Matilda Broadway Reviews

[iholland95]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 3:16pm

I've been wondering how good a show Matilda is. If you could give your review on the show that would be greatly appreciated

[haterobics]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 3:25pm

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1058626&page=1

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1057253&PageSpeed=noscript

[Dave13]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 3:30pm

Loved it. Maybe one of the best shows right now.

[Spil.Berg]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 5:40pm

I have seen 15 shows an apart from Billy Elliot and South Pacific this is my favourite show. I loved it

[mikey2573]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 6:22pm

I liked some of the songs (When I Grow Up, Quiet, Revolting Children) but found the whole thing to be very much geared towards children. When some of the major plot points are a boy eating an entire chocolate cake, a girl putting a newt into her teacher's drinking glass, and the main character gluing her father's hat to his head, well, you know you're not in the realm of sophisticated story telling. And a lot of the humor was juvenile --Matilda's dad looking at baby Matilda and asking the doctor, "Where's his thingy?", or a giant burp that travels across the stage. It was the kind of humor that an 8 year old boy might laugh at. And, considering it was about a neglected and abused little girl, it was surprisingly unmoving. I saw it once shortly after it opened and, while I am glad I saw it, I know I will never see it again.

[haterobics]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 6:26pm

"I liked some of the songs... but found the whole thing to be very much geared towards children."

That's hardly a criticism of a musical based on a children's novel by Roald Dahl.

[HighFlyingAdored97]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 6:31pm

I was about to say... Was that a joke?

[Spil.Berg]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 7:01pm

@mikey Its not just a childrens show with themes of abuse, about the importance of being together to fight injustice, how little we value education and the people we give it, overuse of television

Updated On: 11/23/14 at 07:01 PM

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 7:13pm

I've been a huge fan of the recorded score (it's the London cast I listen to) since the show opened 2 years ago. Beautiful exciting music, challenging lyrics with apparently deliberate mis-rhymes all over the place that sometimes do and sometimes don't sit very well on the notes. On the cd the story is penetrating and effective and makes a good listen.

In the theater? It's a tough show to sit through from a lot of standpoints. Screechy garbled kids voices come at you a mile a minute belting songs whose lyrics would be hard to understand even without the accent. The visual battery of your eyeballs starts from the get go and never lets up with the incessantly busy scrabble-tile set designs. The manic energy of an ADD-addled 10-year old seems to have informed every directorial choice here. When it all gives way to the sublime loveliness of "When I Grow Up" at the top of Act II, it's like a breath of fresh air washing over the audience. Just sublime. "Quiet" and "My House" are 2 other lovely respites from the manic-ness, but those few scenes aren't enough to balance the rest of this exhausting show.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 7:45pm

LOVED Matilda. Matilda and Cabaret are easily the best two shows on Broadway right now in my book.

[nanillo17]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 10:14pm

I finally saw the show last week after months of a friend recommending it and absolutely loved it. It's obviously geared towards children, but the source material is so good that a successful adaptation (which, in my opinion, this is) would be good as well. I would recommend this show over any other "children friendly" show on Broadway, and over many adult shows as well. If you walk in knowing that it'll have some kid specific moments, and you're ok with that, I can't see many people now enjoying this wonderful show.

[mikey2573]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 11:30pm

"That's hardly a criticism of a musical based on a children's novel by Roald Dahl."

Many stage productions that are based on works for children are turned into FAMILY shows, where there is something substantive for the parents as well as the children. MATILDA seemed more like a "kiddie" show, with its over the top humor and performances, and its somewhat ridiculous and hard to believe plot. If I were to sum up MATILDA in one word I might call it "silly". Younger children like "silly", older children and adults tend to roll their eyes at it.

[Comden Green]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 11:33pm

As you should expect, reviews here are all over the place. Personally I loved this show. But, as has been said is very difficult to understand. concentrate! (There is even a joke in "it's only a play" about not being able to understand what they are saying. Do your homework. Listen to the cast recording several times with the lyrics in front of you. You won't regret it. Brilliant lyrics that you will never get at the theatre.
And I disagree with the statements about this being a show geared toward kids. No. The kids I watched did not get the jokes and probably didn't follow the plot. Dahl is not for little kids. Trunchbull is truly terrifying and the parents go beyond comic hyperbole. We are convinced that they actually despise Matilda. Again not for little kids.
But I loved it all. Wonderful. And the little Matilda I saw was perfect. How could a kid so little learn all that and act and sing?

[Lovinbroadway2]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 3:24am

I sat in the balcony when seeing the musical. Although, I thorough enjoyed the musical, I have to say there were high points and low points.

