Matilda announces new cast members

The Royal Shakespeare Company has revealed new casting for Matilda The Musical which is now in its 12th year at London’s Cambridge Theatre

From 12th  September, Kieran Hill and Lydia White will join the production, taking on the roles of Miss Trunchbull and Miss Honey, respectively, while Rakesh Boury and Amy Ellen Richardson will continue as Mr and Mrs Wormwood.

Newly announced adult cast members include Nolan Edwards, Sean Lopeman, Ruairidh McDonald, Kane Oliver Parry, Deborah Tracey, Esme Bacalla-Hayes, Ronan Burns, Ella Caldwell, Stan Doughty, Karina Hind, Roan Pronk, Gabrielle Davina Smith, Lauren Varnham and Esme Bacalla-Hayes, who will join current members Thea Bunting, Aaron Jenkins and Sam Lathwood.

Estella Evans, Selena Karir and Arabella Stanton will join current cast member Sophia Goodman to share the title role.

 

The other young performers announced today include Sidhant Anand, Charlie Cox, Jack Dennis, Megan Donovan, Rosy Drury, Jake Durant, Phoebe Easom, Jaydon Eastman, Benjamin El Refaie, Jax Fenner, Max Garlick, Lilia Guinoubi, Gina Harris-Sullivan, Coco-Lili Hodder, Elliott Marsden, Sophia McAlister, Charlotte Mellington, Kanon Narumi, Toryn O’Callaghan, Zarian Marcel Obatarhe, Kristiano Ricardo, Harriet Rogers, Azalea-Belle Sharp, Archie Smith, Joshua Wahab.

 

Matilda new cast members

The RSC has announced  new cast members for its West End production of Matilda the Musical from 13th September.

Lauren Byrne (Six) will play Miss Honey, while  Rakesh Boury (Man of La Mancha) and Amy Ellen Richardson (Everyone's Talking About Jamie) will join the company to play Mr and Mrs Wormwood. Remaining in the principal cast are Elliot Harper (as Miss Trunchbull) and Landi Oshinowo (as Mrs Phelps).Victoria Alsina, Laurel Sumberg and Heidi Williams will join Maisie Mardle to share the title role.

New additions to the adult ensemble include Felipe Bejarano, Angeline Bell, Oliver Bingham, Thea Bunting, Michael Gardiner, Aaron Jenkins, Sam Lathwood, Dianté Lodge, Kira McPherson, Alistair So and James Wolstenholme, who join Liberty Buckland, Kate Kenrick, Connor Lewis and Gemma Scholes.

Newly announced child performers include Mia Atkinson, Leo Babet, Florence Burt, Poppy Caton, Zuri-Michel Charalambou, Brodie Edwards, Jude Farrant, Riotafari Gardner, Finley Hartlett, Lily Hanna, Tia Isaac, Miley Kayongo, Shayla McCormack, Isabelle Mullallay, Jasmine Nyenya, Raphaella Philbert, Jack Philpott, Riley Plummer, Jasmine Pottinger-Scott, Ashton Robertson, Leon Saunders, Andrei Shen-U Shen, Noah Swer-Fox and Lucia Wratten. Kylan Denis will remain with the cast and continue to alternate as Bruce.

 

Full casting announced for Matilda Musical when it reopens at The Cambridge on 16th September

Casting has been announced for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s West End production of MatildaThe Musical which returns to the Cambridge Theatre from 16 September 2021 and is booking through to 13 February 2022.

As previously announced, Carly Thoms will be taking over the role of Miss Honey, joining the adult cast which includes Elliot Harper as Miss Trunchbull, Sebastien Torkia as Mr Wormwood and Annette McLaughlin who will be returning to the company in the role of Mrs Wormwood, taking over from Marianne Benedict.

The full adult cast includes Liberty Buckland, Georgia Carling, Roger Dipper, Katrina Dix, Kate Kenrick, Ben Kerr, Matt Krzan, Connor Lewis, Tom Mather, Bryan Mottram, Kane Oliver Parry, Landi Oshinowo, Ryan Pidgen, James Revell, Gemma Scholes and Dawn Williams.

The  four performers in the title role of Matilda will be Imogen Cole, Alyssa D’Souza, Alex Munden and Zoe Simon.

Kaspar Cahill-Ritter, Sienna Clarke, Rosie Gell-Marquez, Beth Gilmour, Louie Gray, and Gracie Hodson-Prior will continue in the roles of Bruce, Lavender, Amanda and the pupils at Crunchem Hall.

The other young performers announced today who join the London company in the roles of Bruce, Lavender, Amanda and the rest of the pupils at Crunchem Hall are  Hari Aggarwal, Thommy Bailey Vine, Kieron Bell, Tom Bonomini, Drew Edwards, Robyn Elwell, Rory Finnegan, Darcy Kelly, Ben Lee, Keanna-Skye O’Quinn, Nicholas Parris, Bella Perdoni, Chancé Quaye, Scarlett Jayne Rackham, Bren Reilly, Niamh Ritchie, Jacob Savva, Jayden Seder and Alex Stockton.

Tim Minchin said: “I’m SO excited that the West End will be reopening soon, and that Matilda will be back on stage in time for its 10th birthday. And that I’ll be able to be in my favourite city for the first time in two years! I’ve so keenly missed Matilda, my London family, and live theatre in general.”

New Film of Roald Dahl's Matilda confirmed

A new film of Matilda has been  confirmed  with Matthew Warchus (who directed the original RSC production of Matilda and the smash-hit film Pride) directing the new feature film based on Roald Dahl's best-selling children's book.  It is  expected to start shooting in August 2020

With a casting call just issued online, filming is expected to begin in August and end in December 2020, with a release date unconfirmed. Casting for the lead role will begin in April 2020, with producers looking for girls aged nine to 11 under the height of 4' 3" to play the titular role. Those cast must have a strong singing voice and movement skills.

