STEPHEN KEARLEY reviews MATILDA THE MUSICAL
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Colorful, funny, and packed with talented performers.” -Stephen Kearley, The BroadGAYS
Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin’s MATILDA THE MUSICAL follows Matilda Wormwood, a brilliant little girl born into a family that has no interest in understanding her. Her parents mock her love of books, her terrifying headmistress Miss Trunchbull treats children like pests to be crushed, and nearly every adult around her expects her to accept a world that is clearly unfair.
Matilda has other plans.
Summer Theatre of New Canaan’s production understands that the fun of MATILDA comes from watching a child realize that being small does not mean being powerless. Charlotte Surak is terrific in the title role, playing Matilda with intelligence, confidence, and just enough mischief. She never pushes too hard to make her cute or precocious. Her frustration with the adults around her feels real, which makes it especially satisfying when she begins figuring out how to fight back. She also handles Tim Minchin’s demanding score beautifully.
Surak is surrounded by adults who are either too frightened to challenge cruelty or far too ridiculous to recognize their own. Mary McNulty brings warmth and vulnerability to Miss Honey, whose kindness makes her an immediate contrast to the rest of Matilda’s world. Her scenes with Surak are among the production’s sweetest, and “My House” becomes a tender pause in a musical that spends much of its time operating at full volume.
Miss Trunchbull, of course, has no interest in tenderness. Meghan Louise Taylor is wonderfully intimidating, committing fully to every stomp, glare, and threat. The character has to be terrifying enough for the children to fear her but ridiculous enough for the audience to laugh at her, and Taylor finds that balance. Lauren Nicole Sherwood’s severe Trunchbull uniform makes her look even more imposing as she prowls around the school in search of her next victim.
Sherwood’s costumes are a major part of the production’s personality. Christopher Hudson Myers and Rachel MacIsaac Myers already make Matilda’s parents loud, selfish, and extremely funny, but their exaggerated looks push the Wormwoods even further into their own tacky little universe. Mrs. Wormwood’s outfits are gloriously excessive, with loud colors, bold shapes, and enough unapologetic glamour to be visible from several towns away. Rachel MacIsaac Myers’ dance competition sequence takes that excess and turns it into one of the evening’s funniest and most visually outrageous moments.
The Wormwoods may be terrible parents, but they are entertainingly terrible. Mr. Wormwood is dishonest, obnoxious, and personally offended by the existence of books, while Mrs. Wormwood is far more invested in dancing than in raising her daughter. Myers and Myers play them broadly without losing the strange family dynamic underneath the jokes. You can understand exactly why Matilda has started looking for emotional support elsewhere.
She finds plenty of it at the library, where Keisha T. Fraser is phenomenal as Mrs. Phelps. Fraser’s colorful costume immediately tells us that this is one adult who belongs inside Matilda’s imagination rather than outside it. Every time Matilda returns with another installment of her story, Mrs. Phelps reacts as though she is witnessing the most thrilling drama ever created. Fraser throws herself into every twist with enormous warmth, energy, and comic timing, while aerial acrobatics bring Matilda’s tale to life above and around them. The combination makes the storytelling sequences feel like fully realized adventures rather than pauses in the main plot.
The young company brings that same level of commitment to the larger musical numbers. “School Song,” “Bruce,” “When I Grow Up,” and “Revolting Children” require precision, stamina, and performers willing to attack Eric Stretch’s choreography without holding back. The children do exactly that, but the staging also gives them room to show individual personalities instead of blending into one cheerful musical-theater swarm.
Jack Ranieri makes particularly strong use of that opportunity as Bruce. The chocolate-cake sequence is already one of the musical’s biggest crowd-pleasers, but Ranieri turns it into a genuine triumph. He has a brilliant voice, terrific confidence, and the stage presence to hold the audience through a number that asks an awful lot from a young performer.
Director Allegra Libonati keeps the production moving across the enormous NCHS stage, filling it with bright scenic pieces, aerial work, energetic choreography, and a large ensemble. The scale could easily overwhelm the story, but most of the time it gives Matilda’s world the exaggerated size it needs. Everything around her feels bigger, louder, and more threatening, which makes her determination seem even more impressive.
The one moment that does get swallowed by the space is the opening birthday sequence. The table is simply too small for the giant stage, so the entire setup looks strangely out of place. It is a minor visual issue, but it stands out because Libonati and the design team use the rest of the stage so effectively.
Kevin Gleason’s lighting provides one of the production’s strongest visual ideas. As Mr. Wormwood explains Miss Trunchbull to Matilda, his shadow suddenly becomes huge and ominous across the stage. It is a simple theatrical image, but a very effective one, briefly transforming Trunchbull’s reputation into something Matilda and the audience can almost see looming over the school.
The production continues finding playful ways to use the space right through the curtain call, when the cast rides scooters across the stage while singing a reprise of “When I Grow Up” and “Naughty.” It is a joyful final burst of energy and a fitting goodbye from a show that rarely sits still for long.
