Brian Slattery Photo
John Fisher, Mia Sinclair Jenness, Gabby Gutierrez, Mabel Tyler, Toni Harp.
“New Haven: Bigger than Los Angeles,” proclaimed Mayor Toni Harp.
Harp made the declaration at the Shubert Wednesday afternoon, explaining how the touring company for the Broadway hit Matilda is following the old-school pattern of opening its show at the New Haven theater before taking it on the road.
While in town, the play is expected to generate about $2 million in overall economic activity for the city, officials said..
“We’re excited from an arts and cultural standpoint,” Harp said. “We’re also excited from a dollars and cents standpoint.”
Matilda is playing at the Shubert from May 16 to May 23.
In keeping with the Roald Dahl book that it is based on, Matilda follows the trials and adventures of precocious and mischievous girl as she contends with, and gets the better of, both her spiteful, buffoonish parents and her tyrannical headmistress at school.
The play rests on the shoulders of the young actresses who play Matilda. The Broadway production rotated four actresses through the part night after night. The touring company at the Shubert has three — Gabby Gutierrez, Mia Sinclair Jenness, and Mabel Tyler — who have been in extensive rehearsals for weeks to prepare for the show.
“We refer to them as the Matildas,” said Anthony Lupinacci, the Shubert’s director of marketing and community relations.
Gutierrez, Jenness, and Tyler appear to have been born to play the part. Undaunted by the phalanx of cameras and public officials, the actresses chatted with Harp, Lupinacci, and Shubert Executive Director John Fisher with vivaciousness and infectious charm. They had only a minute to talk, as they had to get back to rehearsal.
“Later I can tell you more about Julie Andrews if you want,” Lupinacci said.
“Yes, please!” Gutierrez, Jenness, and Tyler answered in unison.
As the actresses returned to rehearsal, Harp and Fisher broke down that $2 million figure: Matilda has employed 75 local union stage employees for over 13,350 work hours. Over 100 people involved with the show are staying in hotels in New Haven and close by. The production has acquired stage equipment, materials for the sets, and other supplies from a number of local stores and companies, among them ShowMotion in Milford. The figure also includes the money that the people involved in the production spend at New Haven’s restaurants and other businesses during their stay here. As Harp mentioned, the production heads to Los Angeles next, and then onward to tour the country.
But “everyone will see it here first,” said Fisher.
Find more information about the productions here.
Previous Matilda coverage:
• “Co-Op Grad Scores Backstage ‘Matilda’ Role”
• “‘Matilda’ Arrives All Over Town”
• “Matilda’s Bound For Fair Haven”