Review: MATILDA THE MUSICAL at Buell Theatre

Roald Dahl's magical story, Matilda, is one of my childhood favorites. It's a dark story about a little girl who triumphs in the face of adversity. When her family tries to suppress her desire to read and learn, she finds solace in her stories, and unlocks the magic within her books.

Matilda (played this evening by Mabel Tyler) is the unwanted and put-upon youngest child of the Wormwoods, a con-artist criminal family who believes Matilda's love of learning is purely evil. The Wormwoods send Matilda to a private school, run by the terrifying Miss Trunchbull (Bryce Ryness). The school is dark and frightening, but Matilda makes friends and warms up to Miss Honey (Jennifer Blood), the cheerful and loving teacher who nourishes Matilda's love of learning. Miss Trunchbull attempts to trample any happiness the children find, and when her punishments become too unfair, Matilda strikes back with magical trickery and drives out the evil principal for good, allowing Miss Honey to step up and turn the school into a happy place of learning.

The production is very magical, in all senses. The scenery and set design are truly spectacular, and create a world made out of books and scattered letters, because Matilda's world is so immersed in her books. The lighting design helped to enhance the magic of the world, and flowed in and out of reality as the story unfolded on stage. The world that was created was beautifully imaginative and vibrant.

Similar to the hit Annie, the show involves a cast of adults and a large cast of child actors. The only trouble with having a large chorus of children who sing in thick British accents is understanding the lyrics to the music. I found it very difficult to understand the words during many of the ensemble numbers in the show, with both the young ensemble and the adult ensemble. This was especially difficult to follow during the many over-choreographed sections of music in the first act. Shining performances, however, were given by Mabel Tyler, and by Bryce Ryner. Both Matilda and Trunchbull (yes, the role was played by a man) were fantastically cast, and stole the show every time they were on stage.

Overall, the show was extremely entertaining. As a family show, it was quite long, with not much music, but the story line kept the audience involved, and made for an enthralling production. My only other qualm was a recurring issue that touring shows seem to face in the Buell auditorium, in that the spotlight operators seem to need more rehearsal following the characters on stage. Other than that small problem, I would say that Matilda the Musical was definitely one of the most imaginative and magical shows that I've seen this year.

Matilda the Musical plays the Buell Theatre September 9-20. Tickets and information can be found at www.denvercenter.org or by calling 303-893-4100.

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