Young Actress Goes From Theater in Newark To Musical on Broadway

Madilyn Jaz Morrow ain't in Kansas anymore.

The young veteran of Stage 1 Theater in Newark has been cast in two different roles in the New York City Broadway musical Matilda.

Matilda is the protagonist of a 1988 novel by author Roald Dahl, a bookwormish young girl with telekinetic powers. Actor and producer Danny Devito made the story into a movie in 1996.  

Stage 1 is a 25-year-old nonprofit Tri-City theater company known for producing musicals with all-volunteer stage performers and musicians, including a once-a-year summer youth show.

Stage 1 fans may have seen Madilyn star as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Alice in Wonderland.

The young thespian has also worked in some of the company's adult productions, according to a Stage 1 president Debbie Otterstetter, who saw Matilda on a recent trip to New York City. 

“I was actually able to see her perform with this excellent cast two weeks ago during previews,” Otterstetter wrote Patch recently.

Madilyn is currently was an understudy in two different roles, Otterstetter said.

In another boast for the Tri-City area, Fremont native Lesli Michelle Margherita is performing in the role of Matilda's mom.