'Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical' review: How Netflix's West End adaptation compares to the beloved 1996 movie
Tim Minchin's smash hit Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical has grown up — or rather, grown into a movie musical of the same name, featuring revolting children, a certain forbidden chocolate cake, and fiction's most formidable headmaster.
Describing the new movie musical is almost as wordy as Minchin's spectacularly smart lyrics. Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical is a Netflix film adapted from his Olivier-winning West End musical, which was based on Roald Dahl's 1988 children's book. That book inspired Danny DeVito's beloved 1996 film, and that movie clearly inspired some of the characterisation and aesthetics of the new movie musical. (More on that in a bit!) Netflix's adaptation was in knowledgeable hands, with the show's writer Dennis Kelly and director Matthew Warchus taking on the screen version of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production.
How does the stage musical compare to Netflix's Matilda?
Musical film adaptations like In the Heights and West Side Story have raised the bar for how musicals are filmed on screen. Matilda seizes on some gorgeous opportunities but perhaps misses one big one.
Warchus and Kelly bring their stage savvy to big ensemble numbers like the apricot and aqua-painted opener "Miracle" and the big, brash, throw-everything-into-the-air finale, "Revolting Children." The jaw-droppingly clever stage favourite "School Song" features crisp choreography performed by the young cast, charging in unison at the camera during zooming hallway runs and translating the stage version's exceptional alphabet sequence to a practical run of the school's classroom doors. Though the movie musical features some sweet imaginative sequences, "When I Grow Up," the show standout that kicks off Act 2, isn't given the treatment it deserves for such an outstandingly uplifting ensemble number. Where are those swings? The swings! Without them, something special was lost.
Fans will recognise some of the musical's direct references to Dahl's book and DeVito's film (see: Amanda Thripp's treatment as a pigtailed hammer throw). However, some of the musical's best sequences come from the surreal, whimsical, and imaginative realms of Matilda's stories, spinning the tale of The Acrobat (Lauren Alexandra) and Magnus the Escapologist (Carl Spencer).
Lack of swings aside, Matilda boasts some truly wondrous sets, filled with superb set decoration. In contrast to the drab, echoing, bleak halls of Crunchem Hall comes another form of glorious visual torture: the maximalist decorative taste of the Wormwood's home. With a hot pink shell sink basin, fringed lamps, and dinners that "don't microwave themselves," the Wormwood house is a fitting ode to the gloriously tacky precedent set in DeVito's film.
Lashana Lynch steals the show as Miss Honey
Without a doubt, the standout performance of Matilda comes from No Time to Die and Woman King star Lashana Lynch, who perfectly paces Crunchem Hall's best teacher amid her journey to facing her fears, confronting her bully, and finding her independence. Infusing Miss Jennifer Honey with the kindness, logic, and inspiration with which Embeth Davidtz made her mark within the 1996 film, Lynch stops the show with her staggering performance of "My House," Minchin's beautiful ballad dedicated to quiet pride in one's space and self. And it's Lynch's moments of withdrawn confidence and internalised fear that create the most convincing atmosphere of terror around the role all Matilda renditions depend on: Miss Trunchbull.
Emma Thompson takes on the formidable role as the shotput-throwing, child-hating principal of our Chokey-fuelled nightmares, Agatha Trunchbull. It's a tough gig. The character has lived outside of Dahl's book through Pam Ferris' truly magnificent performance in the 1996 film, spitting and screaming "tally ho!" and shot-putting her way to solidify one of Hollywood's best villains of all time.
Laden with facial prosthetics and an already derided fat suit, Thompson's Trunch runs on deadpan disdain rather than Ferris' hungry sadism. Her unraveling drama gains intensity as the film progresses. Thompson seems almost deliberately bored torturing poor ol' Bruce Bogtrotter with confectionery, but she finally finds the chaotic release the character relishes by the second half. As Thompson says as the Trunchbull, "How can I be your headmistress if I cannot chill you to the bone?"
One of the great additions to the musical is the development of the character of Mrs. Phelps, the librarian, who befriends Matilda through their shared love of stories and reading.
Comedian Sindhu Vee takes on the role in the film, and reminds the audience how important this character is to Matilda's development of her imagination. (She only appears in the beginning of Dahl's book and DeVito's film.) Hanging on every word of Matilda's dramatic tales through handfuls of popcorn, Vee makes every one of her scenes count — and stole most of the laughs from the audience at the 2022 BFI London Film Festival.
How does Matilda the Musical compare to Danny DeVito's Matilda?
Matilda the Musical is a famously grand opportunity for young performers, given the size of the cast. And the kids making up the ensemble, supporting roles, and leads put everything they have into their performances, from Rei Yamauchi Fulker as Lavender to Charlie Hodson-Prior as Bruce Bogtrotter, Meesha Garbett as Hortensia, and Winter Jarrett-Glasspool as Amanda Thripp.
Alisha Weir takes on the eponymous hero, Matilda Wormwood, and defiantly finds her own feet in the long shadow of both the Oliver-winning stage actors and Mara Wilson's iconic performance in the 1996 film.
It's tricky to compare Weir and Wilson as film-version and film-version-of-musical-version Matilda, as they both bring unique emotional energy to the protagonist. Wilson is cheeky, deadpan, and earnest; Weir is intense, dramatic, and infuriated. The latter is like a little Hermione Granger with the power of Carrie, escaping her parents' abuse with her own imagination and standing up to bullies. In the space of 10 minutes, Weir delivers Minchin's beautiful ballad, "Quiet," from the hammock of a hot air balloon and brings telekinetic doom to the Trunch. And both feel true to the character she's created.
It's a hard task, taking on a Wormwood. As Matilda's disdainful mother, Zinnia Wormwood, Andrea Riseborough is hilariously over-the-top, glaring with pure hatred at her studious daughter while outfitted in truly outlandish outfits from costume designer Rob Howell. (No mean feat considering the quintessential "you chose books, I chose looks" performance from Rhea Perlman in the 1996 film!) Meanwhile, Stephen Graham has the nearly impossible task of taking on Danny DeVito's famous rendition of Harry Wormwood, Matilda's no-good father. But he channels his own ridiculous, fun version through impossibly white dentures.
Having already done so on stage, Matilda the Musical manages to overcome the immense pressure to find its own feet in the shadow of the beloved 1996 film version of Dahl's book, arguably one of the best adaptations around. Armed with a bunch of revolting children, a superb grown-up cast, a strong tiny lead, and Minchin's consistently wonderful songs, Warchus and Kelly have successfully brought the West End musical to the screen.
Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical is now on Netflix.
UPDATE: Dec. 19, 2022, 11:04 a.m. EST Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical was reviewed out of its premiere at the London Film Festival Oct 5. The review has been republished, tied to its Netflix debut.
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