Change, growth, ‘Matilda’ at Garden
Theater’s enthusiastic new artistic director not rushing into things
As new artistic director, Joseph C. Walsh has plans for the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden. But he also has a date with “Matilda the Musical.”
The Garden will stage “Matilda” as part of its 2019-20 season, and it’s the first show Walsh will direct himself.
“It felt like the perfect project to introduce myself to the community with,” he says over lunch in downtown Winter Garden. Based on Roald Dahl’s awardwinning children’s book, the show features a significant number of youngsters in its cast. That’s right up Walsh’s alley: Most recently, Walsh was artistic director at Arlington Children’s Theatre in Massachusetts and he has developed theater-education curriculum and worked with other educationally minded troupes.
He has been studying up on “Matilda,” which the Garden will present in April.
“The source material is so good,” he exudes. “The layers of storytelling, who these people are and how they change each other… it’s an exciting thing for me to jump into.”
Walsh is naturally enthusiastic, he says — but he’s not going to let his energetic nature drive him to implement major changes at the Garden straightaway.
The artistic director’s role is to oversee the quality of all productions during a theater’s season.
Previous artistic director Rob Winn Anderson chose the upcoming season’s shows before Walsh arrived last month, and left things in such good shape, Walsh says, that he has time to make thoughtful decisions that are “smart and not just passionate.”
He has an interest in live music — a challenge at the Garden because of space limitations, acoustics in its old movie-house setup and other factors. But “Ragtime,” which opens the new season on Aug. 23, will feature two pianists. The musical, about immigrants and race relations at the turn of the 20th century, will also touch on another of Walsh’s interests: Growing and diversifying the theater’s audience even more.
“I think ‘Ragtime’ can really open up more diversity and the telling of different stories,” he says. “Seeing how it comes together, and then how it’s received, will give me a lot of information.”
Gathering information is on Walsh’s mind. The Garden’s audience has grown rapidly — the current production of “Flashdance” has had to add performances to keep up with demand — and the theater has expanded its season from six to seven shows.
Walsh prudently says his first priority is making sure the theater’s artistic quality lives up to the audience’s expectations before thinking even bigger.
“The next level of growth we need to reach comes after we make sure we can sustain the growth we’ve already had,” he says.
A dual citizen of the United States and Ireland, Walsh has worked extensively in Europe and peppers his speech with British-isms like “sussed out” (“figured out” to us Yanks). He’s found a home in nearby Apopka and is settling in.
Moving to a new city and taking a new job can be scary, Walsh says, but he already feels at home in Winter Garden and at the theater.
He smiles broadly and says, “Everything is even better than I expected it to be.”