‘Matilda’ punches above her weight, at MPAC

Avril Kagan as 'Matilda,' at MPAC, June 2023. Photo by Katharine Boyle
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Roald Dahl’s Matilda, The Musical, the Mayo Performing Arts Center’s ninth annual community production, offers many things to captivate the young and old this weekend in Morristown.

There are rollicking dance numbers, accompanied by a full-throated orchestra. Clever multimedia bits and lighting tricks add sparkle.

Themes? Who doesn’t love stories of girl power, and magic powers, and kids turning the tables on wicked adults?

Which brings us to the title character.

Matilda is an unloved, unwanted, precocious, telekinetic bookworm, with more brains and heart than people three times her size.

Avril Kagan (Matilda) and Adrielle Perde (Mrs. Phelps) in ‘Matilda,’ at MPAC, June 2023. Photo by Katharine Boyle

She refuses to let her abusive parents break her spirit, or quash her kindness. A mischievous prankster when the situation calls for it, she rallies her schoolmates against their monstrous headmistress, the comically cruel Miss Trunchbull, and resolves to get justice for their sweet, persecuted teacher, Miss Honey.

That’s a lot to expect from one pint-sized person.

Can 12-year-old Avril Kagan pull this off?

That’s what captivated me at Friday’s opening night.

Jon Rodriguez as Dewey Finn and Avril Kagan, 11, as Summer in ‘School of Rock’ at MPAC, June 2022. Photo: Thomas Salus Photography

This little actress from Mendham was delightful last spring as the prim-and-proper Summer in School of Rock at MPAC. But now she must carry an entire show.

Guess what: The kid really does have telekinetic powers.

She keeps things moving, in a very fast-paced production. She is spunky, without being too precious or cloying, as so many child stars tend to be.

Avril doesn’t just memorize lines, lyrics and dance steps. She spits out multiplication tables faster than a chatbot. She even speaks Bulgarian.

(If that isn’t really Bulgarian, then her gibberish is impeccable.)

Back in another century, the 12-year-old me struggled to master the infield fly rule.

In Matilda, The Musical, Matilda’s teacher lobbies, unsuccessfully, to allow her prized pupil to skip grades and study with 11-year-olds.

Kevin B. McGlynn (Miss Trunchbull) and Madelyn Pasuit (Amanda) in ‘Matilda,’ at MPAC, June 2023. Photo by Katharine Boyle

Avril Kagan is way beyond that. She holds her own onstage with Kevin B McGlynn, a touring pro (Kiss Me Kate, Forbidden Broadway) and screen actor who gives a side-splitting, outsized performance as the sadistic, outsized Miss Trunchbull.

Picture a Third Reich version of Mrs. Doubtfire.

Roald Dahl, the British author (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach) and WWII fighter ace who published Matilda in 1988, is said to have based the character on a “mean and loathsome” candy shop owner and a 1972 Olympic champion Soviet discus thrower.

Fun performances also come from Avril’s fictional parents.

Avril Kagan (Matilda) and Cole Januzzi (Mr. Wormwood) in ‘Matilda,’ at MPAC, June 2023. Photo by Katharine Boyle

Kacie Broadfield, last seen at MPAC in the 2017 community production of West Side Story, delivers a ditzy Mrs. Wormwood. And Cole Januzzi is entertainingly loathsome as the scheming, swindling Mr. Wormwood.

Januzzi’s panache suggests another ringer. Hey, wait a minute–he is only a junior at Bridgewater Raritan High School!

A Morristown High School junior also merits mention. Regular readers of Morristown Green know all about the Cama twins.

Kevin Oliveira (Rudolpho), Charlotte Cama (Miss Honey) and Kacie Broadfield (Mrs. Wormwood) in ‘Matilda,’ at MPAC, June 2023. Photo by Katharine Boyle

Charlotte Cama, who shows off her smooth vocals (Pathetic, This Little Girl) as the mousy, loving Miss Honey, starred as Cinderella at MHS in March, opposite sister Julia, her fairy godmother.

In 2019, they walked off the MPAC stage as winners of Morristown Onstage.

(My band thought it had a shot…until those Cama girls, then in the 7th grade, calmly ambled out and blew away everyone with their act, Orion’s Belt.)

Child cast of ‘Matilda,’ at MPAC, June 2023. Photo by Katharine Boyle

My only quibble with Matilda, The Musical is the lyrics are hard to discern when a stage full of kids and the pit orchestra are roaring together.

This did not seem to faze Friday’s packed house, which appeared to consist largely of wee folks weened on Matildadom.

How to sum up this affair?

“Adorable,” my companion said, as the curtain came down.

Roald Dahl’s Matilda, The Musical, has two more shows this weekend: Saturday, June 3, at 7:30 pm; and Sunday, June 4, 2023, at 2 pm. Tickets: $20-$25. Directed by Cathy Roy; Musical Director Charles Santoro. At 100 South St., Morristown, 973-539-8008.

‘Matilda,’ at MPAC, June 2023. Photo by Katharine Boyle

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