Something Different: “Matilda The Musical” Begins Rehearsals

The official Broadway poster for “Matilda The Musical”, Photo credits: The Royal Shakespeare Company

By Ian Biles, Staff Writer for The Powderhorn

Sarah Miller has been teaching theater at Watauga High School for over 30 years. In that time, Miller and the theater program have received praise at the district, state, and national levels, with Miller herself receiving a nomination for the Excellence in Theater Education award at the Tonys, and a student-written play, “Surge,” qualifying for competition at the national level just last year.  Every year, the spring musical shines as a way for the cast, crew, and director to show off the high-caliber performance the program is capable of. This year, the program tackles “Matilda,” a musical based on the 1988 Roald Dahl book of the same name. With auditions finished and the cast set, Miller and the students prepare to begin rehearsals.

With “Matilda” came changes to the traditional audition process. The changes were widespread and implemented by Miller and her fellow directors, Franklin Lanchaster and Zachary Walker, in order to make the audition process easier for both director and student.

“This year, Mr. Lancaster put out the music for the singing audition around two weeks before auditions,” said Miller. “We did this so that students could prepare and really showcase their talents and choose a song that suited them and their voice.”

This change replaced the sight-reading portion of the singing audition, in which students would sing a piece or solo without having seen or prepared it beforehand.  Collin Troisi, a freshman playing Mr. Wormwood, Matilda’s dad, and one of the musical’s male leads, was a fan of the audition format. 

“The audition process was very smooth,” said Troisi. “They gave you all the information, and they were very helpful if you didn’t know or understand something.”

this is Sarah Miller’s last year teaching at Watauga, and by extension, her last musical with the high school, so why “Matilda”?

“I love the story, and I love the message,” said Miller. “Little people can do a lot! I think that is extremely relevant in today’s society, and also, I’d never done a production of “Matilda” before. I wanted to end on something I hadn’t done before, something that presented new challenges but was still fun.”

In her interview, Miller emphasized that these new challenges added to the appeal of “Matilda.” Miller also stated that almost every musical she has directed at the high school has presented new difficulties.  Senior William Greene, who has participated in the musical all four years, shared his thoughts on some challenges “Matilda” could present.

“In other musicals I’ve been a part of here, like ‘Mean Girls’ or ‘Mamma Mia!,’ the characters were either teens or adults,” said Greene.  “It’s going to be interesting to see how we can change the characters in ‘Matilda’ to age them up.” 

In “Matilda,” Greene will be playing Rodolfo, a flamboyant Italian salsa dancer whose character is a quintessential example of Dahl’s over-the-top personalities. Characters like Rodolfo are a signature part of all of Dahl’s books and their film or theater adaptations, adding a unique and signature charm.  Jovie Cornell, a junior participating in her third musical this year, also finds herself playing an over-the-top character: Mrs. Wormwood, Matilda’s mother. 

“I'm very excited to play a character with such a strong personality,” said Cornell. “ I’m excited to see what I can do with that, because I get to go all out for it.”

“Matilda” will be Greene’s last musical with the high school. As a veteran member of the program, Greene had advice for up-and-coming students in the program on how to succeed.

“Have fun with it,” said Greene. “ It’s very hard to have fun when you’re nervous and haven’t done this on the high school level, but for auditioning and during rehearsals, the point is to have fun and act!”