Roald Dahl’s THE WITCHES musical by Malloy & Kirkwood to premiere this fall- Page 2

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 9/4/23 at 9:29pm

Ke3 said: "That author is incredibly wrong about the history of witches and antisemitism. Like ridiculously wrong. But it's The Nerdist so."

After a bit of web surfing, I have to admit that you are right. There is A LOT of connection between antisemitism and the mythology and imagery of witches throughout history. I stand corrected.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 9/4/23 at 9:37pm

Jay Lerner-Z said: "I'm not trying to overstate it, and maybe I'm misremembering, but I thought there was some talk about it when the Robert Zemeckis movie came out. I remember Anne Hathaway having to apologize over something.”

If I recall correctly, the apologies/controversy over the Zemeckis remake had to do with the design of their hands and feet, as they chose to go with lizard-like features that had only three fingers and toes. It was deemed as being insensitive to those afflicted with ectrodactyly, a condition where children are born with fused fingers or toes that resemble claws. Grady Stiles, who performed under the name Lobster Boy, is one of the more recent and infamous examples of someone born with this condition.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 9/5/23 at 10:16am

Thank you, AEA.

Lessons I've learned here - google first, and pick better paragraphs to copy and paste.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 10/17/23 at 9:22am

First song from Roald Dahl’s THE WITCHES with the National Theatre cast (will be available to stream Nov 3)

 

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 10/17/23 at 4:05pm

Kind of a stylistic departure for Malloy, and a bop. Hope the witches' material has some real Dahl teeth. 

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 10/17/23 at 4:26pm

Wow, adorable! Curious about it's place in the story. Thanks for sharing! 

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 10/17/23 at 4:41pm

I'm guessing they're mice talking up the book's protagonist boy (name escapes me) who gets turned into a mouse well into the story. 

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/17/23 at 4:46pm

I like some of the orchestrations, but overall I find that song to be quite dull.

[DaveyG]

Posted: 10/17/23 at 5:25pm

Give me Matilda over that any day.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 10/17/23 at 5:57pm

Very reminiscent of “when I grow up,” but doesn’t have the same effect. I’m still a fan of it, so far. Curious what the rest of the score will sound like. Dave Malloy is easily one of my favorite composers/lyricists. Something I didn’t know is that he has a co-lyricist on this; So, we’re definitely not going to be getting the same style music as his previous solo works.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 10/17/23 at 6:02pm

Some very, very pretty things happening in that music. The lyrics are kind of odd (very reminiscent of both Naughty and When I Grow Up), but perhaps it'll hang together better in context. It seems like this might come towards the end, as the (unnamed) protagonist comes to terms with the fact that, as a mouse-human hybrid, he likely won't outlive his grandmother.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/17/23 at 6:12pm

The boy's name will be Luke in the musical. Same as the 1990 movie.

[SisterGeorge]

Posted: 10/17/23 at 6:15pm

Jay Lerner-Z said: "I like some of the orchestrations, but overall I find that song to be quite dull."

If I hadn't already bought tickets, I'm pretty sure this clip would have kept me from doing so, but it's just two minutes out of context so I'll just hang on to how much I've loved Malloy's other scores. Speaking of, whatever happened to Moby Dick?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/17/23 at 6:16pm

There’s a “16” printed next to the song in the sheet music so I’m guessing it comes late in the show if that’s the song number. 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 11/7/23 at 10:38am

Performances begin this evening!

https://www.playbill.com/article/roald-dahls-the-witches-stage-musical-begins-world-premiere-run-in-london-november-7

[yyys]

Posted: 11/7/23 at 8:37pm

First two previews canceled.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 6/26/25 at 11:30am

Cast album will be released tomorrow: https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/cast-album-for-the-witches-musical-at-the-national-theatre-to-be-released-this-week_1684712/

 

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 6/26/25 at 11:44am

A bizarre but welcome surprise, looking forward to hearing most of this score again.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 6/26/25 at 11:54am

Now release Malloy's Moby-Dick. 

[Kad]

Posted: 6/26/25 at 12:08pm

Scarywarhol said: "Now release Malloy's Moby-Dick."

Seriously. That score was tremendous. I really hope it sees another production sometime. 

[steve.sometime]

Posted: 6/26/25 at 12:54pm

The album drops at midnight London time, which is 7pm in New York, when Dave Malloy with the original cast starts the Ghost Quartet reunion tonight. How nice!

[schubox]

Posted: 6/26/25 at 6:38pm

Kad said: "Scarywarhol said: "Now release Malloy's Moby-Dick."

Seriously. That score was tremendous. I really hope it sees another production sometime."

I talked to him at the Guggenheim when he was doing a preview of some songs for Octet right before that opened. I asked him if Moby Dick was ever going to play in NYC (I think this was before the ART premiere was announced) and he said not at first, but it would eventually. I wonder what happened

[sppunk]

Posted: 6/26/25 at 6:49pm

I just had flashback nightmares from seeing this show in December 2023. My god was it bad imo. And I was so angry we wasted money on it instead of some better West End performance.

[SisterGeorge]

Posted: 6/26/25 at 8:22pm

sppunk said: "I just had flashback nightmares from seeing this show in December 2023. My god was itbad imo. And I was so angry we wasted money on it instead of some better West End performance."

I so wanted to leave at intermission but at that point it was too late to do anything else, so I stayed for Act II, and it only got worse. Some shows are meh, some boring, but this one made me angry as well. Over-the-top, grating performances— never seen anything so amateurish at the National. I have loved Dave Malloy’s other scores, but this was not memorable

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 7/3/25 at 1:09pm

Interesting little article with some notes by both Malloy and Kirkwood:

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Exclusive-Inside-Roald-Dahls-THE-WITCHES-with-Dave-Malloy-and-Lucy-Kirkwood-20250703

In particular, they've been working on it since it closed, including "some pretty big revisions to tighten the show" and are hopeful for future productions. Malloy also mentions that the Morris dancers scene reminded him of Frogger, "so the music there is a hybrid of traditional Morris dancing and the theme music to Frogger", which absolutely flew over my head - compare the Frogger theme to the bit at 2:50 in Don't Say Mice.