Trouble at Matilda Tour in Seattle- Page 3

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 9:58pm

Matilda's had awful sound since the very beginning, so it's no surprise it would turn into pig slop at the 5th.

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 12:43am

Each show does have its own sound team but if the theatre has crappy acoustics nothing will make it sound better. So in reality it is kind of the theatres fault that the sound sucks. 

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 2:23am

Sound was largely fine in San Francisco. The night I saw it, about a week before the end of the run, there was a brief stoppage during revolting children. Two of the desks didn't make it offstage. It was a delay of about 90 seconds, max, and then the number resumed and the audience went f'ing nuts. 

 

Tech issues happen, especially with a set this complex. I do not blame them for trying to forge ahead. I DO think they need to get their act together with a back-up staging for School Song, but recognize that would be incredibly involved giving that the entire number is choreographed around a set piece. 

[tourboi]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 12:41am

Did they have troubles in SF during its run there?

I've played Seattle a few times, and on two occasions the show's dealt with much slower and problematic load-ins. 

[BwayinVan]

Posted: 8/31/15 at 1:57am

Saw the show tonight and I have to say that after  reading the reviews I went in expecting the worst. Overall I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't notice any sound issues and if anything it was the accents that caused the problems with understanding. Overall though I had no trouble. The acting was solid. Mia was on as Matilda and was fabulous as she was when I saw her in Les Mis- that kid has some serious talent.  The highlight had to be Miss Trunchbull but the whole cast was very talented making for a fun night at the theatre

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 9/3/15 at 8:20pm

Just got out of this a bit ago and the sound was really not that bad, perhaps they've fine tuned it. More likely my familiarity with the score helped - I rarely listen to the New York cast album, and every time an American line was sung I had to pause a moment to decipher what was said. This was really only a problem during big numbers (and let's face it, Revolting Children is 99% indecipherable) but I did hear some people around me complaining. The show itself was wonderful, however, even from my nosebleed seat. I wish When I Grow Up were longer!

[freewilma]

Posted: 1/9/16 at 9:32pm

It seems like the challenges of Seattle followed the Matilda production to DC.  This article faults the acoustics of the Opera House at the Kennedy Center more than the touring production itself.  But having seen a number of touring shows in this particular venue, the issue is real....but maybe a challenge that faces many shows?  https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/at-kennedy-center-matilda-is-perfect-storm-of-acoustical-dissonance/2016/01/07/2a6913e6-afe0-11e5-9ab0-884d1cc4b33e_story.html

[VotePeron]

Posted: 1/9/16 at 10:53pm

Having just read that article, and I don't believe the author actually saw the tour.

I did just see it at the Kennedy Center this week, after seeing the show more than a dozen times on Broadway. 

I was actually shocked at how good the sound was, after reading reviews and word of mouth from the beginning of the run stating otherwise. I was even in the rear orchestra, and still felt the show was loud, and well balanced. 

What makes me most angry at that article, is that to say the kids have "accents" is nearly a lie. Compared to the Broadway production, the kids on tour speak with such a dulled down, nearly non existent cockney accents, it's hard to say that the accent is to blame for the sound issues. Those who have full blown accents, mainly Cassie Silva and Quinn Mattfield as her parents, were crystal clear. 

I have seen many productions at the Kennedy center, sitting in various locations in the orchestra (front, mid, rear), and have never had sound problems. 

[Notreallysilent 2]

Posted: 1/9/16 at 11:18pm

Actually all the kids and ensemble members now do not do the accents. It was a way of the company to try to fix the sound problems.

[acekatherineplumber2]

Posted: 1/9/16 at 11:59pm

Yeah, I just saw Matilda in the back of the balcony at the Kennedy Center and the sound was perfectly fine. Heard every word.

[itis2l84u]

Posted: 1/10/16 at 9:45am

I've seen it multiple times in DC at various points throughout it's engagement. The only time I thought sound was an issue was the first week of the run. The sound was quite low. Overall it wasn't too awful but you did have to really listen. Otherwise, I never found the sound to be an issue and I've sat all over from front row mezz to the back of the balcony. 

The production also got rid of the fake accents on all the kids. I must admit I think getting rid of those helped. They weren't even really trying to get a proper accent so it was more of a distraction. The kids are easy to understand now because they speak in their natural accents and my family members who have never seen the show had no issues understanding them.

[NotTheComfyChair]

Posted: 1/10/16 at 10:14am

I saw Matilda on Broadway and then a couple of times early in the tour.  On the tour, I had a great acoustic experience at one venue and then a horrible one at another which therefore leads me to believe it's more of a Sound Dept/venue issue.   To me**, accents sound "fake" when the actor is either paying too much attention to the accent or are not really acting, i.e., just saying memorized words without any emotional connection. Or both at once.  And then there's some in the audience don't want to make the effort to listen to accents they aren't familiar with.

 

The Broadway accents, at least at the beginning of the run, were remarkably good.  The accents on the tour, when I could hear them, were almost as good. 

 

The accents on the tour now, from what I've been told, are weird. All the kids accents are American and the adults are all British. So we have a musical set in Britain but with a bunch of American kids at a British school and the leading character is American and has British parents...?  I won't be going back for that reason.  But I'm in a minority, I think. As an audience member, I don't demand slavish authenticity in accents but I want it to make at least some sense.

 

*I'm a part time dialect coach so I speak from some professional experience.

