The Secret Garden Hits All The Right Notes
Lilly Molini
Staff Writer
From tremendous acting to a wonderful storyline, “The Secret Garden” was all around a musical nobody would find dull. With audience members of all ages, the play would have been up anyone’s ally.
Mary Lennox (sophomore Bailey Neben) was a child who was born to parents in India who died later forcing Lennox to live with her uncle Archibald Craven (junior Tucker Flodman). Throughout the play, audiences watched Mary’s difficulties she had with her hostile attitude fitting into her new life.
Although Mary is a cute little girl, played wonderfully by Neben, she has many conflicts with her cold-hearted personality. When Lennox first meets her servant Martha Sowerby (sophomore Makayla Siefker), she is quite bitter toward her and isn’t about to hear anything that comes out of the stranger’s mouth. Sowerby tells Lennox of a secret garden that Lily (sophomore Emma Scheel), Mary’s dead aunt, use to spends hours a day growing beautiful roses before her death.
Many different moods throughout the entire play gave it a marvelous feeling. With many realistic aspects, due to superb acting and props, it almost seemed real. Throughout the play, many were stunned by the wonderful solos performed by a member of the characters. The overall script of “The Secret Garden” made the play easy to follow and the audience never caught themselves nodding to sleep. The storyline always had an amazing twist that kept everyone at the edge of their seats.
With the acts the play had it was far from unpleasant. Many of the actors have been performing for many years and it gave the performance very lifelike aspects. When Ben Weatherstaff (senior Dalton Polivka) and Martha’s brother Dickon (senior Tyson Mooers) came into the storyline, there was never a dull moment. Hints of comedy and their off-stage cheery personalities in scenes like when Mooers sang his duet called “wick”. The audience could tell just how much he enjoyed his character with his light-hearted performance with a smile from ear to ear as he bounced around the stage.
With people of all ages in the audience, this play was greatly enjoyed by everyone. The actors, storyline and performance would have caught anyone’s eye.
Many believed the play was so good, they were delighted to spend time out of most of their spring break to watch “The Secret Garden”. It’s no secret “The Secret Garden” was a crowd pleaser; it was so well written and performed. An act like this shouldn’t be kept hush hush.
Be sure to keep an eye out for the drama department's spring 2015 production.
