Matilda's score is very much of a piece of the whole work but the score when listened to alone only registered to me as involving musically and lyrically a few times. Before seeing the show I had made a short playlist for my iPhone from the OCR which was made up of Naughty, When I Grow Up and Revolting Children. Since seeing the show I added Miracle (although I intend to edit out the whole doctor section which I find painfully generic) School Song, Bruce and Quiet. Those last songs I added because it helps me relive a physical moment not because I think they are any more interesting since the first hearing.
Minchin was known as a comic, satirist with a clever command of language, I was very impressed with his ability to compliment the story and not stand out but his comedy cadence doesn't have the same payoff in the musical as his stand up routines. They seem to ramble on. But they were saved by brilliantly clever staging.
I was lucky to get my hands on a recording of a Kinky Boots workshop and was immediately taken by the score. The two songs that I wasn't crazy about have been cut so the OCR will line up with the playlist I've been enjoying for the past year. My initial criticism of Cyndi's score was that there were a few too many, top 40 like vamps where single lines are repeated. But here too the book action and staging filled in the vamp time. Cyndi recently leaked a few tracks from the OCR and The Sex Is In The Heel was beautifully abbreviated into something close to a hit single. It will be interesting to see if the entire recording is treated that way. It will certainly add to the popularity of the recording. That takes me back to the listen-ability of both scores with Kinky Boots coming away more successful than Matilda's. One you can enjoy as part of watching the production while the other can be enjoyed before, during and after more thoroughly.
Up In One
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