Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical JR.

 

At Matilda’s home, her father, Mr. Wormwood, reveals his scheme to sell old
automobiles as brand-new luxury cars to Russian businessmen. Matilda says that she
doesn’t believe this is fair, and her father insults her, believing her intelligence and love
of books to be unnatural. Matilda goes to her room, pausing on the way to mix her
father’s hair tonic with her mother’s hair dye. The next morning, Mr. Wormwood’s hair is
green.
Matilda drops by the library to visit Mrs. Phelps, the librarian. The girl tells Mrs. Phelps
the first part of the tale of the Acrobat and the Escapologist, two circus performers
deeply in love. The tale cuts off just as the couple is primed to perform their most
dangerous trick yet. Matilda starts her first day of school the next morning, surrounded
by intimidated new children and scary big kids. Fortunately, Matilda’s teacher is Miss
Honey, a sweet woman who cares deeply for her students. Miss Honey immediately
recognizes Matilda’s advanced intelligence, prompting her to visit the school’s vicious
headmistress, Miss Trunchbull. The teacher hopes to promote Matilda to a more
challenging class, but Trunchbull refuses, insisting that Matilda cannot be an exception
to the rules.
After school, Mr. Wormwood returns home, furious that the Russians did not fall for his
scheme. Matilda questions him about it, and he notices her book, prompting him to rip
the book apart in a fury. In an act of rebellion, Matilda lines the rim of her father’s hat
with superglue, watching in satisfaction as he puts the hat on his head. At school the
next day, Matilda’s classmate Nigel runs through the playground in a panic, saying he
has been blamed for a trick on Trunchbull. He says that if she finds him, she will put him
in the infamous chokey, a cupboard lined with nails, spikes and broken glass. Matilda
tells the students to throw their coats onto Nigel. When Trunchbull storms onstage,
Matilda tells her Nigel has been asleep under the coats for the last hour due to his
sleeping disorder. Trunchbull reluctantly accepts this explanation and leaves after
bullying another student.
While Mr. Wormwood realizes his hat is glued to his head at Wormwood Motors, Mrs.
Wormwood is at the Wormwood house, answering the door when Miss Honey knocks.
The teacher tries to explain to Mrs. Wormwood how special her daughter is, but the
girl’s mother doesn’t listen and pushes her out the door. Miss Honey stands outside,
wanting to fight for Matilda, yet feeling helpless. Meanwhile, Matilda is at the library
continuing her circus love story for Mrs. Phelps. The escapologist announces that their
act is canceled because his wife, the acrobat, is pregnant. However, the acrobat’s sister
refuses to cancel the act, referring to the contract the performers signed. Matilda
promises to continue the next day.

At school the following day, Miss Honey pulls Matilda aside and promises to bring in
extra books to challenge the girl. Matilda is thrilled. But her joy is short-lived as
Trunchbull bursts into the classroom, accusing Matilda of eating a piece of her cake.
The true culprit, however, is Matilda’s hungry classmate Bruce, who accidentally reveals
his guilt with a loud, chocolaty burp. Trunchbull comes up with a twisted punishment
for Bruce, bringing out the rest of the massive cake for the boy to eat in one sitting. The
kids cheer on the boy, who finally finishes off the huge dessert. Despite his victory,
Trunchbull takes Bruce to the chokey. Matilda is upset by the unfairness of this. She
goes to the library, launching into the next part of her dramatic circus tale. During a
performance, the acrobat slips and falls, breaking every bone in her body and passing
away-but not before she gives birth to a baby girl. However, the girl grows up with an
abusive aunt and a father who is unaware anything is wrong. The story cuts off once
again, and the scene shifts to the children in Matilda’s school, singing about what life
will be like when they grow up. Miss Honey and Matilda join in, wondering what they
can do to right all of the wrongs in their lives.
At the Wormwood home, Mr. Wormwood announces that by tweaking the
speedometers in his cars, he has completed a successful business deal with the
Russians. While the rest of the family is thrilled by the money, Matilda is disgusted that
her father cheated the businessmen. Mr. Wormwood threatens to ban her from the
school and never let her read again. Alone in her room, Matilda tells the rest of the
circus story to herself. The escapologist discovers that his sister-in-law has been
beating his daughter, and he leaves to confront her, but he never returns again.
The next day at school, Trunchbull believes the students are up to something and her
fears are confirmed when Matilda’s sneaky classmate Lavender puts a newt into
Trunchbull’s water jug. She immediately begins pointing fingers and figuring out who to
blame, but Matilda silences her with a yell. Trunchbull yells back, but suddenly
everything slows down and goes quiet as Matilda explains to the audience that she can
sometimes find a calmness in herself that allows her to do amazing things. In this
moment, the calmness allows her to throw the glass with the newt at Trunchbull. The
headmistress screams and runs away. Miss Honey dismisses the class, but Matilda stays
behind to show the teacher her ability. They walk together, and Miss Honey reveals that
she is poor and lives in a shed. Her father died when she was little, and her cruel aunt
became her legal guardian and the owner of her childhood home. Miss Honey suspects
her aunt killed her father, but she has no proof. Matilda asks who Miss Honey’s aunt is.
Reluctantly, Miss Honey reveals that her aunt is none other than Trunchbull.

In Miss Honey’s classroom the next day, Trunchbull challenges the class to a spelling
test. The students spell every word right-proof that Miss Honey’s kind, patient teaching
methods have paid off. When Trunchbull claims a student has spelled a word wrong
and tries to drag her to the chokey, the whole class begins spelling wrong so there will
be no room for all of them in the cruel device. As Trunchbull claims she has multiple
chokeys for all of them, writing appears on the chalkboard-writing that appears to be
from her dead brother-in-law. Trunchbull leaves the classroom screaming. The children
sing in joy!
A few days pass, and Miss Honey has inherited her parents’ house, taken over the role
of headmistress, and removed all the chokeys. Matilda, meanwhile, is about to be
whisked off to Spain by her family. Her father is on the run from the Russian
businessmen, who have realized that they were cheated by him. However, Miss Honey
has a proposition: let Matilda stay with her. After just a bit of reluctance, Mr. and Mrs.
Wormwood agree, and Matilda and Miss Honey are both overjoyed.