Call me crazy, but you can keep your J.K. Rowling and her seven Harry Potter fantasy novels. Trendy? Yes. Popular? Ridiculously so. What's up with that?
Rowling herself declares that a major theme in her series is 'death'. Oh, my. The other themes attributed to her works by critics may be mere projections of hope that there is something more significant happening there. Her formula is impeccable and admirable, though, and even many of us who consider that body of work to be sizzle without steak, will hand it to Rowling for mastering formulaic appeal.
But, oh! Give me the fantasy of The BFG any day! Of course there will never be another Roald Dahl to capture the amazement, delight, and imaginings of children. You could count of any of his books to be vividly, perfectly, and wildly alive. Dahl mastered the balance between reality and the dreamlike state of fantasy with utter perfection.
Of particular joy, there is Matilda Wormwood.
Book cover illustration by Quentin Blake
The 5 -year-old protagonist was surrounded by an insufferable group of adults and other children. But in the early drafts, Matilda was nothing short of a wicked child, whose use of telekinesis would lead to her very demise. The editor found the book especially savage and dark, and so Dahl recreated the story.
And finally in 1988, Matilda was published. She was anything but wicked in the new version: she was an underdog. To endure her dimwitted parents, she spent her days at the public library, reading Nicholas Nickleby. Matilda's "gormless" parents failed to notice anything unique or special about their very own daughter. But she survives, and she wins, through her wit and intelligence.
In 2008, the Royal Shakespeare Company asked director Matthew Warchus to stage a musical version of Matilda. It was a challenging assignment that required a delicate balance. Much of Dahl's work is translated with serious perversity (as in Tim Burton's version of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory) or with utter blandness (as in the 1996 film, Matilda).
Matthew Warchus, director of 'Matilda'
Warchus found a delightful and successful answer to the challenge: a collaboration with Australian comic, Tim Minchin. But comic is such a light and easy label, it's hardly appropriate for Minchin's brilliance. He is also a musician and composer, and wrote the songs and lyrics for the production. The result was a captivating, stylized show that won 7 Olivier Awards - enough of a distinction to land a place in the 2013 Guinness World Records.
Tim Minchin is 37 years old, and a musical satirist along the lines of Tom Lehrer. At any one of his sold-out-ten-thousand-person concert hall performances, his appearance matches his creativity. It's likely that he'll appear barefoot, with kohl lining his eyes, and his hair teased. Welcomed warmly on the east and west coast in the United States, he was banned in Texas. But nothing slows his pace, with multiple projects on his plate every day.
Minchin acknowledges that there was a bit of a challenge in the character of Matilda because she's quite passive - until she's not. For Matilda, overlooked by clueless adults, Minchin capitalized on her intellect: "She wins by being clever," he says. His music and lyrics infuse the story with multiple layers of humor and poignancy. There is a delicious drag performance by Bertie Carvel as the sadistic headmistress, Miss Trunchbull; and many thoughtful morsels, such as when Matilda begins to see that she's not like others, revealed in the ballad, Quiet, in which she sings:
Have you ever wondered, well I have,
about how when
I say, say "red", for example, there's no
way of
Knowing if "red" means the same thing in
your head as
"Red" in my head when someone
says "red"?
In rehearsals with the cast of children, Minchin showed enthusiastic energy and joy right alongwide wisdom. Greeting them heartily with, "Hello, maggots!" they responded in unison with equal heartiness, "Hello, Tim!" Then it was time for the children's musical director to lead them through warm ups ("Stick out your tongue and write 'Tim Minchin' in cursive."), followed by enunciation exercises. The cast of American children learned a flawless English accent under the watchful eye of Minchin, to boot.
The wisdom and wonder of the rehearsals though, was not so much in the technical aspects, but in the meaning and context of the songs. As the Matildas gathered round the piano one day to sing Naughty (a solo Matilda sings in the first act), Minchin provided them with jazzy accompaniment. At the end, an assistant director asked the Matildas, "What do you know about this song?"
"She's gaining confidence," answered a 10-year-old from New York.
"She's thinking of doing something bad," added a 9-year-old from Westchester.
Minchin told the Matildas that his own daughter had difficulty understanding the song at first, asking him, Why is she being naughty? Minchin continues, telling the Matildas that he explained to his daughter that sometimes, if a big person is really mean, the only thing a little person can do is break the rules. The Matildas all nodded: a lesson in moral relativism.
I think Roald Dahl would be more than pleased; I think he'd be gobsmacked.
Click on the sound file below to hear 'Naughty'.
Visit the offical website by clicking below.
Royal Shakespeare Company: Matilda the Musical
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