Showing @ Festival Theatre until 8 Jan
The Secret Garden is not so secret, after film and TV, this triple Tony award winning show rolled into Edinburgh and shows the packed Edinburgh audience what family entertainment is all about.
With music from Lucy Simon and lyrics by Marsha Norman, this adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s book is brought to life with a cacophony of sound fit to raise the dead. With ghostly apparitions on stage singing and dancing and with the back story of death skilfully woven into the main storyline the tale of the orphan Mary Lennox’s new life in Yorkshire in a tactile and stylish way.
Sophie Kavanagh and Toby Hughes, playing the child leads, Mary Lennox and Colin Craven respectively, are more terrific finds from Erskine Stewart’s Melville’s Performing Arts Programme which has seen over 600 performances in professional musicals and operas. Whilst Casper Phillipson as Uncle Archie brought the perfect level of hopelessness to the role and the looks of a young Robert Redford that should see Broadway calling him. With an excellent set from Francis O’Conner the immense job of turning the stage from India to Yorkshire and back again is mesmerising .
This is a Christmas masterpiece. Look out for tears, triumphs and troubles. Cholera outbreaks, depression, unrequited love and disability are not the normal Christmas faire. Oh if it were. From its sensational music and songs to its five star acting and set that transports you expertly. This is both for adults and children in equal measure, however cynical.