The Secret Garden, The Musical, makes a triumphant holiday season return to Chance Theater in its fourth incarnation, the first to take advantage of the company’s expansive Cripe Stage, and the result is a gorgeously performed, gorgeously designed stunner.

Readers, filmgoers, and TV viewers will recall the oft-told tale of Mary Lennox (Catherine Last, alternating with her lookalike sister Elizabeth), born and raised in the British Indian Empire, then orphaned at age eleven when an outbreak of cholera kills everyone around her, everyone that is except poor, parentless Mary.

Sent back to England to reside with her mother’s widowed brother-in-law Archibald Craven (Troy Dailey), Mary finds herself stuck in the gloomy Yorkshire moorlands, not particularly welcome in her new abode, either by unsmiling housekeeper Mrs. Medlock (Trina Estanislao) or grouchy groundskeeper Ben Weatherstaff (Matthew Noah), and surrounded by ghosts, not the least of whom is the late lamented Lily Craven (Laura M. Hathaway) herself.

On the plus side, Mary does make friends with spirited young chambermaid Martha (Sarah Pierce) and her spunky, nature-loving brother Dickon (Christopher Diem), who introduces Mary to the titular garden, locked since Lily’s death.

Later, our plucky heroine makes the acquaintance of her supposedly sickly young cousin Colin (Charlie Firlik, alternating with Jacob Voight), confined to his bed since birth and cared for (a bit too obsessively) by his physician uncle Neville (Kyle Critelli), still suffering from unrequited love for Lily.

Not about to give up on her highly dysfunctional new family, Mary determines to return The Secret Garden to life, nurse Colin back to health, and bring about a reconciliation between her young cousin and the father whom the boy mistakenly believes has never once paid his sickbed a visit.

It’s a story that has kept young readers spellbound for over a hundred years, and young movie watchers enraptured since the first of its four big-screen adaptations in 1919, not to mention its multiple TV versions since the 1950s.

The Secret Garden, The Musical (music by Lucy Simon and book and lyrics by Marsha Norman) has also been a Chance Theater December staple since its first appearance in 2010, followed by return engagements in 2013 and 2016.

The years since its last incarnation have seen the Chance open its long-awaited Bette Aitkin theater arts Center, and The Secret Garden is doubly impressive this fourth time round, a twice-as-wide playing area allowing returning production designers Wilkerson and Masako Tobaru even greater opportunities to transport audiences from India to England and from the gloomy rooms and hallways of the Craven home to the outdoor moorlands and to the garden which will, as we can easily guess, blossom simultaneously with Colin’s health.

Casey Long and KC Wilkerson deliver the directorial goods every bit as impressively as in years past, their casting choices proving positively inspired, beginning with Last’s (and I’m guessing both Last sisters’) deliciously bratty take on pre-transformation Mary and the lovely, caring, but never less than feisty girl she becomes.

Casting Pierce, who originated the role of Mary back in 2010, as the high spirited Martha, proves a stroke of genius, and Pierce invests the role she once played opposite with abundant good humor and warmth, and power pipes that make Act Two’s “Hold On” the evening’s biggest applause getter.

Dailey and Critelli not only look like they could be brothers, their equally forceful dramatic turns are matched by the power and passion of their pipes as baritone meets baritone in a heart-wrenchingly beautiful “Lily’s Eyes.”

Lily herself is sung to soprano perfection by the exquisite Hathaway in her forth time round in the role; Dickon is brought to irrepressible, irresistible life by Chance favorite Diem, and just-turned-ten Firlik proves himself a star in the making (with vocal chops to match) as the most delightful of Colins.

Estanislao and Noah benefit enormously from this year’s trimmed-down cast (three fewer players than in Secret Gardens past), which allow them to not only make strong impressions as mean Mrs. Medlock and crusty gardener Ben but as (respectively) Ayah and Fakir and assorted ghosts, with Ryan J. Lloyd (Albert and others) and Abigail Cox (Rose, Mrs. Winthrop, and others) completing an all-around splendiferous cast.

There’s not a lot of dancing in The Secret Garden, but what there is is once again engagingly choreographed by Robert Hahn, and as she did in last December’s Little Women, musical director Gabrielle Maldonado has not only inspired spectacular vocals and harmonies but provides almost non-stop solo-piano accompaniment without missing a note.

Erika C. Miller’s striking costumes contribute greatly to the show’s classy look, Long’s sound design is once again crystal clear (aided by audio engineer James Markoski), and dialect coach Glenda Morgan Brown has the cast speaking in a variety of accents, posh, Yorkshire and more.

Tucker Boyes and Brooklyn Vizcarra are understudies.

Gwen Sloan is associate costume designer and Jordan “L” Curiel is assistant lighting designer. Jordan Jones is stage manager.

Like last year’s best-yet Little Women, this year’s Chance Theater December reprise manages to improve on what was already a proven holiday hit. Secret Gardens don’t get more all-around stunning than this.

Chance Theater, 5522 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim Hills.
www.chancetheater.com

–Steven Stanley
December 2, 2023
Photos: Francis Gacad

Tags: Chance Theater, Lucy Simon, Marsha Norman, Orange County Theater Review