GENE ALLEN / ARMY COMMUNITY THEATRE Laurence Paxton and TX Tario play the tormented father and son in Army Community Theatre's "Secret Garden."

Love tale makes
touching musical

Dark, enigmatic, beautifully sung. Army Community Theatre's staging of "The Secret Garden" presents a dramatically different perspective on this late-Edwardian story of love, loss and rebirth.

"The Secret Garden" Presented by Army Community Theatre, continues at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through May 28 at Richardson Theatre, Fort Shafter. Tickets are $14 and $17. Call 438-4480 or www.squareone.org/ACT.

One prior production seen here emphasized the experiences of young protagonist Mary Lennox in adjusting to life in a gloomy Yorkshire mansion and unraveling the secrets it contained. In this musical adaptation, Marsha Norman (book and lyrics) and Lucy Simon (music) give at least equal time to the experiences of the adults, and the single most memorable song is a five-hankie tear-jerker duet by a grieving husband and his wife's ghost.

Laurence Paxton (Archibald Craven) and Mary Chesnut Hicks (Lily Craven) make "How Could I Ever Know" the pivotal number in the story. They mesh perfectly in all respects, and by the time Lily tells Archibald how sorry she is that her death has caused him so much pain -- well, there shouldn't be a dry eye in the house.

Paxton and Hicks share several earlier numbers that provide the emotional foundation for "How Could I Ever Know" and make it clear that the story is as much about Archibald and Lily as it is about little Mary Lennox. Paxton and Hicks also stand out when performing with others or as soloists.

Randl Ask has the enigmatic role of Archibald's younger brother, Dr. Neville Craven. Archibald, devastated with grief, leaves Neville to make all the decisions involving the family fortune, and he stands to inherit it as well if Archibald's bed-ridden son dies.

At one point it is revealed that Neville had hoped Lily would marry him instead of Archibald, and might be working to undermine his brother and nephew. On the other hand, Neville could be honestly doing what he thinks best.

Ask's performance also hints that Neville is torn between desire for revenge and/or material gain, and his knowledge that destroying Archibald's son would be destroying Lily's son.

Ask brings a tremendous voice to the show and proves a worthy member in the central romantic and dramatic triangle.

Paxton, Hicks and Ask provide the heart, soul, emotion and drama for this "Garden."

The kids' experiences seem light and cheery in comparison. Mary Lennox is growing up a spoiled little "princess" in British-occupied India when her parents die of cholera and she's sent to live with her wealthy uncle in Yorkshire.

The house had been in mourning since Archibald's wife died and Mary is left pretty much to her own devices. She discovers her bed-ridden cousin, Colin, who is kept shut away in his room. She also learns that her Aunt Lily had a "secret garden" left untended since Lily fell out of a tree there, gave birth to Colin prematurely, and died years ago.

In some versions of the story, Mary's desire to bring the garden back to life is the catalyst in helping Archibald come to terms with Lily's death, and frees Colin from his physical condition. In this version, Lily's ghost finally helps Archibald accept her death, while Mary and three servants secretly restore the garden and defy Neville's orders by taking Colin outdoors.

Channing Weir is spunky as the spoiled but tough little Mary; if Mary misses her parents we don't get a sense of it.

TX Tario (Colin) does his deepest work with "Round-Shouldered Man," the number where Colin tells Mary about the mysterious man who appears in his room at night.

Director Glenn Cannon and set designer Tom Giza give the show a dramatic and unusual look for an ACT production by relying primarily on projected images rather than conventional sets to suggest such diverse locales as India, Paris, the Yorkshire moors and various rooms in the Craven mansion.

Given the tremendous amount of backstory -- how Archibald met Lily, Mary's memories of India and so on -- Giza's use of light and rear-screen projectors works quite well in telling a story in which ghosts are almost as important as the living and the impact of death weighs as heavily as the promise of seasonal rebirth.