“Notes from the Garden”

“Notes from the Garden” is a series of articles written by the Director of Towne & Country Players upcoming production of the Broadway hit; “The Secret Garden.”

When a Community Theatre group picks a show it often takes a year to plan and when it is to premier the new Performing Arts Center, the pressure is on! We had a director who was interested in doing a new production and had a vision and a passion for “Beauty and the Beast”. As a Board of Directors it is our responsibility to see that a show happens and to help the director to make it the best possible production, oh and did I mention, pay for it! We had all the ingredients except that a national tour was close enough that we were denied the rights. Now we have to start over.

After we were denied the rights to “Beauty and the Beast” we needed a new plan to open the new Versailles Performing Arts Center for Community theatre. We as a Board of Directors began to scramble. What kind of show should we do and who’s going to do it? Several Board members met and went over literally twenty musicals. We looked at old and new, we looked at several we had already done… nothing seemed right. So when I suggested the children’s classic “The Secret Garden” there were many skeptics in the group. Also the Broadway show differs greatly from the children’s book and shows a bit darker side to the relationships in this family. While I thought it might be one of our more daring shows, I also knew our high school students would love this show!

Our President took the script and read it. When we met, she could barely contain herself, she got it! She saw the vision and immediately said YES! We need to do this show. The mix of musical styles and the complexity of the score made it a challenge from the start. Lucy Simon, Carly’s sister knows how to set the bar high and we must work very hard to achieve the production’s goal.
Next came the job of casting this major production. Could the area produce the musicians needed to do this show?

Next week we’ll talk about how a cast is chosen.

You’re in for a real treat as we are planting seeds so that “The Secret Garden” can bloom in Versailles on June 23rd, 24th, and 25th, at 7:00 p.m. and on June 26th at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are on sale beginning on May 21st at our box office at 937-214-4139. All seats are reserved and are $12.00 adults and $10.00 for students. Group pricing is available for parties of 25 or more.