Line #26 Theatre/TheSecretGarden


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3	''The Secret Garden'' is a musical with words by Marsha Norman and music by Lucy Simon, based on the novel ''Literature/TheSecretGarden''. It debuted on Broadway in 1991, with Creator/DaisyEagan as Mary Lennox and Creator/MandyPatinkin as Archibald Craven.
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5	This version placed more emphasis on the adults, with much of the plot being narrated by a ghostly chorus of "Dreamers". It also expands the plot considerably, up to adding in a primary conflict in the form of Archibald Craven's brother Dr. Neville Craven, who was in a love triangle with his own brother and Lillias, and is charged with both keeping Colin healthy and keeping the estate in order while Archibald is away.
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7	!!This musical contains examples of:
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9	* AdaptationDyeJob: Lily's much-sung-about eyes (see below) were hazel instead of the agate gray they were in the book.
10	* AdaptationNameChange: Lillias Craven's name is shortened to Lily.
11	* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Mary's parents are shown to have been much kinder and loving to Mary in life, [[spoiler:and just as much so in death]] than they ever were in the Book. However, her mother still has a selfish personality and is seen in flashback failing to relate to her daughter.
12	* AgeLift: Dickon moves from being of an age with Mary and Colin to being a young adult. This is much easier for a production than having to manage three child stars, but it also limits Dickon's character as it would be inappropriate for him to be as close to Mary as the original character. He comes across more as a mischievous druid.
13	* CounterpointDuet: "Lily's Eyes" is a duet between Archibald and Neville, the two men who loved Lily.
14	* FamilyEyeResemblance: This is the subject of the song "Lily's Eyes," as Archibald and Neville observe that Mary has them.
15	* FinalLoveDuet: "How Could I Ever Know", in which the ghost of TheLostLenore duets with her husband.
16	* FloralThemeNaming: In the musical, Mary's mother and Colin's mother are sisters and are named Rose and Lily.
17	* GhostSong:
18	** Almost all of Lily's material, especially "Come To My Garden", and a half-ghost duet "How Could I Ever Know".
19	** The GreekChorus ensemble is comprised of the ghosts of people Mary knew in India, including her parents.
20	* GreekChorus: The Dreamers, a chorus of ghosts who haunt the house.
21	* IronicNurseryTune: "Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary" is sung by the ghosts several times in the musical.
22	* JerkassHasAPoint: In the "Quartet," Rose asserts valid cautions about Lily's plan to marry Archie which end up coming true, albeit in ways she could not have foreseen - but her unpleasant personality and the show's firm Archie/Lily ship make it easy to ignore that she's right, and she comes off as the antagonist of the scene.
23	* TheLostLenore: Lillias is this to both her husband Archibald and his brother Neville.
24	* MassiveMultiplayerEnsembleNumber: An interesting twist on this trope can be found in the "Quartet" at the beginning of Act II, which juxtaposes Archie and Neville's feelings about Archie's current loneliness after Lily's death with a flashback to Rose voicing to Lily her [[UglyGuyHotWife objections]] over Lily's impending marriage to Archie.
25	%%* OohMeAccentsSlipping: In the Broadway Recording, you can tell that the actors tried really hard with their Yorkshire and RP accents, but they're still pretty cringeworthy.
26	* RemakeCameo: In the 2016 revival, Martha is played by Daisy Eagan, who was Mary in the original 1991 production.
27	* StarCrossedLovers: It is revealed at one point that Lilias Craven's family, especially her sister, were dead set against her marrying Archibald because he was a hunchback. Her sister threatened to disown her, but she married him anyway because she loved him so much. Then she died. Archibald is still in a mess over her death when Mary arrives ten years later.
28	* TheWatson: Mary takes on this role temporarily when Mrs. Medlock introduces her to her new home, conveniently telling Mary all the backstory of the home and the family for the audience to hear.

Context Theatre / TheSecretGarden