Raves for the RSC's Matilda

My last post happened to be on the same day the Matilda musical opened.  Now I’m seeing rave reviews and very much hoping that some folks are eying it for this side of the pond.

From the Telegraph’s review:

I turned up to the RSC’s new musical version of Roald Dahl’s Matilda expecting a pretty classy children’s show. What I wasn’t anticipating was the best British musical since Billy Elliot and a smash hit that will surely be the toast of the West End once its run in Stratford is over.

From the Guardian’s review:

Dennis Kelly, as adaptor, has, if anything, heightened Dahl’s awareness of both the mean-spirited and the miraculous. Matilda is a brilliantly precocious child detested equally by her dodgy car-dealer father and her ballroom-dancing obsessed mother. And, at school, she falls prey to the evil machinations of the diabolical headmistress to whom all children are maggots. But, in Kelly’s version, Matilda is not just a voracious reader and opponent of injustice. She is also a prophetic storyteller who magically prefigures the plight of her one schoolroom champion, the aptly named Miss Honey.

From the Scotsman:

In this lovingly created show, Matilda’s magic positively sparkles. There’s a cleverness in the writing which ensures that, while it appeals to children, there is plenty for adults to savour. And most of all it’s blissfully funny. I’d have been embarrassed by my involuntary snorts of laughter if they hadn’t been drowned out by the almost universal ecstasy of the rest of the audience. This is a thrilling new piece of musical theatre.

About these ads