Last week, the cast and crew of IHMS’ 2025-2026 musical put on a stunning performance of Roald Dahl’s Matilda: The Musical, led by Ms. Opheim, whom I interviewed about her experience producing this show.
This will be Ms. Opheim’s 6th show at IHMS. I asked her how she would describe this year’s musical, and she replied, “I would say exciting is a good word for it,… because I love to see the growth in our cast and crew from auditions in November, to the end of the show.” She also mentioned that she loved seeing us put together an entire, elaborate piece of art as a collaborative experience.
She said the main challenges she faced when making these productions were, “Just staying organised, and… making sure that everything is ready to go for opening.” She also told me how she organised and planned out the productions. She explained, “I want to get to know the 7th graders before picking the show.” She does this so that she can pick something that fits the group she has.
I asked her about improv since there were a few hiccups in some of the dress rehearsals and she said it’s a good skill to know and, “in terms of just like having fun with it, we tend to see like a little bit more of that as it goes on.”
In all, she said that her experience with the show was nothing more than exciting and she’s looking forward to next year’s show. And yes, I did ask for some leaks about what it could be and it didn’t work so I guess you’ll have to wait till next year to find out.
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great article!