As a kid I was an avid reader and Roald Dahl was always one of my favorites. His books had a way of keeping me thoroughly entertained by the whimsical plot lines, but I also felt sort of adult reading them. I never felt like Roald Dahl was talking down to me. As a reader I was one of the good guys, one of the Matildas. So when I heard that the West End production of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Matilda the Musical was actually a success, I was really excited.
With stuff like Shrek the Musical floating around, I can definitely get on board with Dennis Kelley’s adaptation of this Roald Dahl classic. Tim Minchin, one of Australia’s top comedians wrote the music and the lyrics. Amanda Conquy, the estate’s managing director was hesitant to give permission to adapt Matilda into a musical because “we know they have an incredible capacity to go wrong.” Luckily, the production has been very successful in London. Matt Wolf, a writer for the International Herald Tribune said, “With Time Minchin, that was totally out of left-feild — looking toward the world of comedy and Australian comedy, too — to write a show that in many ways is so quintessentially English. I think his score is a major achievement. It’s not imitative or suggestive of anyone else. It has its own flavor, texture, wit, energy.” It has won several awards to far including best musical production and best actor (Bertie Carvel) in the Theatre Awards UK, and in November 2011 it won the Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical as part of The Evening Standard Awards. There’s even talk of taking Matilda to Broadway. Basically my point is it sounds awesome and I’d really like the chance to see it.
One Comment
rro posted on March 2, 2012 at 3:12 pm
I saw this when I was in London–literally the best new musical I’ve ever seen. It’s so great. It’s officially coming to Broadway in 2013 and I just really hope nothing is lost in the move!!