When "Matilda" comes to Broadway, WATCH OUT
When "Matilda" comes to Broadway, WATCH OUT
bmwpjager
Chorus Member Joined: 3/5/11
#1When "Matilda" comes to Broadway, WATCH OUT
Posted: 9/27/11 at 6:12pm
Just finished listening to the Original London Cast Recording of Tim Minchin's "Matilda"- The Musical, and when this musical finally comes to Broadway, it will crush all other new musicals opening that season beneath it's super mega break-out blockbuster hit shoes. Did you hear me? BREAK-OUT. BLOCKBUSTER. HIT. SHOES!!!! But seriously, this musical is the only original musical I'm anxiously looking forward to coming to Broadway...
Thoughts? Because I can't believe this show hasn't been talked about more...
#2When
Posted: 9/27/11 at 6:20pmToo much exposition. But, other than that it's pretty good. My first thought on a transfer was whether or not they would even bother with the strict laws in the US regarding children on stage and the higher pay rate versus the West End. I remember big bad Cameron Mackintosh scrapping plans for a Broadway run of Oliver and choosing instead to tour it non-equity for that very reason.
SondheimFan5
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/10
#4When
Posted: 9/27/11 at 6:30pm
I am pretty blown away by the cast recording. I generally hate children in musicals (I want to slap Young Cosette when she starts singing "CASTLE ON A CLOUD"), but this one is smart and funny.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#5When
Posted: 9/27/11 at 6:47pm
it will crush all other new musicals opening that season beneath it's super mega break-out blockbuster hit shoes.
That's cute. I hope they give away helmets to the other musicals, so the crushing doesn't hurt too bad.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
iluvtheatertrash
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/9/04
#6When
Posted: 9/27/11 at 7:07pm
Agreed. I've been obsessed with the cast recording for the past week. Definitely one of the best new scores I've heard in a while - and I'm not a fan of kids' voices normally. But this is so smart and fresh.
I would imagine they may transfer their Trunchable after his spectacular reviews, though I think Brian D'arcy James would be pretty phenomenal in the role.
And "Revolting Children" is hands down one of the best showtunes I've heard in years. Just fantastic.
"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman
jacobp
Featured Actor Joined: 12/6/05
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#9When
Posted: 9/27/11 at 8:17pm
I saw this in it's Stratford run on my trip to England and fell in love with it. I was already a big fan of Tim Minchin and Roald Dahl. I think this may actually be one of the most successful adaptations of a Roald Dahl work I've ever come across -- it strikes just the right balance between Dahl's darkness and yet you still get the sense, as with the book, that you're reading the work of an "ally" of the kids he's writing about and not interested in condescending to them or moralizing.
However, I was disappointing by the mixing on the cast recording: the band is way too forward. It overpowers the kids. In the theatre, I was surprised by how powerful the children sounded in the ensemble numbers. It sounds like there's all of six kids singing on "Revolting Children."
Dave516
Chorus Member Joined: 9/19/08
#11When
Posted: 9/27/11 at 8:22pm
For now, you have to buy it directly from RSC: http://www.rsc.org.uk/shop/browse/item.aspx?cid=4488148a-4c16-4dcf-b3ba-66cc8ce91199&catcode=62104
It's due to be released on iTunes on October 18th, but I don't know if that's just for UK customers or not.
Updated On: 9/27/11 at 08:22 PM
showchoirguy
Broadway Star Joined: 7/14/10
#14When
Posted: 9/27/11 at 9:35pmOh my...I really love "When I Grow Up" especially the end when the two (I'm guessing Ms Honeybee or whoever the teacher is and Matilda) are singing and over laping. And Revolting Children-Amazing!
"Life in theater is give and take...but you need to be ready to give more then you take..."
jetts7
Leading Actor Joined: 5/22/11
algy
Broadway Star Joined: 10/19/05
#17When
Posted: 9/28/11 at 8:58am
I saw it in Stratford last Christmas and loved it. My partner was also a huge fan - and he's not a musicals man (prefers plays). He even said he'd see it again (only the second time that's happened) and I intend on trying to hold him to that once the West End Transfer opens.
The music and lyrics are fun - I think Tim Minchen's style matches the dark tone of Dahl's work. If you're not familiar with him, do have a look at http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clips/p00ghy7k/ruth_jones_tim_minchins_three_minute_song/ which was done for a BBC show and gives me the giggles everytime.
The staging was also beautiful at Stratford, it looked gorgeous, it worked for the show and worked like a dream.
All in all I think it's a really well thought out show, with something for everyone - a proper family show. And the RSC had it worked out for families in stratford - sweeties on sale, but only un wrapped ones and in plastic cups. It was like evenings out a the theatre when I was a kid - full of little girls in "party dresses" - all satin-y stuff and sashes.
