Matilda the Musical – Millennium Centre, Cardiff (Theatre Review)

A couple of months ago, I went to see Matilda the Musical at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, and after the biggest blogging slump in the ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, I’m finally going to review it!! (I saw it at the end of December. It’s literally been almost three months. Oops.)

I’ll start off by saying that I had very high expectations before going to see Matilda the Musical. Here’s why.

• It’s something I’ve wanted to see for a couple of years, pretty much since it was announced.
• I’m also a massive fan of Tim Minchin (I’m seeing him in October!!), who wrote the music for the show.
• I’ve loved the story of Matilda since I was a kid and the film adaptation has been one of my favourite films since childhood, so I know the story WELL.

So, it was safe to say that before I saw the show, my expectations were sky-high. And sometimes, having massively high expectations isn’t a great thing.

My first thoughts were that I enjoyed the show and it was a lot of fun, but initially, I was a little disappointed that it felt like a loose adaptation of Matilda rather than staying close to the book. However, afterwards, I looked online and it says it’s “inspired by” the book, so I guess that makes sense and kind of puts my mind at rest a bit.

In fact, it actually makes me appreciate the show a little more – Matilda is a popular story, so it’s pretty cool to see an adaptation of it but with a lot of creative decisions that make it unique and original!

I liked how the story progressed and the writing was great. I especially like the parts where Matilda is telling the fictional story of her parents’ life with the circus. There were a few moments throughout the show that made me cringe a bit, and my sister agreed – she said she didn’t realise it’d be aimed so much at kids, which I completely agree with.

(Like, I know it’s based on a kids’ book, so I don’t know why I expected the show not to be aimed at kids… but a few of the moments seemed a bit pantomime-like.) Generally, though, I really liked the story and how it played out, and the visuals were incredible.

Definitely one of the most amazing theatre sets I’ve seen!

The songs are wonderful, as I expected, being written by Tim Minchin (did I mention I love Tim Minchin?). In a couple of the songs, especially solos sung by Matilda, I felt that the kids are trained to sing and speak in a very weird way that makes them enunciate every single letter of every word, but for me, this actually makes them harder to understand and follow. But I did come out of the show and have the songs stuck in my head instantly, so clearly they’re great songs!

Finally, the ending was a little bit weird and I was confused about what was going on that I almost lost track of what the heck was happening. The ending brought the Russian Mafia into the story and again, I felt that their acting and just the writing made it seem more like a pantomime. I was a bit lost. However, it had a lot of people laughing so I guess objectively, that’s what’s important. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Overall, Matilda the Musical is such a fun show and it’s perfect to see with the whole family. I’m glad I got to see it on tour because it’s something I’ve wanted to see for ages, but couldn’t get the chance to go to London. I’d recommend seeing it if you can, because it’s a good laugh with songs that will be stuck in your head for days!

Have you seen Matilda the Musical? What did you think?