Philomath Middle School’s production of “Matilda Jr.” will entertain audiences this week with four shows over three days in the high school auditorium.
The musical will be performed at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday along with a 1 p.m. Saturday matinee. Tickets will be sold at the door with an admission of $10 for adults, $5 for students. The doors open 30 minutes prior to showtime.
Gallery: Matilda Jr. Tea Party (March 7, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath Middle School’s “Matilda Jr.” Tea Party on March 7 in the PHS auditorium.
“Matilda Jr.” was adapted for the stage by book writer Dennis Kelly with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin. Based on the Roald Dahl novel, the story centers on a 5-year-old girl with a wild imagination and love of learning.
“The story follows a strong young lady who is in a hard home life and school life and she finds the courage in herself to say ‘that’s not right,’” Philomath Middle School band teacher and co-director Shannon Webb said. “So ‘Matilda’ is not the traditional fairytale story but I think it is a really good Roald Dahl story.”
More than 80 students are participating in the cast, tech crew and stage crew. The musical’s A cast will perform the Thursday and Saturday matinee shows. The B cast will be on stage for the Friday and Saturday evening performances.
“It gives more opportunities for people to be leads and we had so many kids and auditions,” Webb said about the dual-cast system. “It was hard to place people because they’re all so talented. We just have a really talented cast.”
The audition process involved an opportunity for the kids to do lines and sing a solo before a panel.
“We listen to everyone and then after everyone sings and has done their acting portion, we go and decide and it takes a few hours,” Webb said. “It’s certainly a late night because everyone has their own opinion but I think we nailed it.”
The students practice for 10 weeks with the 11th being show week (one week of preparation was lost, however, when classes were canceled because of winter weather).
“There are always bumps along the road and it’s fun to see the kids go through that and they struggle sometimes — that’s harder to see — but they learn so much and they develop so much grit with this,” said Webb, who is involved with her fourth middle school musical, the first three being “Frozen,” “The Lion King” and “Moana.”
The title character is played by Charlotte Wheeler in the A cast and Zaynab Plaire in the B cast. Other principal roles include Nova-Lyn Taylor (A cast) and Ella Hammonds (B cast) as Miss Trunchbull; Kaihautu Cropp (A cast) and Sofia Nanoski (B cast) as Mrs. Wormwood; Bailey Wilhelm (A cast) and Veini Taunisila (B cast) as Miss Honey; Elijah Arthurs (A cast) and Deaglan Pindell (B cast) as Mr. Wormwood; and Alyssa Weeber (A cast) and Oliva Siler (B cast) as Mrs. Phelps.
Webb gives a lot of credit to longtime contributor Jolene Latz to help bring everything together.
“Jolene has been doing it for many, many years and her leadership is invaluable for knowledge — I learn so much from her every single day,” Webb said.
The team of student directors includes Bailey Bell, Meg Real, Magnolia Warren and Ashlynn Pike. Beyond Webb and Latz, other adult directors are Katrina Kildea and Susan Hobbs. Nichole Stucki is the music director and Lori Haslam is the director of choreography.
“We really have a wonderful team of directors and it really does take a village to put on these shows,” Webb said.
Webb said more than 200 people attended Thursday’s Matilda Jr. Tea Party.
“It was so great for the kids to get a chance to perform what they have been working on,” she said.
Funds raised from the show go back into the middle school drama program.
“All of the directors work incredibly hard to make this happen,” Webb said. “It’s not easy but the reason that we do it is because there’s so many amazing kids … and it’s really fun for me to see an amazing dancer or amazing choir student that I have during the day rock it on stage. It’s cool to see them in different roles.”
