In the Garden!

Once upon a time -- half my life ago (has it been 15 years already?) -- I played a maid in The Secret Garden at the Childrens' Theatre. We had a HUGE cast, and I was in a ton of random scenes as a little blonde maid. The concept of the show was that the household, like the garden, starts drab and gray and then blossoms, so we started the show with tightly-bound hair and no make-up on and totally silent, and by the end we had all fluffed our hair out and put lipstick on and were giggly and silly (backstage we were always giggly and silly -- it was such a fun show!). I think I should find and watch the video of the show. Those were good times.


Anyway, fifteen years later, I get to explore another part of the story! The Childrens' Theatre is doing The Secret Garden again, and I am playing Lilias Craven -- the dead mom whose garden Mary finds and brings back to life, along with all of the people at Misselthwaite Manor (yes, I'm a ghost! *scary* Whooooo!). This isn't the musical version of the play, so my part is pretty small, but since the play opens a week after I close Kiss Me Kate and I have all kinds of rehearsal conflicts, I am not surprised. In fact, I am thrilled! I won't have much stage time, but I absolutely love the character, director, cast, and story. Plus, I'm playing someone everyone loves/loved. It's awesome!

Our director asked us to read the book and come to the first rehearsal with insights into the character. I had seen many movie and play versions of The Secret Garden, but I had never read the original book by Frances Hodgson Burnett! It was amazing to me how closely the play script follows the book; I can go through the scenes and find character motivations for each one. Of course, since my character is dead, most of my insights come from what other characters say and remember about her -- my imagination can take care of the rest.

The cast is full of good friends and I am really looking forward to this experience. It is a smaller, more intimate cast, in this smaller, more intimate theatre, and the director has some really cool ideas. It's going to be a neat show. I love going back to shows I've done and playing other parts! (I've done Brigadoon, Bye Bye Birdie, and Oliver twice, and multiple versions of A Christmas Carol.) This is a great story with so many layers to discover; I am excited!