Review: Matilda the Musical, Palace Theatre, Manchester

For a start, this RSC production is spectacular to look at. The bright colours simply pop from the stage. Rob Howell’s set design is innovative, imaginative and enthralling – rather like the production itself.

Based on Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book, it’s the story of a very special little girl with a deep love of books who stands up for what is right, aided by a few magical powers.

Matilda the Musical

There’s something subversive about Matilda which is particularly compelling. For a start, the bulk of the cast are children. They are so well drilled, so confident and so talented that you forget their age and diminutive stature.

Then there are the storylines. This is no gentle fairytale. In typical Roald Dahl fashion it’s dark, very dark in places. It’s cheeky, boisterous and then heartbreakingly sad, often within the same scene.

At its heart are the songs by Tim Minchin who brings a level of wordplay not often experienced in musical theatre. He often turns the concept of the musical on itself, that undercurrent of gentle anarchy helps power the whole piece.

Mollie Hutton as Matilda

Our heroine is Matilda, on press night played by the delightful Mollie Hutton, one of four young actresses tasked with this massive role. She turns to the world of literature to escape her parents who are almost cartoon-like in their awfulness.

Adam Stafford is a flash talking, wide-boy car salesman in an outlandish check suit. He wanted a boy so has not time for the little gem in the family.

Rebecca Thornhill as Mrs Wormold is a truly dreadful creature, obsessed with her looks and winning Latin American dancing competitions with her snake-hipped partner Rudolpho, she can’t see the point of reading and along with hubby believes that TV is the answer to everything. It’s a beautifully observed cameo role.

If Matilda is the heroine of the piece, her arch nemesis is Miss Trunchbull the headmistress of a school which has clearly never been visited by Ofsted.

Richard Hurst as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda The Musical

Richard Hurst as the former hammer throwing champion is one the highlights of the show. His Trunchbull is menacing and genuinely terrifying at time. He towers over the young charges in his care. It would be easy to turn Trunchbull into a panto dame-like figure but he resists that temptation. Instead Trunchbull is obsessed, violent and clearly unhinged. He thinks nothing of picking a pupil up by the pigtails and throwing her out of the window or force feeding chocolate cake to one boy – with disastrous consequences.

Tessa Kadler as Miss Honey, the teacher who realises that Matilda is extraordinary, brings just the right amount of sweetness to the role without threatening anyone with diabetes. Her song My House is a bit of a showstopper.

Mollie Hutton as Matilda was a delight. At the centre of everything it’s a big ask for anyone but she was feisty and forlorn in equal measure. At time it was a little difficult to hear everything she sang but that was a minor point.

Matilda the Musical

This is a big musical. The set pieces are spectacular such as the scene on some swings which sees pupils fly over the orchestra; or a climbing frame being built out of letter blocks with such precise timing it’s like watching a computer game unfold in front of you.

It is quite a long show which is worth noting.

But Matilda is a musical with real heart and a strong message. Does it work? Put it this way, there were hundreds of young theatregoers in on press night and at times you could hear a pin drop and at others the cheers were deafening; they bought into the show from the outset and loved every minute of it. Must say I have to agree.

Matilda the Musical is at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, until Saturday, April 25. Details from www.atgtickets.com