Is there anyone in the audience who hasn’t seen or read the works of Roald Dahl? His most famous novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been adapted twice into film - first as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in 1971 and again in 2005 as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - and a prequel film Wonka was released in 2023. His novels The BFG, The Witches, Fantastic Mr. Fox and James and the Giant Peach have all been turned into films (twice in the case of The Witches). Many others have been adapted for TV, radio and other media.
Dahl’s world is one of strange whimsy, humorous comeuppances and bizarre characters. His style is unique and distinct, and darker than some of the more saccharine tropes we often see in children’s entertainment.
And then there’s Matilda.
The story of a super-intelligent girl born to horrible TV-loving parents, Matilda was published in 1988, just two years before Dahl passed away. Despite his untimely passing, the novel has certainly had quite a life since its initial publication. It was adapted into the much-loved film Matilda in 1996, then into a stage musical in 2010 created by the Royal Shakespeare Company. This musical went on to great acclaim, transferring to London’s West End in 2011, then to Broadway in 2013 where it ran for over three years. Since then, the musical was adapted back into film (Matilda the Musical was released on Netflix in 2022) and this junior version was created to be performed by middle or elementary school students everywhere.
After the success of last year’s You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown and 2023’s The Lion King, we wanted to present a show that was different - darker, weirder, but still fun for our cast and crew to put on. This show, with its female titular character leading the way, seemed to have the perfect balance of sweetness and spikiness that we wanted. As a director, I feel it’s always good to mix it up for our student actors, to give them different material each time they perform, so they get experience performing a range of characters and periods.
I’d like to thank my wonderful collaborators on this production, without whom there would be no musical. Thank you to Miss Reader for her wonderfully thorough assistance and patience, Mr. Schmoling for jumping in at the last moment and teaching the music so professionally, Mrs. O’Connor for her always-incredible choreography, Mr. Fry for building the amazing sets, and Mrs. Epprecht for helping us with all the tech elements. I’m also once again so proud to be working with my former student Ethan Chin’s company on sound and lighting.
I want to of course thank the wonderful cast and crew - our IEYMS students have been so hard-working and fun-loving throughout this process. We have been blessed on this show to have over 20 NRHS students helping out backstage - thanks, crew! And a special thanks to the parents, who have been so supportive of their children's interest in this project.
I’m thrilled to be helping foster a culture of musical theatre here at IEYMS. It's such an honor to be building up this program and inspiring a love of performance in our students. We look forward to many shows yet to come.
Please sit back, relax, and enjoy Matilda Jr.!
--Scott Harris
