Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues is so well known these days that sitcoms refer to it; Redbook and Marie Claire are as likely to offer explicit sex tips as Cosmopolitan. So isn't a stage adaptation of Nancy Friday's groundbreaking 1973 collection of female sexual fantasies, My Secret Garden, at least 30 years too late?
Actually, it's right on time. There's a lot more to sexuality than sexual display, and this adaptation, done by Friday herself with Christopher Scott, who also directed, reveals the power and danger in sexual frankness. It also makes a virtue of the time gap. Early in the play, the character of Friday (perky Mimi Quillin) crows, "It's 1970 -- and the world is on fire.... Women have the pill and the power to take charge!" The gorgeous '70s costumes by Michele Reisch and the ongoing soundtrack of '70s hits (no sound designer listed) add to the fun in this flashback. The play's frame involves Friday's conception and execution of her book: having to convince skeptical editors and encourage women to come forward in a world where people say, seriously, "Women do not have sexual fantasies. That territory is the exclusive domain of men."
Most of the play is the simple re-enactment of women recounting their fantasies to Friday. And these fantasies remain by turns beautiful, startling, and shocking. Some of the fantasies are benign -- rape fantasies that allow "good girls" to have pleasure with no consequences -- but some, involving bestiality and incest, are disturbing and provocative. All are taken from actual letters or interviews. All the roles are played by women, with a fine, brave cast of four playing multiple parts.
My Secret Garden may be the most sexually explicit production running in New York, despite its lack of nudity and sexual couplings. It's not for first dates, but if you go, you might have your consciousness raised.
Presented by Eric Krebs Productions
at the 45th Street Theatre, 354 W. 45th St., NYC.
Feb. 14-March 11. Mon., Tue., and Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 and 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 and 7 p.m.
(212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.