The Secret Garden, Pegasus Players. On Broadway and in the touring version seen earlier this year at the Shubert, this musical version of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s story was a moving work of dark enchantment, thanks to the individual quality and unified interaction of Marsha Norman’s libretto, Lucy Simon’s music, Heidi Landesman’s storybook set, and Susan H. Schulman’s sensitive direction. But this emotionally flat non-Equity production is utterly lacking in wonder, excitement, romance, and suspense as it recounts the tale of an orphan girl who overcomes her own isolation to bring joy to her morbid uncle’s spooky manor on the moors. Director Victoria Bussert, whose staging displays none of the warmth or insight of her earlier Pegasus triumphs (Anyone Can Whistle, Pacific Overtures), is hampered from the start by Micheal Smith’s cheesy set, which consists mainly of rolling walls tackily hung with fake-looking vines and flowers. The clunky decor is disastrous in a work that depends heavily on visual detail to convey psychological subtext and period atmosphere.
