MATILDA Reviews — Page 2

#26

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:21pm

The AP is positive:

"[Bertie Carvel] delivers one of the most chilling performances ever by a man in a too-high skirt. She's a hate-spewing headmistress built like a tank who was once an Olympic-class hammer thrower. She wields a gym whistle like a weapon, twirls a ribbon with panache, speaks in a flat, emotionless voice like Dr. Hannibal Lechter and at one point picks up a child by her pigtails and spins her around.

The heroine is played on a rotating basis by Sophia Gennusa, Oona Laurence, Bailey Ryon and Milly Shapiro. Oona was on duty as Matilda during a recent preview, and she proved a delightfully talented force, jumping around the stage with skill and yet also able to sing a pretty "Quiet.""

http://www.mercurynews.com/celebrities/ci_23007437/review-broadways-matilda-is-blast-nasty-fun

#27

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:22pm

On the same page again, rocks, as is so often the case.

#28

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:24pm

Haha, I have no other plans tonight and am anxiously waiting to read all of these reviews!

Google News is my entertainment on opening nights. :)

#29

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:26pm

I know the feeling. I'm grading tests while I watch the reviews roll in. Ah the thrilling life I lead.

#30

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:28pm

What will be fun to see now is how much the American Express "preferred seats" go up in price.

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http://docandraider.com

#31

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:29pm

I'm glad I already bought my cheap balcony seat.

#32

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:31pm

WSJ is positive http://online.wsj.com/article/AP2a87f0da6a744b39a19484c9b8b6b36f.html
this is the best review for a musical from WSJ in years

#33

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:32pm

That WSJ review is the same review as The AP.



Time Out NY is positive with four out of five stars:

"Happily, Matilda (coproduced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and already a hit in London) follows its diminutive hero’s lead: It maintains a high level of cheeky mischief while hitting the requisite sentimental notes and a refreshing antiauthoritarian message. The final number, “Revolting Children,” plays on the notion that minors can be both repugnant and a source of social upheaval: “Revolting children?/?Living in revolting times?/?We sing revolting songs?/?Using revolting rhymes.” There’s a lesson for you tweens: You’ve inherited a lousy culture, so why not make a song and dance about it?

Director Matthew Warchus’s pop-gothic staging, animated by Peter Darling’s herky-jerky choreography, revels in sight gags and gross-out set pieces (the first act culminates in a chubby lad forced to eat a whole chocolate cake). The stage is often awash in gruesome green or sticky pink lighting (by designer Hugh Vanstone), which gives the proceedings a nicely garish, cartoonish glow.

...

Unlike Billy Elliot, to which it will inevitably be compared, Matilda is a kids’ musical, not a musical that happens to be about a kid. As such, its attractions may be limited to younger spectators and die-hard Dahl fans. That would be a pity, since Matilda is wickedly smart and wildly fun; if your rotten mum or dad won’t go, I suggest nicking their wallets and buying tickets yourself."

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/matilda

Updated On: 4/11/13 at 08:32 PM

#34

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:41pm

I love that last line of David Cote's review. Adorable.

#35

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:42pm

so its not the same just posted via different media terry has not spoken

#36

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:46pm

It IS the same review as the AP, but as published by the WSJ. Terry's will be out in a bit. His usually roll in around 9.

#37

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:49pm

yes it is the same but its not Terrys

#38

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:50pm

Correct... which is what we said...

#39

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:56pm

Interesting... this pull quote is on the Times website, but Brantley's review isn't up yet. And I checked, the quote is not from his London review. Perhaps it's a preview of what his review will look like?

“Matilda the Musical,” the London import, is the most satisfying and subversive musical ever to come out of Britain, where it was nurtured into life by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Its melding of song, dance and story is as classic as “Oklahoma!” but within its traditional form it works with astonishing slyness and grace to inculcate us with its radical point of view. —Ben Brantley

#40

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 8:59pm

Looks like that'll be one hell of a review.

#41

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 9:03pm

NJ Newsroom is mixed to positive:

"Garbed as vulgar cartoons, Lesli Margherita and Gabriel Ebert portray the clueless elder Wormwoods with a tireless vigor that becomes somewhat wearying (blame their obnoxious characters and not the actors) while a glassy-eyed Taylor Trensch is droll as their dullard son. Lauren Ward appropriately lends a sweet voice to timid Miss Honey and Karen Aldridge gives her kindly Mrs. Phelps a Caribbean accent and much warmth. Phillip Spaeth as Mrs. Wormwood’s Latin tango partner and John Sanders as Mr. Wormwood’s Russian mobster nemesis have fun with their stereotypical figures.

