Matilda UK Tour

In London there's 4 Matilda's (with 5 occasionally when the cast changes overlap), 4 Bruce's and there's 3 groups of the other kids.

The tour is similar apart from some of the children can play more than one role such as Amanda/Lavender, Eric/Nigel etc, I think this is to help cover any illnesses as they can't just call in another child on the day if someone phones in sick. Although there is a female adult swing who can cover all the child roles other than Matilda.

I was there at Craige’s last performance - he had a big hug from Rebecca Thornhill at the end and various cast members were applauding him too. He gave the audience a thumbs up as he left the stage, having apparently done 1262 shows in the role!

I was there last night too. I assume also at least one of the kids (if not several) were leaving, because one of them promptly burst into tears at the end of the curtain call! He was a most excellent Trunchbull and my favourite performer in it (closely followed by the guy playing Mr Wormwood)

So I'd never seen Matilda. And overall my review would be 'it was fine' there was nothing I actively disliked about it, but there was nothing I LOVED either. I did very much appreciate Minchin's lyrics/music as ever, and I'm glad I saw it post- Groundhog as that really tuned me into his style (having not followed his solo career) and I loved the music.

There are some lovely moments- the alphabet song, and 'When I Grow Up' charmed even my cynical old heart.

But honestly it dragged a bit? the book I don't think holds up to Minchin's songs. And I think it lacks the darkness of the book-book. That said I might just have grown up to have a general problem with Dahl (you know anti semitism aside and just focusing on his writing) because for some reason on revisiting, I felt for Matilda's parents, in that the whole story around them seemed geared to making fun of 'stupid people' rather than the fact they were unkind to her. Also is it me or does the musical take far longer to get to Matilda's 'powers' than the book? or did I just miss something...?

Anyway it was enjoyable enough. Child performers usually set my teeth on edge and this didn't so that's a win as well. I'm glad I ticked it off my list, but I probably won't ever need to re-visit.

Also the pianist has a newt sat on his piano, as a view from Balcony B allows you to watch the pit quite close up!

Weirdly, every time I heard songs prior to seeing it it was like fingernails on a blackboard to me (I've skipped ahead EP on Sunday a number of times) BUT that said, having now heard the songs in context I will give the recording a listen. (glad I'm not alone- your good self and a few others have said the show does drag a bit). 

Something I mentioned to friends in discussing this is of course the curse of seeing a show years later having heard just HOW GOOD it is for so long that even if you go in with mediocre expectations like I did (well reservations) you'll still be left going 'oh was that it?' say 80% of the time. 

hahaha that did make me laugh...and yes, the sound quality wasn't there live- I found it difficult to understand lyrics at times. 

And did she really have to spend SO long telling that story to the librarian?! 

I agree with you about how the sound may be an issue in the barn that is the Playhouse.

I've yet to see the tour, I've only ever seen it in London and I can't imagine the show being an enjoyable experience from somewhere like the back row of the balcony in the Playhouse! There's intimate parts like 'Quiet' and the scene in Miss Honey's shed, a lot of this will be lost by being so far away. 

I sat the front row of the balcony for Billy Elliot a couple of years ago and even that felt like I was a long long way from the stage.

General opinion in this thread is that the sound on this run of the show is a marked improvement on that of the West End production, which itself received a re-design and has reportedly improved.
Any issues now are likely to be venue specific rather than production specific.

The show seems to be in a state of disrepair in Edinburgh. I was in tonight and we had two show stops due to technical difficulties, with the second of which lasting for about 20 minutes. We didn’t get out of the theatre until about 22:45.

It wasn’t just tonight - the matinee also got held up, as have several other performances in Edinburgh according to the ushers.

Overall, I did enjoy it - cast were brilliant, particularly Elliot as Trunchbull - but I feel like it really shows that it’s been out on the road for over a year.

Yes, I get that, it was the fact that it had supposedly happened over several performances up here that made me say that...

We weren’t told. I think it may have been sound (I struggled to make out the words of Matilda and the parents at points, but it did improve as the show went on), but the ushers were telling people that it was automation playing up.

It first got stopped right in the middle of Miracle, and again after School Song. I’m glad they were able to rectify the problems to give us a performance, but it did kind of disturb the flow.