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Review Roundup: Royal Shakespeare Company's MATILDA

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ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
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Matilda The Musical played to sold-out audiences at the RSC's The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon for twelve weeks from November 2010 to January 2011. Roald Dahl's magical story about a girl with extraordinary powers has been a favourite novel for millions of people across the world since it was published in 1988.

The new stage musical, which captured the imagination of young and old alike during its short run, is written by the highly acclaimed playwright Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by the anarchic Australian comedian, musician and composer Tim Minchin, and direction by Matthew Warchus.

The production is designed by Rob Howell, with choreography by Peter Darling, musical supervision and orchestration by Christopher Nightingale, lighting by Hugh Vanstone, sound by Simon Baker and special effects and illusions are by Paul Kieve. Did the show live up critics' high expectations in its West End debut? Find out now!

Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard: Matilda is a gem...This is true family entertainment. Children will enjoy its blissful mix of fantasy and irreverence and adults will savour it for these same reasons as well as a host of different ones. This generous, big-hearted piece is already being spoken of as one of the best new British musicals in years.

Lyn Gardner, The Guardian: Writer Dennis Kelly and composer and lyricist Tim Minchin go to the top of the class with this anarchically joyous, gleefully nasty and ingenious musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's story about a girl, Matilda, played by Kerry Ingram, who scoffs Dickens and Dostoevsky like other kids eat sweets...If anything, it is actually richer than Dahl's novel.

Charles Spencer, The Telegraph: Matthew Warchus’s thrilling, warm-hearted production, exuberantly designed by Rob Howell and with pin-sharp choreography by Peter Darling, constantly combines comedy with a sense of wonder. [Bertie] Carvel – who is especially sinister in his soft-spoken moments of icy stillness and calm – is at once terrifying and hilarious, and the cherry on the cake of this glorious production.

Quentin Letts, The Daily Mail: Matilda is a fabulous family fizzer. It has strong tunes, witty lyrics and enough ‘eew!’ moments to satisfy the most revolting urchin...It all ends with the audience uncertain whether or not to blub or cheer. You might even do both.

Paul Levy, Wall Street Journal: This show is critic-bulletproof. Who could be so churlish as not to adore nine perfectly-drilled kids singing and dancing their hearts out, with (on press night) tiny Cleo Demetriou in the title role, unselfconscious but able to belt out a number like the petite pro she stunningly is?

Michael Coveney, What's On Stage: But there are a few bumps in the adaptation by Dennis Kelly, and Tim Minchin’s songs are deficient in nothing except melody...But I have no complaints at all about Matthew Warchus’s production, which is a “school’s out” exercise in joyous liberation as Matilda – I saw the delightful, waif-like pocket dynamo Sophia Kiely, one of four girls rotating in the role – which pitches our heroine against the malign forces of her book-hating parents.

Lisa Martland, The Stage: This much-anticipated RSC production could easily have been a disappointment, with expectations high after its triumphant Stratford-upon-Avon opening last year and the stream of awards that followed. It is nothing of the sort. The best pieces of musical theatre come from great collaborations - the right people being in the right place at the right time - with each ingredient complementing the other. 

Julie Carpenter, Daily Express: It proves an absolute cracker of a show, bursting with dynamism, fizzing with verve and packed full of slightly naughty children swung around by their pigtails played by incredible child actors who perform their socks off. 

 

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