In spite of the occasional warts that blemish “Matilda,” there is no denying the inventive artistry that has successfully forged Roald Dahl’s saga into a frequently entertaining musical."

http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/movies/matilda-broadway-review-a-british-bookworm-becomes-a-major-musical

#42

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 9:06pm

Chicago Tribune is a rave:

"its most remarkable moment does not arrive at the climax, when Matilda vanquishes her foes with the help of a Russian mafia ex-machina, but during a simple, gorgeous Tim Minchin song, “When I Grow Up.”

Therein, adults and children swing and play together in a park. And thanks in no small part to the astonishing choreography of Peter Darling — whose dazzling work in this piece recalls that of Steven Hoggett in “Once” in all except in its embrace of complexity — you sit there watching that beautiful number in tears for your own lost childhood and yet somehow newly aware that every child must want nothing so much as to grow up. Any parent with a pulse is turned into burned toast."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/theaterloop/matilda-broadway-review,0,984726.column

#43

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 9:11pm

Hollywood Reporter is a rave:

"Every element of conception and design here is invaluable, but the whimsical wizard behind this superlative children’s theater for all ages is Matthew Warchus, whose attention to detail carries through to a lovely curtain-call surprise. While the director proved himself a peerless comedy ringmaster with such productions as Boeing-Boeing, God of Carnage, The Norman Conquests and La Bete, his choice of major musical vehicles – The Lord of the Rings and Ghost – has been unfortunate. But those missteps are instantly erased with Matilda, in one thrilling number after another. Most musicals are lucky to count a showstopper or two, but this has several, encompassing a rich tonal spectrum."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/matilda-theater-review-437819

#44

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 9:14pm

Prediction: It will win every sing Tony it is nominated for!

#45

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 9:24pm

I think that it may split some design categories with Pippin. It'll be interesting.

#46

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 9:31pm

Entertainment Weekly is positive with an A-:

"Even gold-star students fall short of perfection, and the same is true of Matilda. There's a squirm-inducing dip in momentum in the second act, with a longish lull and somewhat repetitive scenes between that growing-up song and the anarchic, Spring Awakening-like final number, 'Revolting Children.' And that song is one of several whose tongue-twisting lyrics seem like a mouthful for very young performers less trained in enunciation.

On the other hand, even when you fail to pick up a well-turned phrase or eye-rolling pun, you will probably find yourself responding like a just-tucked-in child at bedtime. You want to shout, 'Again!' and demand that the cast start over from the very beginning so you might catch everything that you missed — and revel in everything that you savored the first time around. Aren't those the best kinds of stories?"

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20364394_20690686,00.html

#47

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 9:34pm

(some slight spoilers here)

Going back a little ways, I think the Spring Awakening comparison is understandable, not so much in the specifics of the movement but in the general milieu. Both shows have a lot of choreography/movement of students in uniforms with shorts moving individually at their individual desks, without much interaction between the cast members. Add in the pulling out of the microphone, and Spring Awakening definitely popped into my mind when I was watching the show.

(I assume the microphone bit was an intentional homage, but has anyone on the creative team ever commented on that?)

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"What was the name of that cheese that I like?" "you can't run away forever...but there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start" "well I hope and I pray, that maybe someday, you'll walk in the room with my heart"

#48

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 9:38pm

^When I asked the same question people on here said that it wasn't an intentional homage and that other shows did that before Spring Awakening.

#49

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 9:49pm

That's my view on it, CATS, if only because their aren't really any other parody or homage moments throughout the rest of the show. So to throw in just one intentional example of homage or parody just seems random.

And yes, Spring Awakening was not the first show to have characters pull out hand held mics for highly theatrical moments and it won't be the last. At that point in the show Bruce and the others are indeed finally revolting against the authority that has held them in check for so long, rock and roll is stereotypically the music that is paired with the young revolting against the older generation, so it makes sense for Bruce to go into a highly theatrical rock star moment.

#50

MATILDA Reviews

Posted: 4/11/13 at 9:54pm

^It also makes sense for it not to be a homage since the show started in London and Spring Awakening wasn't very successful in London.

I can certainly understand why people might think it was a homage though. The hand held mic and the school uniforms could certainly conjure images of Spring Awakening for anyone who saw it.