[LetTheSunshineIn2]

Posted: 1/10/16 at 10:54am

Having adults with accents and kids with none sounds like a recipe for an odd night at the theater.  I saw the OBC and had no problem understanding the show, but I've seen/heard enough complaints that they do seem to have an issue for whatever reason.  What I don't get is if you are going to attempt to solve the problem by getting rid of accents, why not just do it for the entire cast?  An all American accent Matilda seems wrong to me, but certainly better than British sounding adults with American sounding kids.  Incidentally, I know someone who saw it at the Kennedy Center right before Christmas and she said she couldn't understand anything the kids said or sang, but could understand all of the adult characters.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 1/10/16 at 11:15am

I think the original creative team really needs to get a grasp of this production and get a dialect coach for every child actor.

[ZellMorrowsPledge]

Posted: 1/10/16 at 12:45pm

Call_me_jorge said: "I think the original creative team really needs to get a grasp of this production and get a dialect coach for every child actor.

 

" I saw the show on Bway yesterday and although the sound was semi-low, the real problem was dictation. You couldn't understand what the actors were saying, singing and speaking. And it got very frustating at times! 

 

[itis2l84u]

Posted: 1/10/16 at 8:06pm

ZellMorrowsPledge said: "Call_me_jorge said: "I think the original creative team really needs to get a grasp of this production and get a dialect coach for every child actor.

 

 

 

" I saw the show on Bway yesterday and although the sound was semi-low, the real problem was dictation. You couldn't understand what the actors were saying, singing and speaking. And it got very frustating at times! 

 

 

 

"

They're cutting down rehersal time and putting accent and diction on the back burner. It's an awful combination. The OBC Matildas got three months of rehersal the current Matildas got about two months. The OBC kids got three months of rehersal now the kids get about two months. It's obvious why they are harder to understand. It doesn't bother me as much since I know the show so well but to people who don't they have issues understanding it.

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/10/16 at 8:24pm

The show made the interesting decision that the accents wouldn't be Received Pronunciation or Cockney, the upper and lower class accent and dialects commonly associated with London and most familiar to American audiences. Rather, the whole cast with the exception of Miss Honey tend to have scuzzy outside-London accents to emphasize the down in the dumps lower class atmosphere.

 

It's not surprising that these got fuzzy on tour, especially with touring audiences attempting to follow them.

[mmFan]

Posted: 1/11/16 at 8:01am

We had a trip to NY in August and I was looking at musicals for my kids (10 and 6).  Many had suggested Matilda and my main hesitation was because of the accents.  But everyone kept suggesting it and I trust New Yorkers.   So I bough the CD beforehand and my kids and I listened to it.  I'll admit that it took a few times to understand what they were saying (and for some songs, I had to look up the lyrics) but it definitely helped.  My daughter even watched youtube videos before.  Well, we all loved it (well, except for DH but it just wasn't his thing).

It's coming to our city (Toronto) in the summer and I will for sure be taking my daughter back to see it. Reading the Seattle issues, I sure hope Toronto doesn't experience the same kind of troubles.  That is awful.  It's obviously a difficult one to take on the road.  Will make sure not to get tickets for the start of the run. (At least if the sound is bad, we'll still understand it since we know the words..but that doesn't help others)

Updated On: 1/11/16 at 08:01 AM

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 1/11/16 at 11:15am

mmFan said: "We had a trip to NY in August and I was looking at musicals for my kids (10 and 6).  Many had suggested Matilda and my main hesitation was because of the accents.  But everyone kept suggesting it and I trust New Yorkers.  
"

Well as a New Yorker, can I just say "thank you". You don't hear that too often!!  : )

 

 

[Patash]

Posted: 1/11/16 at 1:23pm

"The sound mixing was muddled (a lot of people commented at the intermission that they couldn't understand the actors)."

As others have asked -- how is this different from the Broadway version?   And I have no issue with various British accents -- so it wasn't that.   There's a song "My Mommy said" and for the life of me I never understood a single thing that the "mommy" supposedly said!

 

 

 

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 1/11/16 at 2:36pm

I love Matilda (warts and all) and would be embarrassed to say how many times I have seen it. That said, it's a hard show to understand period. I don't think the accents really help or hurt. It's a very verbal wordy show - huge amount of lyrics and dialogue with a lot of different people singing/saying them. After how many years of listening to the CD  - I still have moments where I am like..Oh I never heard that before or I mis-heard it the first 100 times of hearing it. Add that to the sound issues (even in NY where it's close to impossible to understand what you are hearing in parts of the Shubert) and the uneven quality of the sound decisions - like why can I only hear one singer during this duet?) ..it's really a challenge.

 

I am certainly not going to argue or discuss further who should have won the Tony Award in 2013 but when you have voters who can't understand or hear totally what's going on, you are going to lose a lot of votes.  Don't get me wrong - they might have won or lost anyway (and whether they should have won or not is not the point of my comments so PLEASE let's not get into that again). But my point is you don't wind up judging a piece of work based on what you should have heard/understood and didn't. You vote on the whole package as presented...and Matilda has been plagued by sound issues since forever...both locally and on tour. It's kinda a shame.

Updated On: 1/11/16 at 02:36 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 1/11/16 at 2:56pm

I saw the show in DC last week from the 1st tier and I thought the sound and diction were fine.  I didn't care for the show and left during intermission.