by Barbara Lacelle,
Artistic Director KYMTC
Kemptville Youth Musical Theatre Company is back and staging Matilda April 15 – 30 at the Urbandale Arts Centre in Kemptville. Music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and a book by Dennis Kelly, based on the 1988 novel Matilda by Roald Dahl. The musical’s narrative centres on a precocious 5-year-old girl with the gift of telekinesis, who loves reading, overcomes obstacles caused by her family and school, and helps her teacher to reclaim her life. Matilda the musical has received widespread critical acclaim winning 7 Olivier awards including Best New Musical in 2012 and 5 Tony awards in 2013 including Best Book of a Musical.
Working with these young people has been my privilege. They are hard working, caring and full of passion and they are excited for you to come and share this amazing adventure with them. It has been hard for them because they lost three years of KYMTC and therefore 3 years of taking chances and growing their skills but they make up for it in energy.
Three years ago, we were so close to staging Matilda. It was heartbreaking for everyone, but especially the young people who had been working since the previous September. As a company it was also devastating because we had paid for everything and received no revenue to cover expenses. The major expenses for each production we stage total over $25K and these include securing the rights, renting the scripts, rehearsal space, the venue, musicians and insurance. This amount does not include costumes, sets, props, lighting and sound equipment, etc. I am explaining this because we had to raise our ticket prices this year and that hurts you. We try very hard to keep our ticket prices low so that everyone can enjoy the show. Everything has gone up. Also, we do not charge the kids to be in this program and we do not get paid. All ticket revenue goes to pay for the next show.
Matilda is an exhilarating tale of empowerment. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter said the stage show captures “the unique flavour of Roald Dahl’s classic 1988 children’s novel”, and added, “this funhouse fairy tale is by turns riotous and poignant, grotesque and menacing, its campy comic exaggeration equaled only by its transporting emotional power”. We are hoping that you will come out and see this wonderful, heart warming musical that is chocked full of energy and naughtiness.
