Ever since the movie version of “Matilda: The Musical” came out earlier this year, Eva has been kind of obsessed with it. So for her birthday, I promised to take her and CousinZ to the theatre show. It was only after I’d booked the tickets that I got a well-targeted sponsored ad on Facebook for a singalong version at the Prince Charles cinema which was the same weekend. I dithered a bit about whether we could do both and then i asked Eva, who assured me that there was no such thing as “too much Matilda”. So with CousinZ in tow, we headed to Leicester Square on Saturday lunchtime and did some sensible things.
Ah wait, no we didn’t. We spent a ridiculous amount of money on M&Ms instead. My bad.
But then we went to the cinema, after very excitingly bumping into a friend from HP in the queue.
As with most singalong events, there were certain cues we were meant to follow and a bag of tricks to go with them. Our host rattled through them all, as well as getting us to practise our lines for “Revolting Children” and our dance moves for “The School Song”. Not that Eva needed to practise her lines because she’s been running them for months already.
I don’t remember all the props and cues but we certainly had to boo and hiss for the villains of the piece and cheer and “Aww” for Matilda and Miss Honey. A slowly deflating balloon was used for Bruce’s extended belch and a little clapper toy was used for…pretty much everything really. We sang along with gusto but didn’t get up and dance like we were meant to because no one else was. I think we were a bit confused about what to do when. We remembered the actions though.
After the film, we had a wander around Trafalgar Square and down to Victoria Embankment Gardens with a little stop on the way to pick up some fries from the Five Guys in Villiers Street.
I haven’t been in these gardens for ages, except for a brief walk past on my way to a conference in December when they looked….Decembery:
From our days of going to church on the Strand, I remembered them as being quite nondescript but they were in beautiful full bloom yesterday, with the kind of flowers that attract influencers like honey bees:
We sat and ate our fries in the glorious sunshine for a bit before heading home to prepare for the second part of our weekend. We were treated to a rowdy version of “Bohemian Rhapsody” on the Circle Line by a stag party but, as we told CousinZ, this was pretty standard for London.
Sunday dawned and the girls were up and raring to go, despite a late night filming fashion videos. For Matilda Part 2, Eva was in costume as Hortensia:
A church service and very quick picnic in Highbury Fields later and we were back in Leicester Square, heading for the Cambridge Theatre.
We were running a little late so no time to take photos of the giant flowers and corgi murals along the way but we made it to our seats just in time even with a loo trip that involved a very long queue (who knew there would be so many small children at a kids’ theatre show?)
The stage version of Matilda is kind of a halfway house between the book version and the new film version. There are some elements that are in the book but left out of the film – like Matilda’s brother Michael – and some elements that are neither in the book nor the film – like the appearance of the Bulgarian mafia and the emphasis on Mrs Wormwood’s salsa competitions. There were also some songs that didn’t make it into the film, like “Telly”and “Loud”. One thing that the film missed out was the reprise of “Miracle” as the children are walking through the gates of Crunchem Hall, which makes the first line of “School Song” make a lot more sense as it references the line “I am a princess, I am a prince”.
Talking of “School Song” – this was one that I didn’t see working on stage as well as it did on film but the choreography around the gate was so sharp that it worked brilliantly. The letters were on blocks pushed through the gate and spotlit as they were sung. I think all three kids said it was their favourite bit.
In fact, all the sets were really clever. The desks rose out of the floor and the bookshelves swished together to form different scenes. The swings that come down during “When I Grow Up” were used almost as a dance and it was beautifully done, even if it did make me feel anxious. I mean, what parent doesn’t feel anxious at seeing kids standing right behind a moving swing?
The kids all knew what they were doing though. They were brilliant actors, singers and dancers – so much so that Eva leaned over to me and said “They must have really dance lessons at Crunchem Hall”. I’m not entirely sure which Matilda we saw but I think it might have been Victoria Alsina. She had a very strong and pure singing voice and sounded just like you’d imagine Matilda to be. We were a little too high in the Gods to see all her facial expressions but, as far as we could see, she looked like Matilda too.
I’m not going to do a full review of this show as, for once, I was there for leisure rather than on a review ticket but it really was a very special afternoon out and I would definitely recommend it if you have a child who’s as obsessed with the songs as Eva is. CousinZ was not as obsessed before the weekend but I think she might be now.
Afterwards, it was time for yet more Five Guys fries – we do eat at other places, I promise, but Eva was in the decision-making seat. And then we wandered through Chinatown, to show CousinZ the sights:
Then up through Soho, neatly dodging some of the dodgier shops, and through Greens Court where there is now a terrifying fancy-dress shop where you can buy dolphin heads:
Lastly through Carnaby Street, where Reuben tried to pose his Five Guys cup as the gold at the end of the rainbow:
(If I’m not sponsored by Five Guys already, I reallllly should be by now)
And past the back door of the London Palladium where Roo made a joke about watching the ET trailer:
Before collapsing onto the Victoria Line at Oxford Circus to get home.
So, two full-on Central London days with a clutch of children….it was exhausting but I think everyone enjoyed it. I’m glad we did the singalong first as I’d warned Eva not to sing along at the theatre or she might get ejected, Bodyguard-style. That’s why it was good to get it all out of our systems the day before. I don’t know if the Prince Charles is planning on making this a regular event but they definitely should – it was so much fun. Just remember not to go *too* mad in M&M’s world or you might not be able to pay the mortgage next month….
