Exciting future ahead for Newbury’s talented YoungStars
Matilda The Musical JR is the junior version of Tim Minchin’s multi-award winning West End show. Based on Roald Dahl’s story, it tells of an extraordinary girl who dreams of a better life and inspires ‘revolting children’ to teach the grown-ups a lesson. Double NODA award winning youth theatre group for nine- to 16-year-olds Newbury YoungStars brought their verve and energy to two live performances at Arlington Arts.
Newbury YoungStars: Matilda the Musical Jr
at Arlington Arts, Snelsmore
on Friday, April 26, and Saturday, April 27
Review by CATRIONA REEVES
THE musical adaption of the Roald Dahl book has been around for over a decade now, but reached a new peak of popularity with the release of a film version in 2002. As a result, many parents probably know the songs and script well enough to give the titular role of Matilda a fair go themselves.
Fortunately there was no need for this to happen in Newbury YoungStars’ enjoyable production of Matilda Jr (slightly pared down from the full version for youth performances) as Jessica Neale, perfectly brought to life the child genius with magical powers and a strong sense of justice.
Joining her was a strong cast of talented young performers, including Grace Neale as the downtrodden Miss Honey, a teacher with a nervous nature and a powerfully mature singing voice; Liberty Watters who balanced comedy and fear perfectly as the terrifying headteacher Miss Trunchbull; and Charlie Bright, Izzy Rands, Noah Thorne and Dara Winch as Matilda’s cheeky and defiant classmates.
It would have been perfect for the purposes of this review if I’d been able to say that Matilda’s composer Tim Minchen must have left a bit of fairy dust on the Arlington stage when he performed his musical comedy show there in the early noughties.
However, a brief check shows that he played New Greenham Arts but never Arlington, so the credit for this zippy and fun production has to go entirely to directors Ellen Busby and Joe Overend and Newbury YoungStars small but dedicated production team of volunteers.
Newbury YoungStars have a long history of providing local young performers with opportunities to immerse themselves in the excitement of live performance and musical history, marked by the receipt of a National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA) award for their production of High School Musical Last year. Now in their 30th year, Matilda Jr marks another step up in YoungStars’ award-worthy production values and suggests that as it prepares to mark its 30th anniversary that the group and its talented young performers have an exciting future.
