The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Matilda The Musical has celebrated a decade of delighting audiences in the UK and worldwide.

And it shows no sign of stopping!

Theatreland promoters, who are known for their enthusiasm in praising this or that production, might sometimes overegg the hyperbole.

This is not a claim that can be levelled at Matilda The Musical.

The plaudits here hit the target, with the musical having won 99 international awards including 24 for Best Musical.

It has been enjoyed (an understatement if anything) by some 10 million people in over 90 cities worldwide.

The current London production, at the Cambridge Theatre in London's West End, is now booking through to 26 May 2024 with tickets for the new dates now on sale at www.matildathemusical.com.

Staggering performances of genuine pedigree

The huge and enduring success of Matilda The Musical is founded on a bedrock of passionate dedication by all those involved with the production.

The original book Matilda, by British writer Roald Dahl, was published in the late 1980s and is regularly listed near the top of all-time children's novels.

Matilda Wormwood is a precocious child in every sense of the word. She is intelligent far beyond her years, highly opinionated and stubborn in her conviction as to what is right and wrong.

This does not sit well with her parents who refuse to appreciate Matilda and pack their daughter off to school where she is the focus of tussle between kindly teacher Jenifer Honey and the schools grotesquely tyrannical headteacher Agatha Trunchbull.

Although paying homage to the underlying storyline of Dahl's work, Matilda The Musical is not shackled by it.

This is a magnificent, memorable theatrical creation in its own right. I

And just as one would expect from the Royal Shakespeare Company with script by Dennis Kelly with music and lyrics of Tim Minchin, a unique talent in his own right.

Then we have the stage set festooned with letters and books and constantly swivelling, rising and adapting.

Behind the scene, there is a wonderful orchestra, while on it the cast child and adult performers are just overwhelmingly talented.

My goodness this production must be as exciting to perform as it is to watch.

One normally looks to highlight key roles, but not here. Matilda The Musical is an ensemble piece from top to bottom with Matilda herself is played by one of three young actresses and all are sure to delight.

The result is two fast paced hours of song and dance, farce and pathos, heart tugging tenderness and pantomime villainy, with quality and conviction oozing throughout.

Matilda the Musical may currently be five years older that Matilda herself, but my guess is it will still be delighting audiences when the young lady is in her late teens.

An indication of what is in store from Matilda The Musical can be appreciated from Agatha Trunchbull's report for Lavender Glottlestop, one of Matilda's class mates :

Lavender is like a bowl of partially digested carrots and pigs dripping dropped from a very great height.

She is stupid, repellent, noisome, boring, smelly, noisy, ugly, both fat and thin at the same time and she has strangely disturbing hair.

There is no place in society for such a child, not since the freak shows were closed (a dreadful mistake in my opinion).

My only recommendation to you now is to concentrate on any other offspring you may have and hope that they are not equally as ridiculous as this running nose-juice that you laughingly call Lavender.

Matilda The Musical is at the Cambridge Theatre, Earlham St, London WC2H 9HU

Brings back memories of my own school days.

​About the Musical

The Royal Shakespeare Company's Matilda The Musical premiered at the RSC's Stratford-upon-Avon home in 2010, before transferring to the West End in October 2011.

Matilda The Musical took a record-breaking seven awards at the 2012 Olivier Awards and won four Tony Awards and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theater for the four girls sharing the title role on Broadway.

It has since toured North America, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland, South Africa and China and played its first non-English language production in Seoul, South Korea in 2018/19 where it is currently playing its second season.

In 2023, Matilda The Musical will play for the first time in Japan at the Orb theatre in Tokyo in March, Osaka at Umeda Arts centre in May 2023, Tel Aviv in August 2023 and Dubai Opera in October.

Useful links

​ www.uk.matildathemusical.com