The Secret Garden [Original Broadway Cast] [B&N Exclusive]

by Secret Garden / O.C.R.

Overview

Composer Lucy Simon and lyricist/librettist Marsha Norman's 1991 stage musical adaptation of Francis Hodgson Burnett's 1909 children's novel The Secret Garden is at least the third such effort for a work that presumably is out of copyright and thus available to anyone who wishes to take it on. Sharon Burgett seems to have been the first to do so, writing music and co-penning lyrics with Susan Beckwith-Smith and Diana Matterson for a musical mounted in Watford, England, in 1983, and a second British version appeared in 1987 with songs by Diana Morgan and Stephen Marwick. Simon, a former folk-pop singer (with her sister Carly Simon in the Simon Sisters), and Norman, a noted playwright ('Night Mother), have the advantage of a Broadway production, even though this is the first venture into musicals for both of them. They seem to have tried to cross a large-scale, melodramatic effort in the manner of Les Miserables or The Phantom of the Opera with a show that also would appeal to children. So, this is a musical with a lot of singing ghosts in it. As fans of the book will recall, British pre-adolescent Mary Lennox (Daisy Eagan), the central character, begins the story orphaned by a cholera epidemic in India in the early years of the 20th century, and, necessarily adopted by her uncle Archibald Craven (Mandy Patinkin), is taken to live at his English estate, Misselthwaite Manor. Unfortunately, Archibald is still in mourning for his wife Lily (Rebecca Luker), who died in childbirth producing his sickly son Colin (John Babcock). In Simon and Norman's conception, this allows not only for Lily as well as Mary's parents, Rose (Kay Walbye) and Captain Albert Lennox (Michael De Vries) to have prominent parts as ghosts, but also even the dead family servants, Fakir (Peter Marinos) and Mary's ayah, or nanny (Patricia Phillips). And Archibald gets plenty of stage time, too, even though he isn't actually present at Misselthwaite Manor most of the time, preferring to endure his grief abroad. So, the adults sing soaring ballads (Patinkin's high tenor gets a lot of exercise) about how unhappy they all are, while Mary gets to trade cute dialect songs with the chambermaid Martha (Alison Fraser) and Martha's brother Dickon (John Cameron Mitchell) while searching the estate for the garden of the title. Unfortunately, Simon's melodies are not distinctive, and Norman's lyrics are pedestrian, so the cast has to make the best of an average score. They do so, particularly Luker, Patinkin, and Eagan (who won a Tony Award, albeit in the Featured Actress category). But this version of The Secret Garden is actually less effective than the Burgett one (which was recorded for a 1986 studio cast album). (Perhaps because it took Columbia Records more than seven months after the April 25, 1991, opening to get this cast album out, the song "Lift Me Up" is sung not by Babcock, whose character performed it on-stage, but by Joel E. Chaiken, originally cast as part of a children's chorus; maybe Babcock's voice had changed in the interim.) [This album is not to be confused with the 1986 cast album, the soundtrack for the 1993 film version with a score by Zbigniew Preisner, or, naturally, with the score by Bronislaw Kaper for the 1949 film version. All are entirely different musical treatments associated with the same source material.] ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	11/16/2018
Label:	Bmg Special Products / Sony Music
UPC:	0190758575810

Tracks

Disc 1

1. The Secret Garden~Opening
2. The Secret Garden~Scene: India
3. The Secret Garden~There's a Girl
4. The Secret Garden~Scene: The Library at Misselthwaite Manor
5. The Secret Garden~Scene: A Train Platform in Yorkshire / The House Upon the Hill
6. The Secret Garden~I Heard Someone Crying
7. The Secret Garden~Scene: Mary's Sitting Room / If I Had a Fine White Horse
8. The Secret Garden~A Girl in the Valley
9. The Secret Garden~Scene: The Ballroom
10. The Secret Garden~It's a Maze
11. The Secret Garden~Scene: The Greenhouse
12. The Secret Garden~Winter's on the Wing
13. The Secret Garden~Scene: The Edge of the Moor
14. The Secret Garden~Show Me the Key
15. The Secret Garden~Scene: Archibald's Library / A Bit of Earth
16. The Secret Garden~Storm I
17. The Secret Garden~Lily's Eyes

