MATILDA Previews- Page 17

[Pammylicious]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 11:27am

Perhaps they pulled Bailey because she is the one to play Matilda on opening night today and they wanted her to be in tip top shape.
Just a guess.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 11:30am

Sophia is going on tonight. They randomly selected from a hat.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-TV-EXCLUSIVE-Find-Out-Which-Matilda-Will-Perform-at-Tonights-Broadway-Opening-20130411

I figured it wouldn't be either Bailey or Milly tonight. I don't think they'd let a girl or standby who performs go on twice in a row. Or is there precedent for that? Updated On: 4/11/13 at 11:30 AM

[dreaming]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 12:23pm

I thought it would be Oona for sure, as I heard she was the strongest in the role.

I actually think the pulling of names from the hat is fair.

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 12:44pm

dreaming, where did you hear that Oona was strongest? I had heard a lot of people say that her accent is difficult to understand.

[dreaming]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 12:51pm

Some people sitting around me the other night had seen all but one girl and said Oona was the one they felt was the best in the role. (I also know someone else who saw it twice and saw Oona once and she bowled them over more than the other girl they saw.)

[MyLife]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 1:01pm

After having seen both Sophia and Oona, I can say I much prefer Sophia in the role and am happy for her that she gets to shine on opening night. Oona may have had the better, more refined singing voice but her accent was much more difficult to understand, as she mumbled and slurred her words more. From the sounds of it, a lot of people had difficulty understanding her. I preferred Sophia's characterization and sweeter demeanor as well.

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 1:05pm

dreaming - I was curious since I've seen all four. I don't know that I'd prefer Oona or Sophia, one over the other. I do think of the four, Bailey gave the strongest performance with the best and most complete package (singing, dancing, formed character and personality, etc.) at the time.

[dreaming]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 1:09pm

broadway-Funny, because I saw Bailey and was not taken with her performance. She was bland and the accent went in and out. She did little to impress me.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 1:22pm

I thought it would be Oona for sure, as I heard she was the strongest in the role.

I read a different theory from someone else, that they intentionally WOULDN'T put their strongest girl up on opening night, because they want the best performances for the critics and the critics don't come on opening night. That was mostly tongue-in-cheek, however.

Anyway, I agree that drawing from a hat is fair, although I hope all the girls get to come out for the curtain call and enjoy their opening night.

[alex2155]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 1:43pm

There are lots of different reviewers that come to review the show. They don't all come on one night. Usually the week before opening there are reviewers in the audience almost every night, so every girl is going to be reviewed by some paper/magazine/etc.

[[e-mail]]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 2:03pm

I started going to the theater as a boy growing up in the 1980s and have seen 524 shows on Broadway and 206 plays Off-Broadway. My two favorite shows of the past decade or so are MATILDA and CARRIE. I was crazy for CARRIE's Off-Broadway revival last year and ended up seeing it at the Lucille Lortel theater five times even though it wasn't like me to see a show multiple times.

CARRIE and MATILDA were both originally produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-Upon-Avon and both shows were effective at getting me to feel sorry for the main character right away and become emotionally involved in her story. Carrie and Matilda are horribly abused but have telekinetic powers which will be used at the end of the show. As Carrie, Molly Ranson was adorable and had some sweet and touching moments. As Matilda, Bailey Ryon is adorable and broke my heart every time she came on stage...this 10-year-old girl is just amazing and you will want to take her home with you. In fact, if ever there was a show that could inspire someone to adopt a child, MATILDA is surely it!

I don't have kids but I work with children the same age as Bailey at the public library...as a librarian it was nice to see a show that celebrates books and makes libraries seem like a special place. One of the saddest scenes is when the librarian says to Matilda, "Your parents must be so proud of you. They must feel like they won the lottery having such a nice daughter!"

I think Broadway is lucky to have MATILDA...I went during the first week of previews and saw Bailey Ryon's debut performance on March 9 in front of an audience. This past Saturday, I saw MATILDA for the third time and by random luck got to see little Bailey again and talk with her at the stage door too. I will be taking my father and brother to see Matilda next month and on Sunday, October 13th I will be turning 40 and I bought tickets to take six kids from my library and their parents to see MATILDA.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 4/11/13 at 2:15pm

There are lots of different reviewers that come to review the show. They don't all come on one night. Usually the week before opening there are reviewers in the audience almost every night, so every girl is going to be reviewed by some paper/magazine/etc.

