New troupe blossoms in ‘Secret Garden’ 

By Grant Butler, THE OREGONIAN 

Portland’s newest theater company arrived last weekend at the World Trade Center Theatre, and if its debut production of “The Secret Garden” is any indication, it’s a troupe worth keeping an eye on. 

STAGED!, which plans to present a series of concert-style shows, kicked things off with the rarely produced early ‘90s Broadway musical, with music by Lucy Simon and lyrics by Marsha Norman, based on the much-loved story by Francis Hodgson Burnett. 

“Secret Garden” tells the story of Mary, an orphaned girl (played winningly by 11-year-old Roxanne Stathos) who finds herself in the care of an uncle (Bruce Blanchard) beset with grief over the untimely death of his wife (Katie Harman).  As Mary struggles with her own loneliness, she finds comfort and purpose inside the dead wife’s walled-in garden, a magical place that eventually draws her closer to her uncle and a sickly cousin (Bryan Kinder). 

It’s a bittersweet tale, told in a nonlinear way, with the action jumping back and forth between the present and the past, intertwining Mary’s story with the backstory of her own parents in colonial India.  At its heart, “Garden” may be less about Mary’s search for a place to call home and more of a meditation on redemption, as the uncle comes around to embrace his new family. 

STAGED!’s adaptation of the show, while done in full costume, was performed with minimal sets and bare-bones choreography, forcing theatergoers to take a deeper look into the characters.  Stripped of spectacle, it offered an intriguing, introspective way to explore the story. 

For its first effort, the company assembled a particularly strong cast, with several performers showing lots of vocal firepower, in particular James Langston Drake and Pam Mahon. 

The actors were accompanied by an eight-member orchestra, which played onstage behind the action.  For a slimmed-down ensemble, it produced a lot of sound, occasionally overpowering the children’s voices. 

Next up for STAGED! in the spring is the off-Broadway hit “Violet,” by Jeanine Tesori followed by a celebration of the works of Betty Comden.  No firm dates have been set, but “Secret Garden” whets the appetite. 

The Oregonian, Wednesday, November 16, 2005