Haven't got the cast recording yet - going to buy it from Dress Circle as I like giving them my custom if I can.
#18When
Posted: 9/28/11 at 9:32am
Is it just me, or is there a ridiculous amount of 'children's' musicals headed (possibly) to Broadway lately? Matilda, Newsies, anything Frank Wildhorn does and even 'Godspell' is a 'family-friendly' show. Double that if 'Jesus Christ Superstar' ends up manifesting. Thank the Broadway gods for 'Follies' that at least gives us a little something for the adults to play with.
"Are you sorry for civilization? I am sorry for it too." ~Coast of Utopia: Shipwreck
Updated On: 9/28/11 at 09:32 AM
algy
Broadway Star Joined: 10/19/05
#20When
Posted: 9/28/11 at 9:55am
Katurian2 - I've never thought of Jesus Christ Superstar as either a childrens' musical or a family-friendly show (especially the last Broadway revival and the hideous 90s tour that never seems to go away). And the only somewhat family-friendly musical Wildhorn has produced would be Scarlet Pimpernel. Certainly not Bonnie and Clyde. Not sure where you're making that connection.
I love the Matilda CD and I'm really looking forward to seeing this in London next Spring. About a week ago, I was playing the CD for my mother (her favorite musical is Billy Elliot) and I was helping her with chores around her house as she prepared for a visit from relatives, so she wasn't listening too closely. When it got to Revolting Children, she stopped dead in her tracks and said, "What an amazing song! I have GOT to see this!" It helps that she's also a huge Roald Dahl fan.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#21When
Posted: 9/28/11 at 10:11am
Wildhorn's content may not be child-geared, but the ridiculous simplicity of his scores sound like something you'd hear on Sesame Street. Even if the content is 'adult,' he makes easy-listening for kids.
But even the best play winner last year with 'War Horse,' was a show that was a family-friendly show. Yes, maybe not geared or marketed to children, but it was adolescent in its plot features. That's why, even with Wildhorn, I'd count 'Jekyll & Hyde' as an adolescent show in its plot and score- there is nothing complex or mature about it. It's a sappy, straightforward love story that children can appreciate. In fact, I know many do. There's nothing challenging in any of those shows. I'm not saying a show has to be Sondheim-level as loss and isolation in its themes- Book of Mormon was advanced in the way it satirized organized religion- but I'm sick of the lack of challenge to the artform and the persistance at not progressing beyond the thought that just because there's music there can't be depth. It's not making any new adult fans of musical theatre, and it's not progressing the medium like it could be.
"Are you sorry for civilization? I am sorry for it too." ~Coast of Utopia: Shipwreck
#22When
Posted: 9/28/11 at 10:42am
People have been decrying the Disneyfication of Broadway for twenty years. There will always be new Next to Normals and Follies', but they will always be (and, in my opinion, always have been) in the minority. They're financially risky ventures. They don't bring in "new adult fans of musical theatre." Shows like that, in my experience, bring in existing adult fans of musical theatre, but not many new ones.
And also, let's not begrudge the audience a bit of escapism or childhood nostalgia. Matilda is a smart show. Tim Minchin is a very intelligent songwriter (seriously, check out his non-musical stuff). His style is more wistful, subdued Gen-X than the more straightforward externalization found in Sondheim. There's room for both.
And, in defense of "childlike sensibilities":
“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” -- C.S. Lewis
Updated On: 9/28/11 at 10:42 AM
#23When
Posted: 9/28/11 at 10:43am
While I agree with you on some things...to say that "Jekyll and Hyde" has no complexity whatsoever is in my opinion a bit false.
Thats a whole different story but I really think this should would do splendid over here. This generation grew up with the movie and the previous generations with the book.
"Life in theater is give and take...but you need to be ready to give more then you take..."
#24When
Posted: 9/28/11 at 11:30am
Wildhorn's content may not be child-geared, but the ridiculous simplicity of his scores sound like something you'd hear on Sesame Street.
Totally disagree. I forgot about Wonderland, as so many do, so I will admit that was geared to be a family-friendly show and was one of his most poorly structured works, but I did find quite a bit of depth and complexity in J&H (moreso in the original score rather than what appeared on Broadway) and Scarlet Pimpernel. Nor do I believe that every show has to be written expressly to "progress the medium" as other shows already do. The notion is sort of treading into the waters of censorship and then you have to start defining how much depth you deem appropriate for a Broadway musical. And why? To prevent people from seeing something they may want to see? Sounds like a good way to exclude new adult fans and potentially young new fans in their children.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