Yes, I am well aware how that works. My point was that they DON'T come on opening night.

If you have four pitchers on your baseball team and you have some important games coming up, you're going to arrange the schedule so that the worst pitcher is facing the worst team or playing in the game that doesn't really matter to the standings.

Not the best analogy, as none of the Matildas are bad. I was just repeating something I found amusing, in response to what someone else said.

Updated On: 4/11/13 at 02:15 PM

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/16/13 at 6:26pm

I don't like to read too many opinions before a show I know I'm definitely going to see so not sure if these comments have been reflected by others but here goes...

I thought MATILDA was fine. Nothing to really write home about or recommend someone to rush out and see it. The show is about 2 hours and 45 mins and definitely feels that or longer.

We'll start with the good. The performances for the most part were great. I saw Bailey last night so I only have the Matilda opinion of her. Bertie Carvel is great but as much as I disliked KINKY I would have to see Billy was better. Mr & Mrs Wormwood were great and hilarious. I'm wondering if someone hates Taylor Trensch though because he had about zero purpose and was given two of the most horrible wigs I've ever seen in my life. Also I feel bad that Ryan Steele went from stealing the show at NEWSIES to being completely lost in the background here.

Also the set is fantastic but I think the block letters are a little much. I found myself looking for the words they spelled out during the show which does give away some key elements and also shouldn't be distracting me that much. Maybe if the story were a little more engaging my mind wouldn't have wandered so much.

Which leads us to the bad. I'm sure the book written by Roald Dahl is great because he's an amazing writer but I didn't get much of that from the musical. The music is something I could definitely live without as I couldn't tell you one song that stuck in my mind other than that insipid opening number. Both opening act songs were pretty horrible to me. "Telly" was pure dreck and I like that they had to blast the fake audience participation because no one cared enough to sing back (unlike at PIPPIN).

Matthew Warchus is a great director, no doubt. I didn't love the spectacle moments in this show though. I felt like he did much better work with GHOST (now don't get started thinking that I'm a big fan of that show because I'm not). Don't get me wrong, I did love Trunchbull throwing that girl with the pigtails. The choreography was kind of bland to me. I hate when it looks like the actors are doing choreography rather than fluid motions that seem to come through with ease.

I also thought there was a little too much going on in the audience. Does anyone know if they had to take out multiple rows because of how much goes on around where the house seats would normally be?

[macnyc]

Posted: 5/16/13 at 6:36pm

Wow, I saw Matilda last week and didn't realize Ryan Steele was in the cast! I had completely forgotten that.

I thought some of the effects were awesome, such as the one where the cast members handled the block letters and inserted them into the structure. As for the score, a few of the songs stayed with me: When I Grow Up, Naughty, and Revolting Children. That number had terrific choreography too, and I hope it's performed at the Tonys.

I thought the children's performances were amazing!

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/16/13 at 6:49pm

That's a problem if you don't even know he's in the cast because he's too good of a dancer for that. The block letter gate thing was pretty good even though the Y was put in upside down last night.

"Revolting Children" was waaaayyyy too similar to SPRING AWAKENING complete with the hand mic that came out of nowhere.

[macnyc]

Posted: 5/16/13 at 7:01pm

I didn't see Spring Awakening so it was new to me! Ignorance is bliss!

I guess Ryan is one of the older students?

Funny that one of the letters was put in upside down! The whole thing looked very complicated and well rehearsed. I guess these things happen in live theater.

SPOILER QUESTION*****************

I didn't really get the part where Trunchbull swung the girl around by her pigtails. I saw that, but then did she fling her up to the ceiling or something? I must have blinked and missed it. How was that done?

Then she falls back down after a short while?

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 5/16/13 at 7:53pm

SPOILER (I guess)...

^ You didn't miss anything-- we found the whole stunt completely unconvincing and had to poll our friends afterwards to understand what was supposed to have happened.

In the blackout the intent is that Trunchbull lets go and the girl hurtles up to the ceiling of the theater. When the lights come back up, down falls a dummy meant to be the girl.

