Outside of Les Miserables I don’t know if there is a musical that has more classically beautiful songs than The Secret Garden. I have my critiques of the show but it truly has some gorgeous melodies and lyrics and I always am grateful for any chance I have to see it, community theatre or professional. This weekend a wonderful version is playing at Bluffdale Arts and it is definitely worthy of your time.

This production of The Secret Garden is directed by Charity Checketts and Andrea Taylor and before everything began they talked about their personal connection with the piece and they dedicated the performance to the memory of their friends who had “How I Could I Ever Know?” played at their funeral. I love this intimate moment with the directors and audience and giving us some insight into their perspective and emotional state as directors. I wish more companies did this.

In truth the entire production felt intimate and personal which is a hard thing to pull off in the giant Hidden Valley Middle School auditorium. Even Melodee Turner’s performance as Mary felt nuanced and deep where especially at the start sometimes it is all brattiness without the softness to bring home her deep loss and pain. The whole cast is great including Barton Sloan as Archibald Craven and Mattie Curtis as Lily. They of course kept with Bluffdale’s tradition of massive casts including a large children’s ensemble. I’m not a big fan of the “Wick” song but using the kids to symbolize the hidden potential of the garden was very cute and effective.

The costumes by a large team of talented individuals is truly outstanding. You do not expect to have professional quality costumes at an arts council production like this. I love how not only are they intricate with period-accurate details but they are done in a beige color palate which when together look like a sepia-toned turn of the century photograph. What an incredible and immersive detail for a production like this! I also love the sets with 3 moving doorways that flipped around to create different spaces, and they also have a 2-story platform that allows for actors to be singing on different levels. For example, you might have Mary and Collin on the ground level and Albert and Rose on the higher level. This keeps the audiences attention when on its own it’s a musical that can feel a little bloated and tedious.

The main struggles of The Secret Garden at Bluffdale Arts are in the sound department. The microphones gave the actors a lot of issues which is frustrating but not uncommon in a large school auditorium like the one they had to work with. It’s a bummer when that happens, but they pushed forward and that’s what matters most. Even with a few hiccups this production is a magical experience I highly recommend. It is playing through November 10th and tickets can be purchased here.

The Secret Garden has music by Lucy Simon and lyrics and book by Marsha Norman. It is based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett and first premiered on Broadway in 1991 where it ran for 2 years.

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