Breaking Character: The Secret Garden is the perfect musical to direct at a middle school level, and I was fortunate enough to produce this show with 7th and 8th graders at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in 2012. Based on the timeless classic novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, this is a musical show with a strong female lead, who we discover through music and text is a force of nature.
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I got to stage manage The Secret Garden in high school, after a childhood of watching the VHS on a tiny tv when I was sick, listening to ONLY Dickon's songs, and reading the book over and over until the pages became too worn. The show I worked on wasn't professional, it was entirely a middle school cast, and I didn't realize until the show was over how much the content, and the creative process, meant to everyone involved. In the middle school version, like the article mentions, the ensemble acts as a sort of Greek Chorus, and for a lack of a set, they acted as both the house and the garden. I had worked with middle schoolers before, but it wasn't until The Secret Garden that I was able to see the raw talent each of them possessed, it takes a lot for a kid to realistically play a stoic Archibald, a ghostly Lily, a lonely but hopeful Mary, and a myriad of other powerful roles. The process through which each of the actors learned on a deeper level who their character was, and their relationships with others was incredible. The Secret Garden as a show is full of sorrow, but its an overall story about finding a family and going through grief in a healthier way. To this day I get chills when I hear the soundtrack, and whenever I see a new production being talked about I like to see who is playing Mary, because unlike our school version, this Mary is usually the only child in the cast, and it's always so intriguing to see them hold their own against far older cast members.
It is so important to carefully chose a production, both at a professional and educational level. Often times my high school would chose a script in which students had trouble relating to because of the extreme age gap between them and the characters they are portraying. I appreciate how the author chose to acknowledge the emotions and troubles of a middle school student in relation to The Secret Garden. Because the themes center around family, free will, insecurity, a director can more adequately create “As If” examples for their actors. This not only creates more believable acting, but it also creates a better experience for the students. The Secret Garden is also a story with a female lead, which is not incredibly common for a classic. This can empower young girls to play strong roles that truly inspire them. It was revolutionary when it emerged, and it has remained prominent in the theatrical canon.
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