Matilda The Musical - this tour is nothing to be "Quiet" about
- cheekylittlematinee
- 12 minutes ago
- 2 min read
★★★★★
When I grow up, I want to possess as much talent as the Matilda The Musical company has in each of their pinky fingers.
Be it the young performers who dominate the stage, the wizardry of the illusion, the lighting and sound teams, the life-affirming orchestra, or the giant feats pulled off by the crew backstage that tumble one scene into the next with as much grace as turning a page in a book.
Roald Dahl's famed words play into Rob Howell's stage design, with Scrabble-esque tiles spelling out words like 'silence' and 'escapologist', transporting audiences to Mrs Phelps' library and the circus. Tim Minchin's music and lyrics, chocka with genius wordplay, make true that Matilda, the children's literary bookworm herself, has plenty of earworms in her repertoire. There's plenty to unpack in Minchin's writing and Dennis Kelly's book. How much you pick out on each watch is entirely to what you're craving - nostalgia, reassurance, or vengeance.
School gates become climbing frames for "School Song", one of Tim Minchin's many numbers that deserve "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" status, with extended thanks to the associated choreography by Peter Darling: Ellen Kane, who choreographed the viral big screen adaptation, is the associate on the stage show.
On their quest to avenge their monstrous headteacher, Miss Trunchbull (Richard Hurst truly is fantastically frightening and surprisingly poised despite the hunched shoulders), Matilda (at this performance, played wonderfully by Sanna Kurihara, and her friends, the glitzy Bruce Bogtrotter (Brodie Robson), confident Lavender (Dottie Jones), and pigtail weilded Amanda (Sylvie Grace), cause chaos at Crunchem Hall.
Perhaps Matilda The Musical does get even funnier the older you get. The side-splitting (and leg-splitting) Mrs Wormwood, played here by Rebecca Thornhill, and her supposedly Spanish beau Rudolpho, played by Ryan Lay, bring the house down with "Loud". Meanwhile, Adam Stafford's Mr Wormwood is as memorable as his acid green hair. The Wormwood residence, with orange tasseled couches and pink fluffy mirrors, is kitsch maximalism, a fever dream of permed blonde curls and TV dinners. A stark contrast to the school under Trunchbull's control, but both are prisons. Instead, it's the humble Miss Honey's (Tessa Kadler) abode that provides calming respite.
Quietly at the centre of it all is the mighty Matilda. Another token from the home of the RSC, "Though she be but little, she is fierce", springs to mind. Though I imagine there is such revolutionary talent across the entire young company that no matter who you see, they will soar across the limits of the swing set, somersault over the vaulting horse, and triumph at chocolate cake culinary competitions.
It's a wonder. You wonder, as wide-eyed as the librarian, at the skill and minds of these wunderkinds. You wonder whether the adults in your own life have ever thought such a newt-infested insult about your younger antics, and you wonder, above all, how they are pulling off this mastery on stage.