‘Matilda’ scales up to ambitious scope

Even before the orchestra plays the first note and the first child sings the opening number, Blenheim Musical Theatre shows the scale of its “Matilda” production.

Set pieces loom large in Whitehaven Theatre. Stacks of books rise several stories (no pun intended). Towering panels, adorned with coloured letters, mark the wings and the backdrop. The nationally procured staging is awestriking.

It could swallow lesser casts of any age, let alone performers from primary school through colleges and adulthood. Here, though, the human elements and physical setting fit, hand in glove – as audiences can see for themselves during a dozen performances running tonight (13 May) through 23 May.

Members of the company have dedicated the better part of a year to bringing this musical to life. Between the cast and crew, the production encompasses 160 local lovers of theatre.

“There’s something in the water in Marlborough,” Kim Weatherhead, the troupe’s president, observed during intermission of tech-week dress rehearsal. “Blenheim Musical Theatre has punched well above its weight for a long time.

“Unfortunately, when you set the bar so high, you keep trying to stay there!”

A ‘wow’ moment
“Matilda” focuses on the plight and the flights of fancy of the titular girl navigating dysfunction at school as well as at home. Based on a novel by Roald Dahl, the musical won both Olivier and Tony awards, toured the world and received a film adaptation.

As on the West End and Broadway, BMT alternates young actresses in the title role – Addison Campbell and Alice Kingi – with other duos switching with the leads in “Newts” and “Squits” parts, respectively.

Adult principals appear each show. Those include Rhys Hingtston as Miss Trunchbull, the antagonistic headmistress; Anne Vawter as Miss Honey, the sympathetic teacher; Camilla Piper as Mrs Wormwood, the narcissistic mother; and Sara Bishell as Mr Wormwood, the scheming father.

Rhys and Sara play characters of the opposite gender – and Camilla gets to share the stage with her son Finley, in the Newts ensemble.

Director Liana Bell, musical/vocal director Robert Tucker and choreographer Elly Molloy interweave all these individuals. Each performer got to put their own imprint on well-known characters.

As for the space they’re inhabiting: “It’s a wow moment,” Sara said, “when you come in here and see it all for the first time.”

Matilda the Musical
Where: Whitehaven Theatre
When: 13-17 May and 19-23 May, 7:30pm – matinees 16-17 May and 23 May, 2pm
Tickets: here