Chances are you’ll already know about the highly successful and much lauded Matilda The Musical, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of years. Based on the Roald Dahl book, it was produced by the RSC and directed by Matthew Warchus, with Dennis Kelly writing the book and our own Tim Minchin providing the music and lyrics, and it ran at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from November last year, through to this January.
Now, if you’re anything like us, you’ll be wondering, that’s such a short run for such an amazing show, so will it be heading to the West End? Well, we told you at the end of March, that it will be, but now is the time to unleash the all-important and exciting details!
Hey you swinging Texan cats! Do you fancy heading to a hip happening on 1st July 2011? If so, I know of just the thing for you guys!
On that very day, Tim will be performing in Austin, bringing his shagadelic mix of comedy, music, wild, untamed hair and unfeasibly tight jeans to the Paramount Theatre!
Tickets will be on general sale on Friday, from here, but we’ve got another groovy presale code that will let you buy your tickets now from a limited allocation! If you want to buy them now, this is link you need and the password is “reese”.
Were you in America or Australia last night and did you manage to catch Tim on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, given the late notices on Twitter and Facebook? Either way, it doesn’t matter as cbs have uploaded Tim’s section of the show to YouTube for your viewing pleasure!
You know that statistically correct love song he does? Well it’s that one, but arranged in a way that you’ve probably never heard before! It’s worth a peek for that alone and he does look rather suave as well, it has to be said.
Of course, this is all to promote the gigs that Tim’s got coming up over in the USA and Canada in the next few months. You can find the full details of all the confirmed ones over on the gigs page and there are more still to be announced, so keep checking back or keep up to date on Twitter and Facebook!
And the North American dates just keep on coming in!
First up, on July 2nd, Tim will be returning to California, this time to the City National Grove of Anaheim, in, erm, Anaheim. Tickets go on sale tomorrow at noon from Ticketmaster.
Secondly, after appearing at both Just For Laughs Chicago and Just For Laughs Toronto, Tim will be heading to Just For Laughs Montreal with quite a busy schedule!
He’ll be doing three solo shows on 28th, 29th and 30th July at L’Astral, as well as taking part in Modern Love: The Relationship Show at Place des Arts on 29th Julyand doing two shows with Bo Burnham for Amp’d at Club Soda, both on the 28th July. Phew! I hope someone’s going to be keeping him topped up on caffeine!
Tickets for the solo shows go on sale on Saturday at 10am, with the others being available to buy soon, from the Just For Laughs website.
Update: The Amp’d shows seem to have been taken down from the JFL website. We’ll update if and when they come back.
Like small festivals in the UK? Well, Tim is set to headline the comedy stage of the inaugural Apple Cart Festival in August!
The Apple Cart is a one day festival, which will take place on the 7th August, running from 10am to 11pm, at Victoria Park in London. Appearing alongside Tim on the Comedy Stage, will be Marcus Brigstocke, Jon Richardson, Kevin Eldon, Abandoman and more!
In addition to this rather good comedy line up, there will also be a magic stage, curated by members of The Magic Circle, and a music stage, headlined by Saint Etienne and also featuring Badly Drawn Boy, Magic Numbers alongside many others.
Early bird tickets for this happening are available now, for a measly £25, from the Apple Cart Festival website, where you can also view the complete lineups for all the stages!
Tim rocking out during his orchestra show, with Pete Clements on bass and Brad Webb on drums.
Tim: “Not only are Pete and Brad reasonably good-looking and quite competent on their respective musical instruments, but they have garnered the basic skills required to read and write words. So we thought we’d celebrate the final shows of our epic and wondrous orchestral spectacular by encouraging them to express themselves in prose on this here blog. Exciting.”
You can still catch Pete Clements and Brad Webb at the final three dates with Tim and The Heritage Orchestra in Glasgow, 8th May; Sheffield, 10th May and Liverpool, 11th May. Details and ticket links below or via the Gigs tab.
Tuesdays in June (apart from the 14th) are now officially the best time to be in Los Angeles this year!
Tim will be back at Largo at the Coronet – after two sell out shows there in January – on 7th, 21st and 28th June!
