Matilda Tour?- Page 3

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/20/15 at 10:19pm

Just a guess, but I'm sure the Dahl estate has some say in it.  Considering the caveats they've put on the various adaptations of his work since he died I wouldn't be surprised if keeping the story of Matilda set in England was one of them.

[VotePeron]

Posted: 6/20/15 at 10:46pm

There have been various stages of "americanizing" Matilda ever since it's 2nd preview on Broadway. I've seen the show 20+ times with every Matilda, and this is what I've tracked:

During Previews on Broadway, much of the small words in songs (especially Miracle) were re written.

In August 2013, the writers of the show spent a week watching the show live and implementing changes. This included the now infamous change from "Escapologist" to "Escape Artist."

When the Newtildas premiered in January 2014, the accents were changed. They were much less severe. However, for most of their runs, the girls struggled with balancing the american accent with the British one. The Tinytilda's, however, are much better with the estranged accents, IMO.

I would assume the mounting of the 1NT would bring the creative team together again for the first "big" time. I believe that if they wanted to - or could - change or nix the accents, they would've chosen to do that during rehearsals. Perhaps all this negative feedback of the tour will force them to reconsider their choices.

It's a shame to hear that the 1NT isn't thrilling audiences the way that they Broadway production does to me every time I see it. It is by far my favorite show on Broadway right now.

[rcwr]

Posted: 6/20/15 at 11:19pm

 

AEA AGMA SM and VotePeron, thank you. I find this very interesting.

[rytheguy13]

Posted: 6/28/15 at 1:59pm

I saw the show a few nights ago and I certainly wasn't as impressed as I'd hoped to be.  The set flt completely flat, absolutely nothing was dimensional, which gave the lighting design absolutely none of the wonderful texture to play with.  I think the set, by far, was my biggest letdown. They also really dumbed down a couple of effects that should have been simple to achieve on a tour. Additionally, I thought Gabby really fell flat as Matilda.  She was incredibly cold, which made it very hard to feel anything for her.  It's still early in the tour, so hopefully some of the issues with the cast can be worked through, but the issues with the production design might be too much for this tour to succeed.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 6/28/15 at 2:07pm

How do they do the pigtail scene in the tour?

[Jack Hughes]

Posted: 6/29/15 at 5:14pm

I liked it quite a bit.  I agree with the previous poster that commented on the audience reaction being a little soft but I think that can be attributed to 1) subscribers who would have preferred to see something else and 2) lots of very small kids who the show isn't intended for.

[toofunktastic2]

Posted: 6/29/15 at 5:54pm

"How do they do the pigtail scene in the tour?

"

Very similarly to on broadway, except I believe she is caught stage left instead of in the audience.

[ggersten]

Posted: 7/7/15 at 4:54pm

Other than goldstar, any promo or discount codes for San Francisco?

[Wildcard]

Posted: 7/7/15 at 6:16pm

I saw the show last week and I didn't have any issues hearing or understanding any of the actors except in a couple of spots. Lavender's lines where difficult to comprehend due to the young actress shouting her lines and her over-exagerrated accent. Also, the beginning of "Quiet" was hard to understand due to the speed Matilda was singing it and the underlying speech by Miss Trunchbull. Mia Sinclair Jenness was on when I watched it and she was fantastic as Matilda. It took a while for the audience to warm-up to Bryce Ryness but eventually, they loved him. His Miss Trunchbull seemed to get more feminine as the night wore on. Sure, he's no Bertie but he did okay in the role and is not a bad substitute. The rest of the kids were wonderful and brought a lot of joy to the evening.

The adults in the audience were responding well to the show but most of the kids seemed bored by it. Overall, I enjoyed the show and would gladly see it again.

[mmFan]

Posted: 7/7/15 at 6:44pm

Matilda is coming to my home town next July, but am seeing it end of the summer in NY.  So if it's great, then can see it again on tour.  Always interesting to compare.

Do they also have 4 little girls playing Matilda?

Updated On: 7/7/15 at 06:44 PM

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 7/7/15 at 6:50pm

"Matilda is coming to my home town next July, but am seeing it end of the summer in NY.  So if it's great, then can see it again on tour.  Always interesting to compare.
Do they also have 4 little girls playing Matilda?"

They have 3.

 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 7/7/15 at 7:14pm

The Broadway company actually has 4 as well.

[VotePeron]

Posted: 7/7/15 at 7:26pm

The broadway rotation is very messed up. 2 Tinytilda's have left, but Tori and Fina seem to be hanging around until the end of the month. 2 new Matilda's have been announced, but only Mattea has performed (July 4th and 5th).

 

The Broadway Production performed with only 3 girls for about 2 months while Brookyln Shuck left prematurely to do Beaches in Chicago.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 3:11am

Just got out of tonight's performance in LA, still a funny joyous show. Sadly still suffering from issues with understanding some of the children. I think it's time for the production team to allow the kids to drop whatever accent they are trying to do.

The young girl playing Matilda tonight, was so hard to understand in some of the spoken parts, some around me where asking others quiet loudly what she said.

Still over all a fun night at the theatre, seeing it again in a few weeks in Sydney Australia 

[rcwr]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 3:14am

I'll be seeing it for the first time when it makes its way to Boston next summer, and I won't mind at all if the accents are gone. I mean, i wouldn't mind them if they were there, everything else being equal -- but it doesn't sound like everything else is equal, and I'm not attached to the accents. Clear diction matters more.

