Last week I was lucky enough to be asked to review Matilda the Musical up in London’s West End, courtesy of Seatwave. It was a gorgeously warm evening in London, perfect for dinner, drinks and a show so we jumped on the train after work excited about an evening out in the big city. You might have already seen my blog post about The Noodle House, we went there first for dinner and cocktails before headed excitedly over to the theatre for the show. The Cambridge Theatre is a lovely old building, still with all it’s character and charm. This was added to by all the school themed props on the walls such as blackboards with funny quotes on or space to draw, slush puppies at the bar and cushions to sit on for kids. The show is mainly for children so we were probably the only adults there without kids, but I’m a big kid at heart so I didn’t mind. I’ve always loved the story of Matilda and read the book as a child countless times and when the movie came out I nearly wore that VHS out too (to all the youngsters, thats a video tape – I know retro!).
For those that don’t know the story of Matilda, she is a clever little girl, born into a family who don’t appreciate her. She is super intelligent and finds comfort in books and creating stories. This is the story of an inspiring little girl who is brave enough to change her own destiny.
We absolutely loved the show, it’s a heart-warming tale that leaves you with that feel-good feeling. My favourite part was the the music, which was utterly brilliant. The songs so catchy, written by Tim Minchin you can imagine how hilarious some of them are, the kids in the audience were loving all the humour that was added in. The show was an interesting take on the book and movie, it doesn’t follow exactly the same plot line which I really enjoyed as it was a new spin on the classic tale.
The only negative I would say was we were quite high up in the Upper Circle, we could still see the show but it felt like we were looking down onto the stage which made it feel a bit distant, the sound also wasn’t too great that high up and we often struggled to hear the words in the songs, so thats just a small criticism, paying a little more for slightly lower seats is highly recommended for this show.
Overall, this was a real family show, ideal for children, families or big kids like me.
Have you been to a musical recently?
