Show Reviews: Matilda

Yes, I know there have been a lot of show reviews lately, sorry.   So today I'd like to talk about Matilda, which is quite a new show.   It's based on the book by the amazing Roald Dahl, and was written by the wonderful Tim Minchin.   It was a great show!   It's about a little girl called Matilda who has horrible parents and magical powers.   She uses them to help her lovely teacher get her inheritance off her horrible aunt, who is also the headmistress.   The headmistress, Miss Trunchball, is played by a man in drag, which works really well.   The cast includes a lot of children, and they were all very impressive!   Bruce Bogtrotter especially was a great little performer.   Matilda's family were also excellent.   Really ignorant and vapid.   The sets were great as well.   Really clever with lots of bits to climb.   I have to say though that I wasn't that much of a fan of the changes Tim Minchin made to the story.  For example he made Miss Honey the teacher's parents circus performers.   I don't get it.   As for the songs, there are some great ones.   The cleverest is the song when the kids start school.   The older kids sing about what a terrible place school is, and you don't realise until the final chorus when they start using props that the entire alphabet has been incorporated into the song!   Amazing!   And I love Naughty.   It's so empowering.

Some of the best songs: