Child drama, adult trauma
Scattered leaves “The Secret Garden” wilts at the Ahmanson by Bondo Wyszpolski In the 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett a cholera epidemic sweeps through British India and 10-year-old Mary Lennox is orphaned, then sent to Uncle Archibald Craven in Yorkshire, to a forlorn mansion that would be at home in a gothic tale by Hawthorne or Poe. Mary doesn’t easily adjust to her new surroundings or to its residents, and for good reason. The book has subsequently been revived and molded into other mediums, including the 1991 musical with book and lyrics by Marsha Norman with music by Lucy Simon. It’s been fiddled with over the years, most recently by Warren Carlyle, who directed and choreographed the current show at the Ahmanson Theatre, onstage through March 26. In the opening scene, Cholera (a healthy Kelley Dorney) glides among a bevy of Edwardian-era garbed men and women holding a red scarf that she lightly but swiftly pulls across their throats. It’s an effective way to symbolize death, sudden or otherwise. But before we depart India, leaving behind Mary’s ayah, or nanny (Yamuna Meleth), we’re privy to a Hindi chant by a fakir (Vishal Vaidya). The latter actor has insisted, this…
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