Before The Curtain Goes Up. |
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Talking to your kids about what they're about to see. The theatrical adaptation of the beloved book The Secret Garden adds a new element. The characters from the novel are joined in the musical by "Dreamers" or ghosts, who help bring the past to life on stage and guide the living characters through the story. The extended explanation below is provided to help your entire family to better understand and enjoy the production. The show opens with Lily, a beautiful woman in a blue dress, singing in a tree. A chanting Fakir (a snake charmer) then appears, which shows us we're now in India , where young Mary Lennox lives with her parents. Mary's father, an officer in the British Army, is holding a cocktail party. When the adults at the cocktail party begin to take ill, Albert finds Mary and rushes her to bed. Mary then has a nightmare in which the adults, dancing around her bed, one by one fall ill and die. When Mary wakes up from her nightmare, she learns from two army officers that everyone at the party, including her mother and father, have indeed died of cholera. She is taken to live with her Uncle Archibald in Yorkshire , in the north of England . She is followed there by ghosts of those who died in India , including her mother and father. They are following her to look after her, to help her recover from the loss of her parents, and to help her be strong in a difficult time. England is drab, and the living people there usually wear dark clothing. The ghosts, on the other hand, are colorful and vibrant. Some of the ghosts are English people, in fine dresses and uniforms. Two of the ghosts, the Fakir and the Ayah (Mary's nanny) are Indian, dressed in Indian fabrics. Mary (and the ghosts) discover a dark, sad house. Her Uncle Archibald is also grieving a loss-the death of his wife, Lily, the beautiful woman in the blue dress we saw singing in a tree. The ghost of Lily follows Archibald just as the ghosts from India follow Mary-trying to help him recover from his grief. The ghosts use different ways to help the living find their way-sometimes they "haunt" them or scare them, sometimes they reach out to try to comfort them. Always the ghosts are trying to help the living to recover, to live fully, and they will not leave until their mission is accomplished. As Mary learns more about the house, and its secrets, the ghosts will help her to help the troubled living who live there... eventually leading her to the secret garden.
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