Tickets are a measly $25 and can be bought here. It’s also worth pointing out that the first show in January sold out within 24 hours so you’ll need to be quick to snap them up!
Quick! There are now just three regional orchestra shows left: Glasgow, Sheffield and Liverpool. That’s only three chances remaining to see Tim on his unique, one off, UK tour with the fabulous 55-piece Heritage Orchestra and a band! No more dates will be added so if you can possibly get yourselves to one of the venues below, you really must!
This spectacular show has been receiving three standing ovations a night and in their 5* review of the Edinburgh show last weekend the Edinburgh Evening News praised the “vast flood of sound and light” and described Tim as “…the extraordinarily talented Minchin. With his wild backcombed hair, bare feet, and leaping-from-the-piano antics, he looks the classic comic fool, but blends passionate, intelligent writing on topics from atheism to cheese with a backing of orchestral belters. Amid the hubbub it’s easy to overlook the fact that he also throws in some extraordinarily good piano-playing. Most important of all, he’s downright funny.”
You can access ticket information for all Tim’s shows via the Gigs tab at the top of the page, but here, just because we care, are all the booking alternatives still available, for these final extraordinary orchestra shows:
Glasgow
Sunday 8th of May 2011
Venue: Clyde Auditorium
So if you have yet to see this show or like many were so blown away by it when you caught an earlier show that you’d like a second chance, now’s the time to act. Don’t miss out on such a treat for the senses.
“If you’re going to play big spaces, this is the way to do it; with a 55-piece orchestra and a juggernaut full of showmanship, making this a big show in every sense…a superlative night out.” (Chortle)
“Minchin…the insanely gifted Australian is rounding off the year with an audacious show that sees him accompanied on stage by the 55-piece Heritage Orchestra…Taken all in all, a thing of jaw-dropping wonder.” (Daily Telegraph, London)
Lucky people of Seattle, WA, USA, Tim’s added a second date at The Neptune Theatre on 25th June 2011.
This is your second chance to see a snazzily, if ironically clad Australian male achieve wondrous things with words, music, hair, a piano and that grin…
Well, while he’s touring America, Tim might as well pop north of the border to do a show in Canada, it seems only polite, especially with the perfect timing of Toronto’s Just For Laughs festival.
Remember last year when he did a double-headline show with Bo Burnham at The Second City? Well he’s moving up in the world and will now be playing at the larger and grander Winter Garden Theatre with his own show, for one night only and that night in question is 3rd June 2011!
Tickets go on sale from Ticketmaster on Friday 29th April at 10am EDT, but of course, we’ve got the password that’ll give you access to the presale that starts today at 10am EDT!
We will, however, make you work a little for the password with a riddle, which is just six little letters all jumbled together – a couple of ‘G’s, an ‘I’ and an ‘E’, an ‘R’ and an ‘N’.
Last time he ventured up Canada way, we asked you to make sure he wasn’t trampled by stray moose and since you did such a great job last time, could you make sure he stays away from them this time too? I’ve heard møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti…
Don’t be startled if you turn on the TV this Easter and see someone who looks a little bit like our alleged Lord and Saviour on your screen because chances are it’ll merely be Tim (unless you’re watching the story of Easter or something similar).
Tomorrow we kick off with Ruth Jones’s Easter Treat on BBC Two and BBC HD at 9pm (or Sunday on BBC One at 10:25pm if you live in Wales) on which Tim will appear alongside Dawn French and Michael Sheen. He’s written a special song for the show, which in my mind proves that he’s capable of writing a Eurovision hit (three minutes long and it has a key change; all he needs now is a part-detachable sparkly outfit!) and the BBC have put it up on YouTube early for your enjoyment!
Following that, on Easter Monday, Tim will be returning to The Wright Stuff on Channel 5 at 9:15am, where he’ll be joined by Natalie Pinkman and Dave Gorman to discuss the latest current affairs, which, Tim’s hoping won’t involve modelling Royal Wedding headwear again!
