Follow what the press are saying about The Secret Garden Musical here.
Rave Review – The Stage
Thom Dibdin, 21 December 2010
“The Edinburgh Festival Theatre has found its niche as it takes on the role of producing house for the second year running. Big budget musicals are what its stage was made for, and this imaginative production delivers with style… A thoroughly entertaining production that leaves few dry eyes in the house.” Read the full review
OnstageScotland Review
20 December 2010
“the production looks stunning. Set pieces glide across the stage and the chorus link together to create stretching corridors, making the production all the grander.”
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5-Star Review – TV Bomb
18 December 2010
“This is a Christmas masterpiece. Look out for tears, triumphs and troubles… From its sensational music and songs to its five star acting and set that transports you expertly. This is both for adults and children in equal measure, however cynical.” Read the full review
4-Star Review – The Scotsman
17 December 2010
“a gorgeous, polished, haunting, intelligent and deeply dramatic piece of music theatre, spectacular in scale, beautifully performed, and powerfully directed”
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4-Star Review – EdinburghGuide.com
17 December 2010
“a very adult interpretation of a children’s story. Yet it held the focus of the younger audience with some stunning scenery, superb acting, beautiful movement and fabulous singing.” Read the full review
4-Star Review – Edinburgh Spotlight
16 December 2010
“life has its ‘wuthering’, the painful struggle to get through, but being alive – being ‘wick’ – means that along with the pain you can experience joy, growth and connection.”
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4-Star Review – The List
15 December 2010
“An imaginative set and some truly superb vocals also help turn Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel, published 100 years ago, into a moving and occasionally witty production for modern audiences.” Read the full review
4-Star Review – The Herald
14 December 2010
“A live band sends the music powering out of the pit – all to splendid effect but, while adults will be swept up in the sung narrative, younger children may fidget, as if locked out of this Secret Garden.” Read the full review
Glowing Review – Lothian Life
14 December 2010
“John Stalker’s Festival Theatre production of this children’s classic, looks great, sounds great, and tugs at the heart strings… Sophie Kavanagh and Toby Hughes are terrific as Mary and Colin. They sing beautifully, they are believable. With Siobhan Redmond and Norman Pace also in the cast, excellent live music, and a beautiful finale the stage is set for a seasonal five star winner.” Read the full review
5-Star Review – Edinburgh Evening News
13 December 2010
In a remarkably faithful adaptation of the original tale, Marsha Norman and Lucy Simons’ musical explores the impact of grief on the family left behind and the magic one little girl can weave in breathing life back into her world. Read the full review
I love being back in Scotland, says Siobhan Redmond
Sunday Mail, 12 December 2010
STRIKING actress Siobhan Redmond is a firm believer that it’s redheads who have the most fun. And she is certainly having the time of her life in the all-singing, all-dancing adaptation of The Secret Garden, currently showing at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre… Read the full article
Getting ready for The Secret Garden
Edinburgh Evening News, 9 December 2010
“The Secret Garden is going to be great and because it is not a panto, it is offering a different type of theatre for Christmas.” For one Edinburgh schoolgirl, landing a lead role in The Secret Garden, and getting to star alongside the likes of Siobhan Redmond, Norman Pace, Graham Bickley and Caspar Phillipson, was an early Christmas present she could only have dreamed of… Read the full article
Scotsman Interview: Siobhan Redmond
7 December 2010
It is early autumn, and Redmond has just landed the role of the “frosty but faithful” housekeeper, Mrs Medlock, in Edinburgh Festival Theatre’s Christmas production of The Secret Garden. Redmond has some catching up to do. Until now she has never read the 1911 Frances Hodgson Burnett novel that the show is based upon… Read the full article
My Health: Norman Pace
The Herald, 6 December 2010
I don’t worry overly about my health on the grounds that if I did, I’d get stress-related illnesses. When you get a little bit older, you consider every twinge to be potentially lethal… Read the full article
Siobhan Redmond chats to Shereen Nanjiani
BBC Radio Scotland, 6 December 2010
“Siobhan’s in the capital to star in “The Secret Garden” at the Festival Theatre. We talked about her career on stage and TV and about her own family background. She spoke very movingly about losing her mother very young to cancer and the effect it had on her…” Listen to the interview
Get your Claus into Santa
Edinburgh Evening News, 4 December 2010
Jenners has delighted generations of children and this year promises to be no different, with the grotto designers linking in with the Festival Theatre’s stunning production of The Secret Garden… Read the full article
The secret’s out as schools gifted copies of classic
Edinburgh Evening News, 24 August 2010
THOUSANDS of school pupils across Edinburgh and the Lothians are set to receive free copies of classic novel The Secret Garden to coincide with a production of the popular tale in the Capital… Read the full article
Aberdour girl lands panto role
Dunfermline Press, 11 August 2010
IT may still be summertime – honestly – but one Aberdour girl is already dreaming of Christmas after landing a lead role in a festive Edinburgh show. Aspiring actress Sophie Kavanagh (11) hopes the role of Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden will be her big break into showbiz. Read the full article
Siobhan Redmond joins cast of Edinburgh’s Secret Garden
The Stage, 5 August 2010
John Stalker, chief executive of the Festival Theatre, said: “I am thrilled that Siobhan is joining The Secret Garden company. She is a towering figure in British theatre and along with all the other superb members of our cast our audiences are promised a veritable garden of delights at the Festival Theatre this Christmas.” Read the full article
The Secret Garden at The Festival Theatre
The Edinburgh Reporter, 4 August 2010
The Festival Theatre is delighted to announce that acclaimed Scottish actress Siobhan Redmond is to lead the cast in its brand new musical production of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s novel The Secret Garden this Christmas… read the full article
“Pure Christmas Gold, it should be said”
Thom Dibdin, 15 April 2010
Veteren Scottish reviewer Thom Dibdin looks forward to The Secret Garden when the new season is announced at the Festival and King’s Theatres, Edinburgh. Read the full article
Secret Garden heads line-up of blooming great shows
The Scotsman, 14 April 2010
‘…Mr Stalker said: “It is a pleasure to make something very special for our local audiences, and the fact that a show made around the corner will be seen around the world is great news for Scottish theatre.”…’ By Catherine Salmond Read the full article
Edinburgh Festival Theatre to stage second in-house Christmas show
The Stage, 14 April 2010
‘Based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s novel, the musical picked up a pair of Tony Awards when it opened on Broadway in 1991…’ Read the full article
