Roald Dahl's Matilda tells the story of a little girl who is a genius but unappreciated by most of the people around her. Life is unfair, but she makes it a little more fair by taking matters into her own hands. Eventually, she develops the power to move things with her mind, which allows her to defeat the monstrous headmistress of her school and set things right at last.
Matilda was published in 1988, and in 1966 a film version was released (directed by Danny DeVito, who also played Matilda's father in the film). The movie leaned into the fun of Matilda's magic and the terror of Miss Trunchbull, adding a(n unnecessary) suspenseful scene in which Matilda steals her teacher's childhood doll from Miss Trunchbull's home. The musical, on the other hand, downplays the magic and focuses on the sadness of Matilda's home life. This sadness is emphasized by a story Matilda tells throughout the play that gets darker and darker—and is then revealed to be the backstory of Matilda's sweet teacher, Miss Honey. At the same time, the musical has plenty of silly and triumphant moments (in which the children triumph over wicked authority figures), but the way the show plays with the light and dark aspects of the story is what makes this version particularly interesting.
Minneapolis Community Education performed Matilda the Musical in the parking lot of a school, using a slight hill for naturally sloped seating. The biggest difficulty was with sound; with no natural acoustics, the proximity of actors to microphones made a big difference. On the other hand, the nearby playground was a perk for young audience members who didn't want to sit still for the whole show. Heather Dorsey directed and brought out the contrasting tones of the show very well, from the over-the-top petty villainy in the Wormwood house to the tender hopefulness of songs like "When I Grow Up." Sara Sawyer music directed and played piano in the 3-piece band, which could easily have been mistaken for a bigger ensemble. Some of the big group numbers were hurt by the microphone situation; the leads had individual microphones, but if none of them were singing, it was difficult to hear the other actors. When closer to the mics, it was evident that the ensemble had the harmonies down. As choreographer, Gabrielle Dominique made some very fun choices; at times the dancing felt downright demented, perfect for the jarring opening of "Miracle" and the alarming "School Song," in which the older students terrify the new students with horror stories of school life. In "Loud," there was a particularly delightful choreography moment when the ensemble lined up behind Rudolfo and Mrs. Wormwood for a sort of chain-ballroom dance.
Set design was by Joey Ivers and Z Makila; I have said before that I love rotating set pieces, and I thought the rotating columns that created various backdrops were a very smart move. I got a big kick out of the set decoration in the Wormwood household: "family" portraits (minus Matilda and plus Rudolpho the dance instructor) were hung alongside large, ridiculous solo portraits of Michael. Black blocks made up the furniture, which is very common for the theater, but I was very intrigued by the irregular, off-kilter way the blocks were arranged in "School Song," adding to the sense of ominous and unsettling tone of the scene. I don't usually have much to say about props, but I loved that in the final scene, Mr. Wormwood was carrying multiple suitcases while Mrs. Wormwood carried only a box of wine. Costumer JoEllyn Jolstad surely had a lot of fun putting together the flamboyant looks for Matilda's parents, with bright pinks for the mom, eye-catching chest-bared looks for Rudolfo, and terrible color combo suits for the dad. Miss Trunchbull looked the part head to toe, aided by what I believe was a little bit of padding to emphasize her hammer-throwing muscles. Miss Honey and Matilda, living in a slightly different universe than their relatives, were dressed simply and sweetly.
It can be very difficult to play the character of a child smoothly and consistently, but Mackenzie Moe blended into the role of Matilda in a way that felt grounded and natural. Her vocal sound, purer rather than polished, and the sincerity of her performance of Matilda's emotional moments, made for a striking performance. As Miss Honey, Kaitlyn Callahan sounded lovely and brought real heart to songs like "My House." Moe and Callahan were a well-matched pair, and their scenes together felt sweet and authentic.
While Matilda and Miss Honey are fairly realistic characters, the antagonists of the story are all over-the-top in their vainness and self-righteous villainy. Jake Mahler played the dishonest Mr. Wormwood, Elise Busse played the vain, anti-intellectual Mrs. Wormwood, and Myles McKnight played Mrs. Wormwood's dramatic dance instructor, Rudolpho. All three were incredibly entertaining, especially when haranguing the audience for reading books instead of watching television. Xander Kleckner (Michael Wormwood) strikes me as such a good sport for taking on a role with so few lines, but his delivery of the lines he did have was very funny. Julie Madden blew me away as Miss Trunchbull; her character work and her timing were really impeccable. Miss Trunchbull is a ludicrous despot in the vein of Lord Farquaad, but much more imposing (both because of her athletic background and because she has real power over the small children she rules over). Madden was able to seem imposing and dangerous, and also have hilarious moments like the scene before "Bruce," in which she briefly pretended to be nice before switching back to being tyrannical.
There were many enjoyable performances from the rest of the cast, including the other children in Matilda's class. Arianna Sanford was friendly and had a child's enthusiasm as Lavender; Cecilia Percy was good as the nervous Nigel, and Vienna Larche was particularly entertaining bringing Bruce's style to the dancing in "Revolting Children." Guinevere Keith and Harry Larche were sweet as the acrobat and escapologist. Laura Mahler played the emotional librarian but also performed break-dancing moves, which will always impress me. As a whole, the cast worked well together, hitting the silly moments and the devastating moments with equal skill.
Matilda the Musical is a show that goes to extremes; there are ridiculous moments and moments of deep sadness, and brought together they make for a show that feels unusual but very interesting. Minneapolis Community Education was able to balance the extremes of this show while also bringing a great deal of charm in through both the performances and the design. This was a show that I really enjoyed and I'll certainly be attending the next musical Minneapolis Community Education puts on.
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