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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories 10 things to know for Monday Since You Asked: Neighbor can move it or pave it Table Rock solid: Elementary school praised for keeping attendance up Wagner Creek Bridge repairs set into motion Downtown activity prompts need for review board Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Emergency Services Caretaker charged with stealing from disabled clients Medford: Most dangerous city in Oregon? 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Downtown activity prompts need for review board ... Oregon, Alabama, FSU, Ohio State are in college football playoffs ... Table Rock solid: Elementary school praised for keeping attendance up ... Downtown activity prompts need for review board ... Oregon, Alabama, FSU, Ohio State are in college football playoffs ... REVIEW Review: Randall Theatre's 'Secret Garden' still enchanting On the Randall Theatre stage, "The Secret Garden" pleases with its overall direction — it's the story of a household's transformation from plague to redemption — even as it frustrates with its linearity. By Bill Varble Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble Mail Tribune Posted Nov. 8, 2014 @ 12:39 pm By Bill Varble Mail Tribune Posted Nov. 8, 2014 @ 12:39 pm » Social News You know how the movies always change a book? And everybody says the book was better? Well, a new stage version of "The Secret Garden" doesn't do the change thing. In her adaptation of the beloved children's book, which opened Friday night at Medford's Randall Theatre, playwright Cynthia Hanson-Hewitt hews pretty much to the details of Frances Hodgson Burnett's original tale from a century ago. That's the presumably good news. But it's not unalloyed good. A play is a different critter from a novel, with different dynamics. Instead of a drawn-out thing telling something to a solitary reader, it's a compressed thing that shows something to a communal audience. On the Randall stage, "The Secret Garden" pleases with its overall direction — it's the story of a household's transformation from plague to redemption — even as it frustrates with its linearity. A quick re-cap. Spoiled, bratty 10-year-old Mary (Eva Bartlett) is sent to live with her rich but morose uncle Archibald (William Coyne) after the deaths of her remote, uncaring parents in a cholera plague in India. She's warned to keep to her rooms. The uncle is spiritually dead. He plods through life only to grieve for his dead wife and roam the world in an effort to forget the past. With the support of some kindly servants (supportive Martha, played by Caitlin Lushington, old Ben, played by David J. Rowley, and Martha's brother, 12-year-old nature boy Dickon, played by Matthew Figurate) Mary begins gaining confidence and venturing from the big old mansion (think "Jane Eyre") onto the moor (think "Wuthering Heights"). There are comments on the English class system. Martha can't imagine (and doesn't want to) what would become of her if she lost her "position" at the mansion. Mary discovers she has a cousin, an apparent invalid named Colin (Ella Rose Schaefer) with a morbid fear of death. She also discovers, with the aid of a friendly robin (who sings a distinctly un-robin-like song) a secret, walled-in garden with a locked gate. And the stakes ratchet higher, change in the air. Under the direction of Susan Aversa-Orrego (who directed the Randall's recent "Blithe Spirit") the healing power of the secret garden is rendered mainly with some shrubbery and Kelly Latham's lighting (a 1949 black-and-white film version with Margaret O'Brien burst into Technicolor for scenes in the restored garden). A busy set by Russell Medeiros, Toni Holley and Jonathan Keith stuffs the garden, Mary's rooms, Colin's bedroom and more all on the stage at once. Dr. Craven (Jon Oles), the physician treating Colin, is no longer the villain he was in the 1991 Broadway musical (which won a best actress Tony for 11-year-old Daisy Eagan), in which he stood to inherit the estate if Colin died. He's once again merely a clueless mediocrity. This is faithful to the original story, but its robs the play of any immediate, believable conflict beyond the larger, allegorical one of a plucky young heroine facing a kind of spiritual plague. Mary is a fish out of water, and the waters are troubled for sure, but there's no shark. Although insisting on a specific interpretation of a symbol is often a fool's errand, it's impossible not to see the garden as the embodiment of Burnett's interest in Mary Baker Eddy's Christian Science theories. The sickness afflicting Archibald and his household is an illusion based in mental error and spiritual poverty. Dr. Craven's efforts are ineffectual not because of self-interest as in the musical, but because his science is based on the illusion of purely physical disorders. The tale also has the familiar elements of the hero's journey (Mary is called to a great adventure, accepts the call with reluctance, crosses a threshold into an unfamiliar world, meets allies and adversaries, etc.) and the fairy tale (an orphan, a forbidden room, an animal-ally, etc.). In spite of all that, or maybe because of all that, Mary's story has resonated for generations, and this production, buoyed by a sparkling Eva Bartlett, will no doubt please audiences, especially as it tightens up during its run. "The Secret Garden" ($15) plays at the Randall Thursdays through Sundays through Nov. 23. Visit randalltheatre.com or call 541-632-3258. Reach freelance writer Bill Varble at [email protected]. By Bill Varble Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble Mail Tribune Posted Nov. 8, 2014 @ 12:39 pm » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2014 Local Media Group, Inc. 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