MatildaThe Musical Jr

This young cast provided a fabulous evening’s entertainment more than worthy of its sell-out audiences.  With direction by Anna Maltby, Choreography by Catherine Enos and Joshua Raymond as MD this was a show packed with energy, enthusiasm and talent.  From the opening number it was clear that this show was the result of months of hard work with lots of support from the Production Team.

The musical of Matilda is adapted from the story by Roald Dahl who has an amazing ability for creating characters and the young people of the Student’s Academy excellently translated these.  Every member of the cast embodied their role, however small, from the moment they stepped on stage.  The opening number ‘Miracle’ set the scene and introduced us to the concept that whilst some children are loved and supported by their parents, others like the lead role Matilda, struggle with parents who ignore and fail to recognise their talents. 

The Wormwood family was most despicable, but well presented by Lewis Maltby (Mr Wormwood) and Ella Seal (Mrs Wormwood).  There is also need to mention Lillie Richards who played Matilda’s brother Michael – with very few words and limited stage time this performer still managed to garner lots of laughs with her well-timed delivery.

Matilda’s school friends, along with the ensemble and smaller roles, delivered their lines and routines to ensure this production was well paced and thoroughly entertaining.  ‘Revolting Children’ was high energy and allowed the production ended on an exceptionally high note.  Christopher Burrows (Bruce) really captured the role of Matilda’s best friend and his ‘post-Chokey’ delivery of lines was super.

Keira Davis gave a lovely interpretation of Miss Honey, the nervous school-teacher who develops a caring relationship with Matilda beautifully demonstrated through her song ‘This Little Girl’.   Nell Butler gave a very mature performance as the horrid Trunchbull.  Nell is clearly a confident performer with a bright future ahead of her and the ability to give a devastatingly wicked representation.   Her performance in the ‘Smell of Rebellion’ was quiet scary. The title role was played by Ruby Harker who WAS Matilda – she adopted the persona perfectly with movement and speech (excellent diction) even her eyes and facial expressions were spot on.   Her solo numbers were very strong and ‘Quiet’ was one of the many stand-out moments in the show.  Whilst clearly a talented dancer Ruby also had the ability to fall back into the ensemble without trying to hold all the attention as the lead – a skill many adults haven’t grasped.  

The choreography was fantastic with a fast pace and sharp steps, but still accessible for the cast aged from 8 to 18.  The ‘School Song’ with the alphabet blocks was particularly clever and the performers had mastered the complicated moves which were worthy of a West End production.  As with any youth production the most important thing is how the young people on stage enjoy the experience and this cast clearly did – they were a credit to themselves, the Production Team and their parents who have supported them through rehearsals and the build-up to show week.

The set was to a high standard and the stage crew worked hard with the complicated movement of the trucks with sound and light to support and great costumes, hair and make-up this was a really fabulous production.  Not forgetting the very clever special effects to create the writing on the blackboard.  Sadly if you don’t have tickets you have missed out as this show is a sell-out.  However, as DOS have so much talent coming through it’s probably worth following them on Social Media to ensure you don’t miss out next time!

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