Disc 2

18. The Secret Garden~Storm II
19. The Secret Garden~Scene: Colin's Room
20. The Secret Garden~Round-Shouldered Man
21. The Secret Garden~Final Storm
22. The Secret Garden~The Girl I Mean to Be
23. The Secret Garden~The House Upon the Hill
24. The Secret Garden~Quartet: There's a Man (Transition)
25. The Secret Garden~Race You to the Top of the Morning
26. The Secret Garden~Wick
27. The Secret Garden~Scene: Colin's Room (Reprise)
28. The Secret Garden~Come to My Garden / Lift Me Up
29. The Secret Garden~Come Spirit, Come Charm
30. The Secret Garden~A Bit of Earth (Reprise)
31. The Secret Garden~Scene: The Library / Scene: Mary's Room
32. The Secret Garden~Hold On
33. The Secret Garden~Letter Song
34. The Secret Garden~Where in the World
35. The Secret Garden~How Could I Ever Know
36. The Secret Garden~Finale

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Peter Marinos   Primary Artist,Vocals
John Babcock   Primary Artist,Vocals
Michael DeVries   Primary Artist,Vocals
Drew Taylor   Primary Artist,Vocals
Paul Jackel   Primary Artist,Vocals
Rebecca Judd   Primary Artist,Vocals
Peter Samuel   Primary Artist,Vocals
Kimberly Mahon   Primary Artist,Vocals
Kay Walbye   Primary Artist,Vocals
Nancy Johnston   Primary Artist,Vocals
Tom Toner   Primary Artist,Vocals
Joel E. Chaiken   Primary Artist,Vocals
Alison Fraser   Primary Artist,Vocals
Rebecca Luker   Primary Artist,Vocals
Barbara Rosenblat   Primary Artist,Vocals,Vocals
Daisy Egan   Primary Artist
Patricia Phillips   Primary Artist,Vocals
Mandy Patinkin   Primary Artist,Vocals
Robert Westenberg   Primary Artist,Vocals
John Cameron Mitchell   Primary Artist,Vocals
Michael Kosarin   Conductor,Music Direction
Alec Timerman   Vocals
Frank Dipasquale   Vocals
Laurie Gayle Stephenson   Vocals
Susan H. Schulman   Director
Secret Garden Cast Ensemble   Choir/Chorus
Daisy Eagan   Vocals
The Secret Garden Pit Orchestra   Orchestra

Technical Credits

William David Brohn   Orchestration
Duncan Kilburn   Composer
Margo Lion   Associate Producer
Geoffrey Burgon   Composer
Vince Ely   Composer
John Ashton   Composer
Roger Morris   Composer
Richard Butler   Composer
Michael Kosarin   Vocal Arrangement
Thomas Z. Shepard   Producer
Tim Butler   Composer
Paul Goodman   Engineer
Stephen Schwartz   Composer
David Merrill   Mixing Assistant
Sandy Palmer   Assistant Engineer
Lucy Simon   Composer,Lyricist
Peter Miller   Music Preparation
Maximo Torres   Stage Manager
David Foil   Project Director
Roxanne Slimak   Design Direction
Otts Munderloh   Sounds
Wendell Cherry   Associate Producer
Barbara Rosenblat   Dialect Coach
John Perry Barlow   Publicity
Elisabeth Ladwig   Graphic Design
Donald Oliver   Music Preparation
Bob Marshak   Photography
Sherman Warner   General Manager
Betsy Friday   Personal Assistant
Margery Singer   Marketing Consultant
Sandy Carlson   Company Manager
Fred Mayerson   Producer
Marsha Norman   Book,Composer,Lyricist,Liner Notes
Heidi Landesman   Producer
Doug Johnson   Artwork
Adrian Bryan-Brown   Publicity
Peter Fulbright   Production Manager
Rhonda Mayerson   Associate Producer
Wendy Ettinger   Casting
John Miller   Music Coordinator
Cabrini A. Lepis   Publicity
Dorothy Cherry   Associate Producer
Edward Strong   General Manager
Elisabeth Farwell   Stage Manager
Elizabeth Williams   Producer
Francis Lombardi   Stage Manager
Greg C. Mosher   Associate Producer
Michael David   General Manager
Nan Bases   Legal Advisor
Perry Cline   Production Stage Manager
Rick Steiner   Producer
Robert Diniro   Make-Up,Hair Stylist
Ben Rizzi   Mixing Engineer