Live Theater Returns To Moorestown With 'Matilda Jr.' Wednesday

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Those attending this week’s Moorestown Theater Company (MTC) performance this week will have the chance to experience the return of live theater in summer-like temperatures.

“Matilda, Jr.” opens Wednesday night in the parking lot behind Bayada Home Health Care, 1 West Main Street, 6 p.m. It will be followed by performances at the same time on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The rain date is Sunday.

“We hope to help with the comeback from this pandemic,” MTC Artistic Director Mark Morgan said.

MTC is planning 10 shows between now and August, and it begins with a show Morgan said has had the “longest rehearsal process in MTC history.”

“We started rehearsing in September,” Morgan said. “We wanted to perform in December, but we couldn’t find a place.”

With no indoor venue possible and plummeting temperatures making the winter months untenable for an outside performance, Morgan realized the show might not go on until the spring.

By the time the final performance finishes this weekend, it will have been nine months from first performance to final bow for the show based on Roald Dahl’s story of Matilda Wormwood, a gifted girl forced to put up with a crude, distant father and mother.

“I have to give a huge thank you to Mark and Ann Baiada, who said we can use their parking lot whenever we want,” Morgan said. “We would have no other option.”

The owners of Bayada Home Health Care, Ann Baiada is on the MTC Board of Trustees, and both Baiadas are big supporters of live theater.

The show is double-cast, with the “Black” cast performing Wednesday, the “Gold” cast performing Thursday, and the casts alternating thereafter.

With the show beginning at 6 p.m., MTC aims to be finished before the sun goes down, which will allow residents to stroll Main Street while there is still some light outside. The weather, not typically something theater goers have to worry about, is expected to be in the 70s and 80s much of the week, with a slight chance of rain.

General Admission Tickets are available atMoorestownTheaterCompany.org. Tickets can also be purchased at the door, with credit card being the preferred method for payment.

Groups will be seated together, but 6 feet apart from other audience members. Audience members must wear masks, and the performers will have face shields on.

“Outside is the safest place to be right now, and we’d love to have everyone back supporting live theater,” said Morgan, who is directing the show.

His wife and MTC Managing Director, Carol Ann Murray, will be the Vocal Director; and Jen Grasso (Broadway Veteran and MTC Choreographer) will serve as choreographer. For more information, call MTC at 856-778-8357.