A cherished story that has enchanted generations of readers, The Secret Garden will take to the stage this winter at Wheelock Family Theatre with Susan Kosoff and Jane Staab contributing original book, music, and lyrics. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic novel combines a child’s fairy tale with a story of moral renewal; learning to love oneself and others through love of the earth. With its central metaphor of bringing a garden back to life and its lovely natural imagery, it celebrates life without crossing into sentimentality.
A story acknowledging the fears and fancies of young people, celebrating the escapist yearnings in all of us, and, ultimately, realizing that people have the capacity to grow and change —The Secret Garden is a homage to the healing powers of nature—sometimes tangible and sometimes ethereal—that can nurse the seemingly most impenetrable of wounds.
In Burnett’s original words: “Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow.” And in today’s chaotic and often scary world, one little girl’s determination to tend roses can inspire charity and compassion. The Secret Garden is rooted in WFT’s understanding that this story is ideal for family audiences.