Review: MATILDA THE MUSICAL at Hackmatack Playhouse

As their summer season starts to wind down, Matilda the Musical is taking the stage at Hackmatack Farm & Playhouse. Roald Dahl’s wonderfully oddball story has always had a homemade quality to it — a child armed with books and imagination taking on a world of ridiculous adults — and there’s a similar charm to watching it unfold inside Hackmatack’s old barn-turned-theater.

The setting gives the show a character all its own. This isn’t a sleek, air-conditioned Broadway house. It’s a summer theater, and the barn is part of the experience. Portable fans are placed around the perimeter, so if you run warm, choose a seat near one. Consider it part of the Hackmatack experience, reminiscent of those early straw-hat summer theaters that once dotted New England.

The current production is a lively, good-natured romp, with plenty of youthful energy and enough eccentricity to make Dahl’s strange little universe work onstage.

Based on Dahl’s 1988 novel, the story centers on Matilda, a remarkably bright young girl who has the misfortune of being born into the Wormwood family. Her father, Mr. Wormwood (Will Saxe), is a shady used-car salesman who would much rather have had a son. Her mother, Mrs. Wormwood (Samantha Mastroberte), is more interested in ballroom dancing than parenting. Her brother, Michael (Sam Rogers), is mostly interested in doing nothing at all.

Matilda, played in this opening night performance by Scarlet Bartner, shares the role with Josie Marzilli. She retreats into books and storytelling, finding a sympathetic listener in librarian Mrs. Phelps (Kim Oates). At school, she encounters Miss Honey (Anna Ventor), a teacher who recognizes that there is something special about this quiet little girl.

And then there’s Miss Trunchbull.

Played by Sam David Cohen, Trunchbull is the sort of school administrator who could make generations of adults break into a cold sweat simply by hearing her name. A former hammer-throwing athlete, she has decided that elementary education should be conducted like military boot camp.

Cohen doesn’t hold back. There is a broad physicality to the performance that makes Trunchbull both frightening and funny. Cohen stomps, snarls and commands the stage, and his imposing frame only adds to the effect.

The children, meanwhile, are having a ball.

One of the pleasures of Matilda is watching the youngsters take over the stage. The ensemble numbers are energetic and demanding, requiring plenty of precision in addition to youthful enthusiasm. Choreographer Emilyrose Johnson keeps the movement lively, with a wonderful sense of free-flowing mischief, particularly in the school scenes. Directing a stage full of almost two dozen tykes, tweens and teens is no small task, and Hackmatack masterfully highlights stage newcomers as well as veteran young actors.

Bartner and Marzilli have the difficult job of carrying the title role while sharing performances. Bartner is a firestorm of energy, mastering a slew of musical and dance numbers while delivering Matilda’s imaginative stories without a fumble. Her end-of-show energy is every bit as strong as when she starts. The kid doesn’t miss a note in “Naughty,” “When I Grow Up” and the heartwarming “Quiet.”

Ventor gives Miss Honey a gentler presence. She is the adult who sees Matilda for who she really is rather than judging her by her family or age. Ventor has an exquisitely charming voice in “This Little Girl” and “My House,” and her chemistry with Bartner is wonderfully sweet. Their quieter scenes provide welcome emotional balance to the craziness elsewhere.

Saxe has a field day with the role of Mr. Wormwood. The character is so spectacularly wrong about everything that subtlety would hardly be appropriate. “Telly” gives him plenty of room to play up Wormwood’s obsession with television and his questionable philosophy about life.

Mastroberte’s Mrs. Wormwood is cut from the same exaggerated cloth. She leans into the character’s comic self-importance, although some of the louder lines and Jersey-accented dialogue occasionally get muffled.

Oates brings oodles of warmth to Mrs. Phelps, providing one of the few genuinely safe adult relationships in Matilda’s life. Her fascination with Matilda’s stories gives Oates some of the production’s quieter, more personable moments.

The story-within-the-story involving the Acrobat (Chloe Chappa) and Escapologist (Andrew Marcotte) gives Matilda’s imagination room to stretch beyond home and school. It also adds some old-fashioned theatrical storytelling. I’m still trying to figure out how Bartner manages hundreds of lines and even speaks a convincing line or two of Russian in a pivotal scene.

Niko McPherson gets to ham it up as Rudolpho, Mrs. Wormwood’s overly enthusiastic ballroom partner, a little too much so for a family-oriented cast and audience. Kyle Aarons makes a late appearance as Sergei, a Russian mafia figure, and steals the scene.

Emily Zentis serves as musical director, moving the score comfortably from the comic excess of “The Hammer,” “Loud” and “The Smell of Rebellion” to quieter, more reflective moments.

Director Katrina Ploof keeps things moving, which is important with Matilda. There is a lot packed into this story — unhappy parents, a tyrannical headmistress, childhood friendships, telekinetic powers, fairy tales, revenge and a surprising amount of chocolate cake. It could easily become too much. Instead, the production embraces silliness and lets the audience enjoy the ride.

James McLaughlin’s colorful costumes fit Dahl’s cartoonish world, while the simple set uses two enormous books as a backdrop, with furniture and props constantly moving in and out to create different scenes.

Matilda the Musical is a story about a child discovering that she doesn’t have to accept the world exactly as it is. Books open possibilities, kindness matters, and sometimes a little rebellion is necessary. Not a bad message for kids — or adults — these days.

Reader Reviews

To post a comment, you must register and login.

Need more Maine Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...