon is lost in his own, decade-long grief for his beloved Lily. She’s the sister of Mary’s mother, Rose, and the child’s resemblance repels him all the more. His irredeemable and still jealous brother, Neville, even smacks the new girl around a bit. Ghosts of the dead freely mingle with the living. The sound of an unknown child’s unlocatable cry haunts every evening.
And a once glorious garden has gone untended.
“The Secret Garden” is essentially a treatise on grief, and how badly it makes its lonely victims behave. Without turning into a self-help exercise, it uses the mystical power of botany to reawaken dead souls within living bodies, finally allowing them to again feel joy, and take comfort from one another.
While there are decent people on the periphery — namely sweet nanny Martha and her swell brother Dickon, bereavement has made Mary and Archie emotionally impenetrable. And thankfully there’s no placating Disney undertone to soften the mood. Instead, it’s a buoyant score by Lucy Simon that infuses the evening with its warmth, such as Martha’s “Hold On,” and soaring duets by Mary and Dickon (“Wick”) and Archie and Neville (“Lily’s Eyes”).
And whenever the 19-member ensemble sings in unison, it’s as full-bodied as a concert.
Though the music is pre-recorded — a necessary economic consolation here — the production values are excellent.
But it’s the singing voices that carry the day.
You expect even the smallest companies to produce capable leads, or they wouldn’t even undertake such a difficult challenge. But you never assume top-to-bottom depth. So here it’s not so much the elegant Briana Gassner so easily embodying the ephemeral ghost of Lily, or Kevin Schwarz mastering the dour Daddy Warbucks, er, Uncle Archie. It’s their capable surrounding cast, from Jalyn Courtenay Webb as Martha to multiple Denver Post Ovation Award nominee Seth Caikowski as ice-cold Neville to Robert Riney as a teenage Dickon worthy of “American Idol.”
The role of Mary is split between two ladies, and I can vouch for young Shawnee Elliott, who, after a few hours imprisoned as the dour imp, veritably blooms like a sunflower at the story’s happy conclusion. When she finally gets a chance to smile, she’s pretty darned irresistible. And she can sing.
It’s a bit of bummer that we never really get to fully see the rejuvenating garden for ourselves at the end. But by then, the cast has pretty much accomplished the task of rejuvenation itself.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“The Secret Garden” *** (out of four stars)
Goth musical. Union Colony Dinner Theatre, 802 Ninth St., Greeley. Written by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon. Directed by Bryan Bell. Through March 7. 2 hours, 20 minutes. 7:45 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 1:45 p.m. Sundays (dinner 75 minutes before). $36-$38. 970-352-2900 or
