February 2014

Australians! It’s the news you’ve all been waiting for: we can finally confirm that Matilda The Musical is heading Down Under!

NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell confirmed today that the spectacular, multi-award-winning musical, based on the book by Roald Dahl, will make it’s Australian premiere at the Lyric Theatre in Sydney in August 2015.

Tim‘s just as excited as you are about it, saying:

“Working on Matilda has been one of the greatest thrills of my life, and I’ve been aching to let her loose on audiences at home. Most of us grew up reading Dahl – the Australian sense of humour gels so well with his dark, iconoclastic tone. The last time a musical I helped write opened in Sydney, the actors almost outnumbered the audience, the theatre leaked, and my drummer was a bass player. If Matilda’s arrival is half as fun as that was, it’ll be a hoot.”

There’s no news about casting and ticketing yet, but once they’re confirmed, we’ll make sure to let you know all about it.

Looks like we’ll be adding an exciting new chapter to our Matilda story shortly!

Matilda The Musical has won Best West End Show in the 2014 Whatsonstage Awards!

The Whatsonstage Awards are nominated by and voted for entirely by theatregoers and the ticket-buying public and were presented, this evening, at the Awards Ceremony and Concert at The Prince of Wales Theatre, London, hosted by Rufus Hound and Mel Giedroyc. The full list of winners can be found here.

This is how the voting went for The EQUITY Best West End Show:
Les Misérables – at the Queen’s (24.9%)
Matilda the Musical – RSC at the Cambridge (31.4%)
The Phantom of the Opera – at Her Majesty’s (8.1%)
War Horse – at the New London (14.7%)
Wicked – at the Apollo Victoria (21.0%)

Whoop! Whoop!
Sometimes you have to be a little bit celebratory…

Thank you for voting!

*****

Oh! If your voting fingers are still twitching, you can satisfy them with a vote here for Matilda to win the BBC Radio 2 Audience Award at the 2014 Oliviers.

Voting closes at 5pm (GMT) on 4th March 2014 and the awards ceremony is on Sunday 13th April, at the Royal Opera House.

Matilda The Musical, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Dodgers, has announced a North American Tour commencing in May 2015.

Following technical rehearsals and performances in New Haven at the Shubert Theater, the tour will officially open at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Amongst others, there will be dates in San Francisco’s SHN Orpheum Theatre, Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre and Dallas’ AT&T Performing Arts Center. A full touring schedule will be announced along with the casting at a later date and we’ll be sure to keep you posted.

Matilda The Musical opened in April 2013 at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre to host of marvellously glowing reviews, won a slew of awards and has been celebrated on 10 “Top Ten” lists for 2013, including TIME Magazine’s #1 Show of the Year.

If you’d like to catch up with how Tim came to write the music and lyrics for the stage musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s famous book, then the story so far is here. You’ll also find the reviews and awards Matilda has received, both in the West End and on Broadway, along with photos and videos marking key chapters.