Glad we weren't the only ones in the theater who went -- HUH? (spoken with a Scooby Doo intonation)

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 11:49pm

So, I saw Matilda on Saturday and I really loved it!

SPOILERS
Our Matilda was Bailey. She was a wonderful singer and actor. She was very clear and fierce. My one complain was that she was pretty soft-spoken, esepecially during Naughty. She was lucky that she had the microphone or else, I couldn’t understood her. As for the Tony nominations, I honestly think the part of Matilda is only good enough for a nomination. The part and the acting was strong, but I say that Patina or Laura could have easily sweeped the competition away from them. It’s great that the four Matildas will get honors, but I don’t think they were good enough to get them. Bertie, on the hand, was FANTASTIC! It is soo heartbreaking that he got a nomination for Leading.

I think that Bertie has a pretty good chance of getting the Tony, but the amount of time he was in it:
a) seriously hurts him from winning because Billy (who looks amazing) looks like that he is in it a LOT and
b) was only good enough for Best FEATURED Actor. If the producers got him for BF Actor, then Bertie would sealed the competition. He was only in it for like 15-20 minutes. But, he was in the zone. He was hilarious! His mannerisms was perfect. And Bertie’s songs were show-stealing. He cracked my mom and I up in Smell of Rebellion. I mean, listein to that song. Tony-Winning Performance! :) He could still get the win. He was funny and scary.

Lauren Ward was amazing as Miss Honey. Defientely deserved the nom! She broke my heart every time that she was on stage and what a voice! My mom LOVED her! I think Gabriel can easily get the Tony! He both made me laugh AND want to punch him at the same time. I think he was more serious though. The scene where he destroy Matilda’s book was so sad. Lesli was defientely snubbed from the Tonys. She was hiliarious and great enough for the noms! Loud was wonderful (I will get to that soon). Taylor, OMG, was hysterical. He made me laugh EVERY single time, esepecially during Telly and the end where he causes his family to get caught by the matifa xD

THE KIDS, OMG! THEY WERE JUST SO SO AMAZING! HOW ARE THEY SO TALENTED AS 12 YEAR OLDS?! Nigel and Eric were so adorable! Lavendar was cute too. Bruce, I think, should have gotten nominated for Best Featured Actor just for “Bruce” and “Revolting Children”. He was so talented and stole the show!

It's really too bad that Pippin is running this year! The choreography and the direction were unbelievable! School Song, Bruce, Loud, and When I Grow Up (which I cried during btw! So beautiful) and the library scenes were perfect in direction and choreography. Miracle was NEARLY PERFECT! OMG, as soon as you hear the bell, you are hooked. The birthday party, the strollers etc.-JUST WOW! But, I did feel underwhelmed about Miracle. I loved it, but the scene sounded bigger on the music. I was expecting more cheography.

Also, I don’t care how great Kinky Boots’ music is! The songs WILL GET BEST SCORE. THE END. They're clever, beautiful, and perfect! The lightining and lasers were fantastic! This will get Best Lighting Design. You know, I love how at the end, Ms. Trunchbull put the kids on “lockdown” and the big lasters came out. The audience pretty much broke into appulase in the middle of it because it was so freaking cool! The punchline was hiliarious! (I had time on my hands )

My only problems were some unexplained stuff. Like after it was revealed that Trunchbull killed her dad, she went allllllll Chokey-crazy. She wasn’t like that before. She was crazy, but not like that! Where did that come from? Even though I was loving Bertie’s acting there. And when it’s revealed that Matilda had telegraphic (or whatever) powers, it seemed like she had it before. She was like, “COME ON, GO DOWN!” I was confused. Did shr already had the powers? If Matilda just found out about them, she would said before, “I wish the cup would down. I’ll pretend…” or something.

The ending was incredibly touching. The ending was perfect with the tiny reprise of “Little Girl” and how Mr. Wormwood becomes a little bit more loving to Matilda. I esepecially melted when his hat came off and his hair was brown again. That was perfect! It did showed that he did loved her deep down. And the way how Matilda and Honey walked away with the lights out with beautiful music was just perfect.

Right as the musical ended before the bows, there was actually an standing ovation from one set of seats. That shows that you did something great on stage.

I think Matilda is defientely a Best Musical winner to me!