Summer Theatre of New Canaan’s MATILDA THE MUSICAL is colorful, funny, and packed with talented performers, but its greatest strength is that it never loses sight of why Matilda remains such a satisfying hero. She sees cruelty, stupidity, and injustice and refuses to sit quietly while the adults make a mess of everything.
Frankly, the adults had it coming.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
NCHS Theater
11 Farm Road
New Canaan, Connecticut
For tickets and information:
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
Through July 26
Fridays - 6:30pm
Saturdays - 1:30pm & 6:30pm
Sundays - 2:00pm
CAST:
Charlotte Surak - Matilda Wormwood
Meghan Louise Taylor - Miss Agatha Trunchbull
Mary McNulty - Miss Honey
Christopher Hudson Myers - Mr. Wormwood
Rachel MacIsaac Myers - Mrs. Wormwood
Cooper Sadler - Michael Wormwood / Big Kid
Keisha T. Fraser - Mrs. Phelps
Jack Ranieri - Bruce
Valentina Miller - Lavender
Miguel-Andres Garcia - Escapologist
Hannah Risner - Acrobat
CHILDREN’S ENSEMBLE:
Victoria Vartosu - Amanda
Ever Brave Savage - Nigel / Bruce Understudy
Camilo Velasquez Escamilla - Eric
Delphine Day - Alice
Nora Grace Blair - Hortensia
Carlos Velasquez Escamilla - Tommy
Brielle Shupin - Onstage Swing for Matilda, Nigel, Eric and Alice
Coralie Myers - Onstage Swing for Lavender, Amanda, Hortensia and Tommy
Everly Alters - Playground Child
ADULT ENSEMBLE:
Cristyn Dang - Parent / Big Kid / Loud Dancer / Mrs. Phelps Understudy
Anthony Cataldo - Parent / Judge / Sergei / Voice of the Escapologist / Miss Trunchbull Understudy
Olivia Pryor - Parent / Big Kid / Judge / Henchman / Voice of the Acrobat / Miss Honey Understudy
Keara Sweeney - Parent / Big Kid / Loud Dancer / Mrs. Wormwood Understudy / Dance Captain
Nathan Iles - Parent / Big Kid / Loud Dancer / Henchman
Riley Schauer - Parent / Big Kid / Loud Dancer / Swing / Assistant Dance Captain
Madeline Benoit - Parent / Big Kid / Loud Dancer / Henchman
Christian Libonati - Children’s Entertainer / Cook / Juggler / Big Kid / Judge / Henchman / Mr. Wormwood Understudy
André Pernell Williams - Doctor / Big Kid / Loud Dancer / Henchman
Noah Roderiques - Rudolph / Big Kid
Nicholas Mohamad - Mechanic / Swing
CREATIVE TEAM:
Dennis Kelly - Book
Tim Minchin - Music and Lyrics
Chris Nightingale - Orchestrations and Additional Music
Allegra Libonati - Director
Eric Stretch - Choreographer
Robert Head - Music Director
Kevin Gleason - Lighting Designer / Co-Technical Director
Daniel Bria - Sound Designer / A1
Lauren Nicole Sherwood / Diva Star Production - Costume Designer / Wardrobe Supervisor
Miguel-Andres Garcia - Aerial Act Designer
William / ZFX - Flight Director
Ryan Shreve - Projection Designer
Fiona Stevens - Properties Master
James Hart - Technical Director
Alan J. Stogin - Production Stage Manager
Grace Griffin - Assistant Stage Manager
Gabi Simmons - Associate Director
Wojcik Casting - Casting
Henry Tate - Performance Conductor
Emily Lomnitzer - Assistant Music Director
Derek Shaw - Associate Sound Designer
Katie Fabel - Dialect Coach
Claire Parelli - Assistant Props
Brian Canese - Assistant Technical Director
Natasha Fenster - Assistant Wardrobe Supervisor
Tyson R. Francis - Stagehand / Running Crew
Alexandra Parker - Projection Board Operator
Ike Morales - Lighting Programmer
Dhruv Bhalla - Assistant Director
Jimi Kulig - A2 Sound
Rebekkah Hurlbert - Wardrobe Staff
Emma Turner - Wardrobe Staff
Isla Campbell - Spot Operator
Linkin Alexander Wong - Spot Operator
Julianna Moore - Spot Operator
Emma Silo - Cover Spot Operator
Maddy Conron - Child Wrangler
Melanie McMurry - Child Wrangler
Zachary Whitlock - Facility Manager
PRODUCTION SUPPORT:
Brad Harder - Company Manager
Ella Raymont - Social Media / PR
Christian Libonati - Marketing / Website
Victor de Castro - Web and Graphic Design
Dutch Doscher - Photography / Show Photography
Front Row Theatricals - Set
James Hart - Set Enhancements
Daniel Bria Sound - Audio System
Dutch Doscher - Production Photos