Then, on Tuesday, if you’re up bright and early, Tim will be back on the BBC Breakfast couch for another interview, charmingly answering questions, which could potentially range from ‘What have you been up to since you were last on here?’ to ‘Which hat should I wear to the Royal Wedding?’, and all while trying to mind his Ps and Qs.
Heads up if you live in Scotland and have missed out on this weekend’s Edinburgh and Glasgow gigs or can’t wait to catch the show again: there are still some great tickets to be grabbed for Tim’s orchestra show in Aberdeen on Tuesday 19th April 2011. That’s the day after tomorrow!
So if you live in the north of Scotland, or are elsewhere and are feeling spontaneous, Aberdeen is as far north as Tim can transport 57 musicians this year without having to resort to yaks.
You can buy online from Ticketmaster or phone: 0161 385 1001 or 0844 844 0444.
First the TV show: Tim will be on The Hour 5pm on STV on Monday 18th April and it looks like you’ll be able to catch up using the STV Player, if you miss it, via the same link.
So now the radio, deep breaths everyone: Tim’s going to be on quite a number of radio shows in the coming weeks (trying not to use that colourful Aussie language the beeb love so much). Here are the ones we know about so far:
18th April
BBC Radio Merseyside – Sean Styles, 10am – 12am
BBC Radio 4 Extra – Comedy Club, 10pm – midnight
20th April
BBC 6Music – Breakfast with Shaun Keaveny, 7am – 10am
21st April
Absolute Radio – Geoff Lloyd, 7pm – 8pm
23rd April
Xfm London – Justin Lee Collins, 2pm – 6pm
24th April
BBC Radio 2 – Weekend Wogan, 11am – 1pm
25th April
BBC Radio London – Robert Elms, 12pm – 3pm
27th April
BBC Radio 5Live – Richard Bacon, 2pm – 4pm
And that isn’t even a definitive list! Tim’s going to be doing lots of radio in Scotland, Liverpool and Sheffield too, talking about the Orchestra shows and what not. You all know you can find details of those gigs here right? Thought so.
Look out for Tim in the papers too. There are interviews running in The Times Playlist and Telegraph Saturday Review tomorrow, for example.
What a busy boy!
Who says video killed the radio star eh?!
Canadians! Remember how Tim was in your country last year for the Just For Laughs festivals? Well HBO Canada decided to record some of the acts from that festival for posterity (or, perhaps to air on TV at a later date).
I tell you this because one of the acts recorded was our Tim, and he is set to have his performance aired on ‘Funny As Hell‘ on HBO Canada on the 15th April at 9:25pm (ET / MT)!
If you’re out, it’ll be repeated on 16th April at 12:30am (ET / MT), 19th April at 11:00pm (ET / MT), 20th April at 8:25pm (ET / MT) and 21st April at 5:25am (ET / MT), so you’ve got no excuses (other than not receiving HBO Canada).
You’ll all tune in and come back to tell us how awesome it was, won’t you?
Not content with having two, very nearly, sold out shows of his own at the Royal Albert Hall, with Jules Buckley the Heritage Orchestra, Tim will once again be returning there in August for a very different kind of show!
Once again teaming up with Jules Buckley, Tim will be hosting the BBC’s first ever comedy prom! Also appearing will be Kit And The Widow, Susan Bullock, Danny Driver and Sue Perkins, who won BBC Two’s Maestro, with the BBC Concert Orchestra providing the musical accompaniments and tiddely-om-pom-poms.
The show will take place on the 13th August at 7:30pm, and it will be broadcast live on BBC Radio Three, as well as being broadcast on BBC Two on 27th August.
Seating tickets will go on sale on the 7th May at 9am from the BBC’s Proms website, while Promming (read: standing) tickets will be available on the day for £5.
Chances are you’ll already know about the highly successful and much lauded Matilda The Musical, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of years. Based on the Roald Dahl book, it was produced by the RSC and directed by Matthew Warchus, with Dennis Kelly writing the book and our own Tim Minchin providing the music and lyrics, and it ran at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from November last year, through to this January.
Tim rocking out during his orchestra show, with Pete Clements on bass and Brad Webb on drums.
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