Is Kinky's Score Really Better Than Matilda's?

Sorry for this thread. I know I'm so late but it's just been bothering me. I wasn't familiar with the Kinky Boots score last month. Today after listening to the whole CD I just can't see how it's better than Matilda's. Yes, Kinky Boots has Cyndi behind it, but did she really write a better score than Tim Minchin did? I guess it's a taste issue, but I just think the Matilda score is far, far superior.

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I liked Kinky Boots when I saw it, however it's the first time (that I can recall) that I've been horribly disappointed in the CD recording of a show. The show is fun, upbeat and lively-the recording is, in my opinion, a lead brick. To compare the 2 recordings is tough-Matilda is captured much better on CD than Kinky Boots.

HEY! QUIT TALKING! You asked, I told you, case closed.

Who's playing Boq next?

It's all based on personal taste. I personally thought Matilda's music had more of a variety and was far superior to Kinky's score, which was just as great. Personally, I enjoyed Matilda's score far more than Kinky's.

Both are good, but I agree that Matilda is better.

I preferred Matilda for pretty much every aspect.

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Some of the lyrics in Matilda, while extremely witty, strike me as completely unmusical. Even though I remember a few of the tunes in Matilda, I remember them in that grating way where I wish they would get out of my head. I can't remember a note of the songs with dramatic moments I connected with. (I don't count When I Grow Up because I had heard that countless times prior to seeing the show).

Kinky Boots probably got best score because elements of pop music are much more accessible. It's fun and infectious, and in a sense, easier to process. It's all a lot more crowd pleasing (not that that in any way correlates with quality).

Updated On: 7/11/13 at 06:54 PM

^Very true. I also think the fact that Billy Porter is so well-loved in the community contributed to his win (not that his performance wasn't deserving in it's own right).

does anyone know why the reason as to why they give the award to the score as a whole instead separate for lyrics and music?

I have to agree that Matilda's lyrics are superior to Kinky Boots, but if we are basing our decisions on how they play during a performance and not CD, Kinky Boots has the clear edge. Matilda's sound design is so terrible that you can barely make out the lyrics. Even with the cd, I had to replay songs several times just so that I could understand the lyrics.

Music wise though, I find Matilda's score very redundant and repetitive. When sitting in the theater seeing Matilda, during intermission I turned to a friend and said "Is Matilda ever going to sing something other than a reprise of Naughty?"

Here are my two cents:

MATILDA obviously has the much better lyrics of the two. Tim Minchin's score is so witty and the lyrics are incredibly well written. The use of the alphabet in "School Song" floored me - absolutely brilliant writing. The score varies greatly in tone and style, being both very uplifting and very dark at times throughout the piece. It is wordy - which is something I loved and is a testament to the kids singing it (though many understandably had trouble hearing every word).

While I LOVE the score Cyndi Lauper has written for KINKY BOOTS (a great theatrical debut), I can't get away from the fact that 75% of the score could basically be top 40 radio hits and stand alone outside of the show. This, however, is also a something of a strength to the show bc people want to listen to it over and over again - it is infectious. The score is just slightly theatrical and character driven enough to make it work. Theatrically, it doesn't hold a candle to MATILDA.

So, looking back, yes KINKY is the score that gets more plays on my iPhone on a regular basis (like my pop songs). It has more songs in its score that I listen to regularly than MATILDA's. But the ones that are real gems in MATILDA are big ones - "Naughty", "When I Grow Up", "Revolting Children", etc. "When I Grow Up" should win a Tony by itself in my opinion. So, yes KINKY BOOTS has more catchy songs - but the few in MATILDA's score are better than any in KINKY BOOTS in my opinion. I often feel the best scores are the ones that serve the material well - and that is how I feel about MATILDA. In the context of the show, MATILDA's score is so effective and flows in and out of the show's fantastic book with extreme ease. The transitions from dialogue to song are so seamless it is like the show is one musical piece itself.

Not taking anything away from Cyndi Lauper, whose score I loved, but I just think from a theatrical sense MATILDA's score is far superior.

Seriously, that alphabet part is fantastic.


So, in recap, LOVE them both - edge to MATILDA.

Updated On: 7/11/13 at 08:42 PM

I prefer Matilda because I fell really hard for some of the piano riffs (that opening to "Quiet" is just gorgeous), but I think Kinky Boots is a more cohesive score. They're both good. I would have been happy with either show winning. Minchin and Lauper really got into writing their scores and I can't imagine neither of them writing second shows in a few years.

My response comes from having seen both shows, having the iTunes of Matilda and listening to the EW stream of KB.
In my opinion, the lyrics of Matilda are far more interesting and challenging for the listener than KB.
Musically, I prefer Matilda as I feel it has more variety of style and makes me want to listen again to peel off another layer. E.g., the almost Jaws-like strings that begins The Hammer song makes me smile and fits the character performing the song perfectly.
The pop of KB works better, I think, in the theatre than in the very poor OCR. Not the fault of Ms Lauper's composition but more the bad producing and weak vocal performances. However, in the Hirschfeld, the pop score with it's more uniform time signatures works well to get the audience up and cheering/screaming and that may be why they won the Score Tony.
To conclude.
Lyrics. For me, Matilda wins easily.
Music. KB presses the right buttons for the audience (which mnay will say is a legitimate goal for a musical) but, for me, much less so in the OCR. Matildas music is, I think, more varied and less formulaic.