NEWS: The RSC's MATILDA finally arrives in Manchester!

The widely-anticipated Matilda The Musical has finally arrived in Manchester for an incredible 11-week run at the Palace Theatre and to mark the occasion, Scarlett Cecil who is one of the four young actresses sharing the title role, popped down to Manchester Central Library to strike the iconic Matilda pose in front of the landmark city-centre building. Matilda The Musical’s first show in the city will be tonight, Tuesday 18^th September.

Sophia Ally, Annalise Bradbury, Scarlett Cecil and Nicola Turner will share the title role of Matilda in Manchester. The adult cast includes Craige Els who, having played Miss Trunchbull in the West End for three years from 2014 to 2017, has returned to the role for the UK and Ireland tour. Carly Thoms plays Miss Honey alongside Sebastien Torkia and Rebecca Thornhill as Mr and Mrs Wormwood.

   

The full adult cast includes Joe Atkinson, Richard Astbury, Nina Bell, Peter Bindloss, Oliver Bingham, Emily Bull, Samara Casteallo, Matthew Caputo, Craige Els, Matt Gillett, Michelle Chantelle Hopewell, Sam Lathwood, Katie Lee, Steffan Lloyd-Evans, Charlie Martin, Rachel Moran, Anu Ogunmefun, Carly Thoms, Rebecca Thornhill, Sebastien Torkia,Adam Vaughan and Dawn Williams.

The full child cast who play the roles of Bruce, Lavender, Amanda and the rest of the pupils at Crunchem Hall are Evie Allen, Louella Asante-Owusu, Joseph Black, Georgia Mae Brown, Isobelle Chalmers, Jessica Chalmers, Oliver Crouch, Madeline Gilby, Sheldon Golding, Dylan Hughes, Cuba Kamanu, Tom Lomas, Adam Lord, Maddison Lowe, Ilan Miller, Felicity Mitson, Toby Mocrei, Ashton Murphy, Joely Robertson, Ruaridh Sinnott, Kit Swaddling, Chantelle Tonolete Harry Wilson and Harrison Wilding.

Matilda The Musical has now been seen by 8 million people worldwide, having toured to over 65 cities and played more than 6000 performances in the West End, on Broadway and on tour across North America, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Matilda The Musical now has its first non-English language production at the LG Arts Centre in Seoul, South Korea which opened earlier this month.

Winner of over 85 international awards, including 16 for Best Musical, Matilda The Musical opened at Leicester Curve in March 2018 to rave reviews. The tour will play at Manchester Palace until 24 November before playing at Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre (4 December – 12 January 2019), Theatre Royal Plymouth (15 January – 16 February 2019), the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford (19 February – 23 March 2019), Edinburgh Playhouse (2 – 27 April 2019), The Bristol Hippodrome (7 May – 8 June 2019), Mayflower Theatre, Southampton (11 June – 6 July 2019) and Norwich Theatre Royal (16 July – 17 August 2019).  

The West End production will continue to play at the Cambridge Theatre, where it is now in its seventh year and is booking until 20 October 2019.

Matilda The Musical is written by Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, and direction by Matthew Warchus. The production is designed by Rob Howell, with choreography by Peter Darling, orchestrations, additional music and musical supervision by Christopher Nightingale, lighting by Hugh Vanstone, sound by Simon Baker and the special effects and illusions are by Paul Kieve.

Inspired by the incomparable Roald Dahl’s beloved book, Matilda The Musical was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and premiered at the RSC’s Stratford-upon-Avon home in November 2010, before transferring to London’s West End in October 2011, where it opened to rave reviews. The New York production of Matilda The Musical opened in April 2013 at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre and was celebrated on 10 “Top Ten” lists for 2013, including TIME Magazine’s #1 Show of the Year.

Matilda The Musical swept the board at the 2012 Olivier Awards, with a record-breaking seven awards, and won four Tony Awards and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theater for the four girls sharing the title role on Broadway.

The North America production toured 52 cities. The Australian and New Zealand production won a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Musical in 2015, and played sold-out seasons in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Auckland. The show broke further records in July 2016 by winning all 13 Helpmann Awards for which it was nominated.

Matilda The Musical is produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company with André Ptaszynski and Denise Wood as Executive Producers. The production was developed with the support of Jeanie O’Hare and the RSC Literary Department.