The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Olivier-winning production of Matilda the Musical, which premiered at the RSC's Stratford-upon-Avon home in 2010 before transferring to the West End in October 2011, will return to London's Cambridge Theatre September 16. The musical has been closed since the pandemic shuttered theatres worldwide in March 2020.
Adapted from Roald Dahl’s 1988 book, the musical tells the story of an extraordinary little girl who, armed with a vivid imagination and a sharp mind, dares to take a stand and change her own destiny. Casting will be announced at a later date.
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 special effects and illusions by Paul Kieve.
RSC Executive Director Catherine Mallyon said, “It is fantastic to see London’s West End reopening and for our company, freelance colleagues, and creative team to be back at the Cambridge Theatre, preparing for performances in the autumn. We all know how challenging the past year has been, and that makes this moment even more special and important. We will not only celebrate 10 brilliant years of Matilda The Musical in the West End but also that our audiences can join us once again to experience the power of live theatre.”
The film adaptation from the same creative team as the theatre production—direction by Warchus, adaptation by Kelly, with a score by Minchin—will be released theatrically in the U.K. by Sony Pictures/TriStar Pictures and by Netflix in the rest of the world.
Matilda won seven 2012 Olivier Awards. The subsequent Broadway production won four Tony Awards and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre for the four girls sharing the title role. It has since toured North America, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. and Ireland, South Africa, and China and played its first non-English language production in Seoul, South Korea, in 2018.
Matilda is produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company with Denise Wood and Griselda Yorke as executive producers.