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 4:07pm

"The broadway rotation is very messed up. 2 Tinytilda's have left, but Tori and Fina seem to be hanging around until the end of the month. 2 new Matilda's have been announced, but only Mattea has performed (July 4th and 5th).
 
The Broadway Production performed with only 3 girls for about 2 months while Brookyln Shuck left prematurely to do Beaches in Chicago."

Did Brooklyn actually leave prematurely? I actually thought that she left on schedule. I had heard that the girls were asked to extend and she was unable because of her commitment to Beaches and Eliza was able to extend for one month. (Of course, I could be wrong - it's been known to happen..LOL).

I don't know if I would say the Broadway rotation is messed up - it just changed its pattern of replacing the Matildas...as they do in London. There they have never left four at a time. Two original London Matildas left after the Olivier awards but the other two were there for more months...and its staggered since.

Mattea also performed last night..but Rileigh has not started yet. Maybe tonight or sometime this weekend I would assume..

^^About understanding the words...I am not convinced it's only because of the accents. It's just a very wordy show with a lot of dialogue. I think it would be tricky to understand every single word regardless of if they were using accents or not.. Do the accents help or hurt? My feeling is ..not as much as its been indicated.

Updated On: 7/9/15 at 04:07 PM

[Megan Hilty Wannabe]

Posted: 7/10/15 at 9:55pm

Wasn't most of it obvious when they said hammer thrower

 

"I saw the tour yesterday in LA.  Matilda stands on the floor during 'quiet', and she was so quiet during the number she could not be understood....one of the many problems currently plaguing this production.
The pacing was so slow and the sound mix was so polite (music and book scenes) the audience seemed to be asleep for most of the performance.  'Miracle' didn't have the intended affect of drawing you in.  Something about music the end of the show is confusing and you weren't sure when it was time to applaud. The awkward curtain call staging and lack of exit music really were a big letdown.  Why have the audience walk out in silence for an uplifting show with a happy ending?
Bryce Ryness is doing nothing with Trunchbull.  The character isn't scary or funny or imposing.  This is one of those roles you go big with and let the director pull you back.  Ryness falls flat.  The other adult principals seemed to be doing shades of their Broadway and London predecessors- no one seemed to make the parts their own.
The show still suffers from a major core problem: The audience is supposed to have a big 'ah ha!' moment with Matilda when she discovers how certain characters are connected, but with the real plot of the show told in four very vague and fragmented parts it is very difficult to follow and very easy to "check out" and miss what the authors are building to.  Also, Matilda is difficult to understand during these monologues.
Most of the scenic and blocking changes from the Broadway and London productions were done just as elegantly as the original transitions.  This is a beautifully designed show but it needs a major shot of energy and focus.
I also understand that the tour is massively over budget, not selling well in either LA or San Francisco and will be going through an additional round of scenic cuts in the near future.  Most people I talked to backstage seem to think this will be taken over by NETWorks by the end of 2015."

 

[rcwr]

Posted: 7/10/15 at 10:04pm

Would someone be willing to explain what it means from an audience perspective (or any other perspective) when a show is taken over by NETWorks? I'm curious and am not having luck on the googles.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 7/10/15 at 10:18pm

NETworks is a production company that produces tours, primarily non-Equity (their name is an acronym of Non-Equity Touring works, though they do sometimes produce Equity tours now). When somebody speaks of a tour being "taken over" by them it typically means that the original tour has closed down and NETworks is going to be sending it out as a non-Equity company. 

There have been some very talented and well-produced non-Equity tours, and some not (and the same can be said of union tours), but it is often perceived as a step down for a show when it becomes a non-union tour after having been out under an Equity contract. The show is cheaper to run when it's non-union and there are less restrictions on things like how many performances a week they can give, how many different venues a week they can play, how far the company can travel in a given day or week, and so forth. 

[Megan Hilty Wannabe]

Posted: 7/10/15 at 10:21pm

AEA AGMA SM ? ???? what does that name mean ?  

 

[rcwr]

Posted: 7/10/15 at 10:22pm

AEA AGMA SM, thank you! That's very helpful.

[rcwr]

Posted: 7/10/15 at 10:27pm

It's not me but I always guessed that username means American Guild of Musical Artists, Equity, and Stage Manager? 

[mmFan]

Posted: 7/11/15 at 9:59pm

"The broadway rotation is very messed up. 2 Tinytilda's have left, but Tori and Fina seem to be hanging around until the end of the month. 2 new Matilda's have been announced, but only Mattea has performed (July 4th and 5th).
 
The Broadway Production performed with only 3 girls for about 2 months while Brookyln Shuck left prematurely to do Beaches in Chicago."

 So it's new Matilda's on Broadway now?  We'll be going end of the summer.

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 7/11/15 at 10:52pm

There are two new Matildas starting now and right now there are two Matildas who have been there since last September/August..so far there have been 14 Matildas since the show opened in April 2013.

It has not been yet announced if/when two new girls will start...so there may be more new girls by the end of the summer.

I have been lucky enough to see some "first shows" and some "last shows" and have enjoyed each experience. They don't start until they are really ready....and each girl is unique. 

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 7/16/15 at 11:49pm

 The San Francisco Leg of the tour is doing rush, 2 Hours prior to the performance. Seems like the seats are Front Orchestra, on the side. If anyone goes, let us know about the view! 

Updated On: 7/16/15 at 11:49 PM