THEATER REVIEW

Garden blossoms onstage in Argenta

Don't keep this show a secret. Let everybody know what's blooming onstage in North Little Rock. An excellent cast of 24 made Friday's opening night of the The Secret Garden at the Argenta Community Theater magical.

The show (music by Lucy Simon, book and lyrics by Marsha Norman, based on the classic children's book by Frances Hodgson Burnett) is a couple of songs too long for the storyline, but you couldn't ask for a better performance.

Orphaned in India, the only survivor of a cholera epidemic, 11-year-old Mary Lennox (a superb turn by Grace Pitts) travels to Yorkshire, England, to live with her uncles, Archibald Craven (Greg Robinson), embittered and twisted by a humped back and the death of his wife, Lily (Karen Q. Clark), and Neville (James Norris), embittered and twisted by his covetousness for his brother's estate.

With the help of merry chambermaid Martha (Jessica Mylonas) and her mystical brother Dickon (D. Brent Miller), Mary finds Archibald's supposedly invalid son Colin (John Michael Montgomery) and Lily's long-abandoned garden, the healing power of which she unlocks and thereby makes all well.

Among the show's high points: the brothers' two cross-purposes duets, Mylonas' charming Yorkshire accent and what happens every time Clark opens her mouth.

With the possible exception of some confusing dream sequences, excellently populated by a choral host of ghosts (hint: it's the folks wearing the sashes), director Vincent Insalaco has done a fine job marshalling his forces, adeptly using the aisles to compensate for the limited stage space.

Michael Klucher's set is versatile and attractive. I miss having a live orchestra, which has been a hallmark of Argenta Community Theater shows, but Michael Heavener's synthesized orchestrations serve the show well.

Additional performances this weekend are at 8 p.m. today and 3 p.m. Sunday, with shows also at 7 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday and 8 p.m. Friday and March 4. Information is available by calling (501) 353-1443 or visiting argentacommunitytheater.com.

Metro on 02/25/2017

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