High points:
Miracle (Third best opening number that I've ever seen along Circle of Life and Magic to do)
Naughty (The performer and the song was great)
When I grow up (The number was touching, clever, and nicely executed)

Low points: Quiet (boring), Smell of Revellion (Too Long), The ending (Like any musical the end was too fast)


Still, go see it. It is very artistic with one of the best scores I've ever listened to! Don't go in expecting Aladdin or Little Mermaid because it is DARK.

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 7:12am

This is SO not a kiddie show IMO. I keep telling people with young children not to go..and I don't personally know any adults who saw that who felt it was for children.

As I have said before, I didn't care for the show the firsts time I saw it (bad seats, hard to understand).. and there are parts of it I still don't care for at all. But have gone back a number of times and I have enjoyed it more at each viewing. I think it helps to know the music ahead of time so you can familiarize yourself with the lyrics and get a better understanding.

I also felt the cast is key to this show..you can see an OK cast and an OK Matilda and you are going to have an OK experience. But there are some amazing cast members now..Christopher Sieber is worth the trip alone and Eliza one of the current Matilda's is a total gem (others are good too - she is just a standout).

No one is going to like everything the same..but I think it's worth going regardless.

[Patash]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 8:21am

My favorite line in It's Only a Play is when the cast of Matilda is outside and one throws a snowball through the window. The kids outside are chanting something and Nathan Lane says "You can't understand a thing they're saying". That kind of summed up the musical numbers with the kids for me. My favorite was the number where you can hear them repeated "My Mummy said" but you can never understand a single thing their mmummy said!

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 9:33am

I think MATILDA is probably the best musical currently running, for grownups or for kids. I've seen it 6 times now, 5 of which were within the first 3 months of it running. I recently saw it again a couple weeks ago thanks to a friend winning the ticket lottery. Our seats were in the front row off to the left side of the orchestra. It was a spectacular view, by the way. Almost the entire show feels like it was directed to that corner of the stage, funnily enough.

As for the current state of the show, it's in better shape than ever. I even prefer Christopher Sieber to Bertie Carvel. A far more menacing, domineering presence as Trunchbull. Lesli Margherita is the only remaining main cast member, I believe, and she's also absolutely killing it. I wasn't totally sold on her a year ago, but she's nailing the comedy of Mrs. Wormwood now. The whole ensemble felt fresher than when I last saw it too. The children in the cast are absolutely spectacular. And this was a Wednesday matinee full of school children. I have never heard a more well-behaved audience, so I'm guessing everyone around me was just as into it as I was.

The Matilda I saw was Fina Strazza and she was stunning. I had never seen the show from anywhere but the balcony and seeing her so close really tied the whole production together. She's giving a performance of surprising intensity and thought, playing Matilda as almost otherworldly. I can't praise her highly enough.

If you haven't seen it yet, I highly advise you do. The show is in marvelous shape, better even than when it opened. And if you have seen it before, now is a fantastic time to revisit.

Updated On: 11/24/14 at 09:33 AM

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 10:00am

I personally love Matilda, it's one of my favorite things running right now and Chris Sieber is an incredible Trunchbull. I wouldn't call it a kiddie show at all...it's certainly not something I would take a very young child to unless they had read and enjoyed the book. Like all of Roald Dahl's work, it's very dark and there's a lot going on that would probably frighten very small children. It's a great story and I fall in love with the show all over again every time I see it; I even took my mom back when it first opened and she loved it too.

[MoDance0934]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 11:45am

Reading these reviews are making me so excited! I'm seeing the show in December, and it's the one show that I've been dying to see for quite sometime now.

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 2:16pm

^^"Lesli Margherita is the only remaining main cast member, I believe"..

Karen Aldridge who plays Ms. Phelps, the librarian is also from the original cast.She was gone for a number of months but came back in September I believe..

I also think this is a show to be seen up close - you just lose too much if you are far away.

[Matt1]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 6:34pm

Best show since Billy Elliot.

[broadwayfanzel]

Posted: 11/29/14 at 7:37pm

I really enjoyed it!

[FutureDirector]

Posted: 12/2/14 at 3:32am

It's an extremely sophisticated and brilliantly stylized piece of theatre disguised as a children's show.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/2/14 at 5:54am

Ill temper the enthusiasm. It was not my favorite thing. I enjoyed it at best, and there were elements that I loved, but it just didn't quite click for me. (I did see it right around when it opened.)

Updated On: 12/2/14 at 05:54 AM

[jACKEMBELS]

Posted: 12/2/14 at 6:33am

Its awful bad plot singing and dancing kids like you ever sing and dance at school