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| Matilda The Musical |
Matilda is a wonderful musical that is all about a most amazing little girl and her adventures growing up with all the other R.E.V.O.L.T.I.N.G school children. The extraordinary Matilda has a sharp mind, a vivid imagination, a thirst for knowledge and loves reading books. She is a very bright girl trapped in an down trodding world full of less-than-bright grown-ups.
It is an under dog story about how we all can grow up to be the successful happy person we are all meant to be.
I was fortunate to see a preview performance last weekend before its premiere gala opening tonight at the Lyric Theatre in Sydney.
Matilda The Musical is the multi-award winning smash-hit musical that premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2010 in London. It has won 50 major international awards, including 12 for Best Musical.
Matilda is based on the darkly comic 1988 children's book written by Roald Dahl, and adapted from the later play written by Dennis Kelly.
The cast of Matilda is made up of mainly children, who bring their exuberance and life to the stage. They sing out the message that children sometimes have to be a little bit naughty.
The star of the show Matilda is actually played by four different girls who take turns on the stage sharing the title role -Molly Barwick, Sasha Rose, Georgia Taplin and Bella Thomas. They are picked from more than 1,000 children who auditioned for the role. This is their professional stage debuts. In the performance I saw it was Sasha Rose who played Matilda. She was great and did not put a foot wrong during the whole show. I hear that the other three Matilda's are equally as talented. They are all young stars in the making.
The adult cast is a mix of various types of people. The headmistress of Crunchem Hall, Miss Trunchbull played by James Millar is both horrible and loveable. She is the villain of the show who tries to run the school in her repressive way. She is downright sadistic in her treatment of her students. However, the students eventually triumph.
Matildas parents, the Wormwoods, are larger than life. Her mum, played by Marika Aubrey is the ballroom dancing-mad and ever hopeful dance competitor. Her dad, played by Daniel Frederiksen is the shonky car dealer who is disappointed that Matilda is his daughter and not his son. They both feel that Matilda is a failure as she wastes her time by reading books. They believe that everything is just leant from watching TV. They are very funny with their exaggerated hair-dos and eye-gobbing costumes.
The school librarian, played by Cle Morgan loves listening to the stories that Matilda tells.
Matilda's kind and gentle teacher, Miss Honey, is played by Elise McCann. She is the the person who believes in Matilda and recognises her amazing abilities. She is a compassionate teacher who offers her the affection and encouragement that is lacking in her life.
For many Aussie kids this will be the first big musical they will see. Tim Minchin hopes it gets them hooked and that they will come out with this feeling that they will never forget, and that they also come out thinking books are cool, justice is important and even if you are little you are important.
I was fortunate to see a preview performance last weekend before its premiere gala opening tonight at the Lyric Theatre in Sydney.
Matilda The Musical is the multi-award winning smash-hit musical that premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2010 in London. It has won 50 major international awards, including 12 for Best Musical.
Matilda is based on the darkly comic 1988 children's book written by Roald Dahl, and adapted from the later play written by Dennis Kelly.
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| Matilda The Musical |
The original music and lyrics were written by the brilliant Aussie comedian/singer/pianist Tim Minchin, who was born in England and raised in Australia. The songs are a mix of rowdy, quiet, quirky songs and ballads. All have his usual witty and silly lines that characterise his song writing. Tim said that using lot of alliteration and rhyme within and at the end of phrases was a way to make it feel like a game, like it is playful. And this us what Matilda has turned out to be - a fun musical for children and adults.
Matilda is unlike any other musical I have ever seen. I did however see a glimpse of Billy Eliot and Strictly Ballroom in the show. The writers became aware that there were lots of rules for writing musicals and that they should probably listen to them, but they thought no, we are not going to. They decided to write whatever it was they enjoyed. That is why Matilda the Musical is so unique and a joy to watch.
The cast of Matilda is made up of mainly children, who bring their exuberance and life to the stage. They sing out the message that children sometimes have to be a little bit naughty.
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| Sasha Rose |
The adult cast is a mix of various types of people. The headmistress of Crunchem Hall, Miss Trunchbull played by James Millar is both horrible and loveable. She is the villain of the show who tries to run the school in her repressive way. She is downright sadistic in her treatment of her students. However, the students eventually triumph.
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| Marika Aubrey,Daniel Frederiksen |
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| Cle Morgan |
Matilda's kind and gentle teacher, Miss Honey, is played by Elise McCann. She is the the person who believes in Matilda and recognises her amazing abilities. She is a compassionate teacher who offers her the affection and encouragement that is lacking in her life.
The set and costume designs that have brought the world of Matilda The Musical to life were designed by the talented Rob Howell. The set features giant books and lettered tiles which spell out words from the story. These are placed at the sides, above and behind the stage - they are everywhere. Hidden among these are words from the show. It is fun just looking at the letters and seeing how many words can be spotted.
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| Matilda The Musical |
The school crest is on each of the school uniforms The blazer patch features a hammer and slightly dazed child underneath it. This was actually the design of Roald Dahl’s long-time illustrator, the now 83-year-old Quentin Blake.
The best parts of Matilda the Musical are all the special effects moments that happen magically on stage. I won't spoil the surprises here, just go along and be astounded when you see them.
It takes a little genius to change the world. Perhaps there is a little genius lurking in all of us that can be brought to the surface to make this world a better world to live in.
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 795 267
Website http://au.matildathemusical.com/
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