MATILDA performance on The View — Page 2

It's not really a valid comparison, though. One handheld mic used by the rockstar of the children who was the first student to ever stand up to the big bad villain does not mean they're copying Spring Awakening. Gray school uniforms required in a school run by a woman who loathes children and physically tortures them does not mean they're copying Spring Awakening. A wireless handheld mic that happens to be black and shaped like every other wireless handheld mic does not mean they're copying Spring Awakening. Children jumping around while playing does not mean they're copying Spring Awakening. If your only point of reference to a pop/rock show is Spring Awakening, then I can almost see the confusion.

The world does not revolve around Spring Awakening. The show had a very distinct style that worked for that production because it was so consistent and pervasive; I didn't even like the staging conceit with the hand mics and still walked out impressed by the thought put into the design of the production. It became a second language in the show. Matilda has the same thing going on with play-acting from young children becoming a form of communication that separates them from the more traditional style of the adults. Neither is the first show to break out with aggressive choreography or separate social constructs with varying styles of movement. I'm trying to think of a better comparison between closer shows. I'd venture to say that Matilda owes more to Bye Bye Birdie--where the stranger to the town who is forced to enter forever changes to community through non-threatening anti-establishment thinking--than it does to Spring Awakening. That or something like Bat Boy, where one incredibly intelligent person upends an entire community by learning to be the best they can be and forcing everyone else to change with them.

As for The View performance itself, it took me a few seconds to catch onto Oona's pronunciation and I was fine. I thought it was an adorable presentation from a really cute show. The kids sold it and the crowd ate it up.

We're not talking about one of the all time greatest musicals that forever changed the form; we're talking about a new musical firmly targeted at children with enough layered jokes and spectacle to appeal to adults. I'm trying to think of the last time we've had this kind of show do this well on Broadway. Thirteen bombed. A Year with Frog and Toad was straight up children's theater. Honk! never transferred from the West End. Seussical bombed. I guess the answer is Wicked even though I suspect they were aiming for a more mature audience than the preteens who obsess over the show.

Seriously, John Adams, why so grouchy?

Warchus and Darling created a scene in which schoolchildren in uniforms were making individual staccato choreographed movements at their individual desks and one of them pulls out a black handheld microphone out of their inside jacket pocket. It's completely legitimate to say that the staging has elements that are reminiscent of Spring Awakening, intentionally or otherwise.

Both Warchus and Darling have spent a fair amount of time in New York, and even if Spring Awakening did not have much impact in London, I find it hard to believe that they are unfamiliar with the staging of a Tony-winning musical. That doesn't mean that the staging is intentionally reminiscent of Spring Awakening, but IF they are troubled by comparisons, they could have minimized the comparison. I don't know if they are troubled by such a comparison, although John Adams certainly seems to be!

Updated On: 6/16/13 at 09:28 AM

Glad you can make a judgment call on a show you haven't seen and a score you haven't heard the entirety of.

I don't think the show has the best score, either. But the production is more than the sum of its parts.

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For me, the lyrics were much more intelligible in the theater than on The View. I think the sound on The View was just plain bad.

But I also think that some of the lyrics have so much wordplay that it fights against our understanding them. They come at you in a rush and on first listen, they can be hard to parse out (like the "We R-E-volting," which on first listen sounds like "We are E... wait a second, what's going on?"). Minchin is a very clever writer, but some of the cleverness is at odds with intelligibility.

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>> "For me, the lyrics were much more intelligible in the theater than on The View. I think the sound on The View was just plain bad."

I agree.
I think, too that this Broadway season is an unusual one for "bad accents" in general. The two major contenders as musicals both contain examples of American actors struggling with British accents. If the new cast recording of Annie is an example of what's actually happening on stage, even that show has its problems.

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EDIT:

>> "But I also think that some of the lyrics have so much wordplay that it fights against our understanding them."

And yet, "words" are a major theme that runs throughout this show. I think that's because of the importance of stories (words) in Matilda's character.

The entire stage is wrapped in a jumble of words (similar to Matilda's life, via her stories). The words (scrabble tiles) actually interact with characters on stage in the song, "School Song", where Minchin also incorporates wordplay. There's also the obvious connection of spelling/words to school.

Updated On: 5/23/13 at 10:24 AM

They do in the fantasy world of Matilda, where a headmistress is able to swing a girl by her pigtails and launch her in the air.

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>> "There is no way on a first listen in a theatre that you could tell what is a "letter" and what is a "word." It goes by too fast, fights the accented rhythm of the music, THEN add in a thick accent."

I agree with you. I think more than one sitting is helpful (if not needed) to catch everything that's going on in the score.

Now I ain't sayin' that Minchin is a Sondheim, but he (and other Broadway composers) can be accused of the same thing.

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EDIT:
>> "Nope, just watched part of the clip again.
From the beginning, it's a garbled mess."

Is that because of Minchin's writing, or (particularly in the case of this performance on The View), is it more the fault of some exceptionally bad sound on The View?

Updated On: 5/23/13 at 11:33 AM

As has previously been said, words and the construction thereof, as well as adhering to rules and boundaries, are two major themes in the show.

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Thank you, but I'm pretty sure we're on the same side here.

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Got it! I misread your post!

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Was it John Adams's accent or the construction of his words, Kad?

Or was he just too clever to understand?



Honestly, I've never had a problem understanding Sondheim's lyrics. They may have many layers and repeated listenings yield a greater reward, but I never, ever thought "what the f***" did they just say on stage? Even in the choral numbers.

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Updated On: 5/23/13 at 12:39 PM

I think one of the majors issues with Matilda's Broadway transfer is Minchin thinks of American audiences bein less intellegent then Brittish audiences, so to quote him he did not want to "dumb down Matilda for American audiences." In reality American's appreciate a good thought proviking musical, Next to Normal, Spring Awakening, and Rent.
When Billy Elliot transfered its creative team realized American's would have a difficult time understanding the thick coalminer's cockney accent so they toned it down. They also minemised the children's accents because we all know children and accent's don't mix well. Minchin was to high on his horse to even consider dropping the accents and/or reworking the lyrics. Yes his lyrics are very intricate, but for the most part have very little regards to plot revelations. Very few of the songs advance the plot other than Bruce. He needs to realize that just because both American and Brits speak english they don't technically speak the same language. So a show that heavily relies on accents like Matilda, when transfering accross the pond needs to be treated like a translation and not a simple transfer.