Dahl's story was previously turned into a film in 1996, directed by Danny DeVito. This film of Matilda will be produced by Working Title (Billy Elliot, Yesterday and Les Misérables). 

Matilda is currently booking at Lodon's Cambridge Theatre until 20th December 2020.

Cast changes announced for Matilda Musical in London

The Royal Shakespeare Company's West End production of Matilda the Musical has today announced the new adult and child cast at the Cambridge Theatre in September, including casting the 100th Matilda to go into the show, worldwide.

Direct from the UK tour, Elliot Harper joins the cast as Miss Trunchbull with  Sebastien Torkia as Mr Wormwood. Marianne Benedict continues as Mrs Wormwood with  Carly Thoms  taking over the role of Miss Honey from Gina Beck, after her final performance in March 2020.

The show introduces its 100th Matilda as Tilly-Raye Bayer, Olivia Juno Cleverley, Alex Munden and Zoe Simon who share the lead role from September 2019.

The full cast includes Alex Louize Bird, Liberty Buckland, Georgia Carling, Roger Dipper, Kelly Ewins-Prouse, Ben Kerr, Matt Krzan, Connor Lewis, Tom Mather, Kane Oliver Parry, Landi Oshinowo, Ryan Pidgen, James Revell, Gemma Scholes, Christopher Tendai and Dawn Williams.

The young performers joining the London company in the three teams who play the roles of Bruce, Lavender, Amanda and the rest of the pupils at Crunchem Hall are Lily Armitage, Brian Bartle, Kaspar Cahill-Ritter, Kingsley Campbell-Golding, Sienna Clarke, Haydn Court, Tyler De Souza, Shana Diallo, Rosie Gell-Marquez, Beth Gilmour, Louie Gray, Edward Haddon, Gracie Hodson-Prior, Emily Rees, Elliott Rose, Samson Wakayu and Louis Wint.

New Miss Trunchbull joins Matilda tour in January

Craige Els leaves the UK tour of Matilda on 12th January with Elliot Harper taking over the role of  Miss Trunchbull  from 15th January when it opens at the  Theatre Royal Plymouth.

Carly Thoms (Miss Honey) and Sebastien Torkia and Rebecca Thornhill (Mr and Mrs Wormwood) will continue in their roles until the tour concludes its current run at Norwich Theatre Royal on 17th August 2019.

Elliot Harper’s West End theatre credits include Father Joe in The Exorcist at the Phoenix Theatre, Matilda The Musical (Cambridge Theatre), One Man Two Guvnors (National Theatre), Les Misérables (Queens Theatre) and The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre). Other theatre credits include Sweet Charity (Watermill), A Study In Scarlet (Southwark Playhouse), The Silver Tassie (Druid/Lincoln Center NY), Rope, Arsenic and Old Lace (Pitlochry Festival Theatre), The Big Sleep (The Mill At Sonning), As You Like It, Deathtrap, The Taming of the Shrew, The Talented Mr Ripley and Travels with my Aunt (Queens Theatre, Hornchurch), and the UK touring productions of Jesus Christ Superstar and The Buddy Holly Story. Harper’s film and television credits include Howard Goodall’s 20th Century Greats (Tiger Aspect), Showroom, which was a winning film at SXSW Film Festival, and The Egg, Masters of the Universe (Asalva Productions).

Matilda tour cast announced

The adult cast for the UK and Ireland tour of Matilda has just been announced. 

Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly's award-winning show will begin at Leicester Curve on 5th  March 2018 with  Craige Els in the role of Miss Trunchbull (a part he played in the West End for three years) Carly Thoms as Miss Honey, Sebastien Torkia as Mr Wormwood and Rebecca Thornhill as Mrs Wormwood.

The rest of the adult cast are Joe Atkinson, Peter Bindloss, Oliver Bingham, Emily Bull, Matthew Caputo, Samara Casteallo, Matt Gillett, Michelle Chantelle Hopewell, Sam Lathwood, Steffan Lloyd-Evans, Charlie Martin, Anu Ogunmefun, Taylor Walker, Adam Vaughan and Dawn Williams.

Craige Els (Miss Trunchbull) has previously appeared on stage in Timon of Athens, Antigone and The Cherry Orchard(National Theatre) and on screen in Ripper Street, The Bletchley Circle and Call The Midwife. Further theatre credits include Victoria Wood's That Day We Sang (Royal Exchange, Manchester), Mamma Mia! (Novello), Oklahoma!(Chichester Festival Theatre), The New Yorkers (Sadler's Wells), Never Forget (West End and tour) and Spamalot (West End). Craige has also appeared on the big screen in films such as The Imitation Game, Joe Wright's Anna Karenina and Simon Connelly's Hamlet.

Carly Thoms (Miss Honey) most recently starred as Natella/Ludvica in The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Greenwich Theatre). Other stage roles include LV in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (The Union Theatre), Miss Dorothy in Thoroughly Modern Millie (Adelphi), the title role in Cinderella (Hackney Empire and De Montfort Hall), Lucy in Ushers (The Charing Cross Theatre) and Liesl in The Sound of Music UK Tour.

Rebecca Thornhill (Mrs Wormwood) is an Olivier Award-nominated actress with an illustrious musical theatre background. Rebecca's previous stage credits include lead roles in From Here To Eternity (Shaftesbury), Mary Poppins(Prince Edward and USA tour), Chicago (Adelphi), Ragtime (Piccadilly), Witches of Eastwick (Prince of Wales and UK tour), South Pacific (UK tour), Beauty and the Beast (Dominion) and Les Misérables (Palace and Denmark). In addition to her credits in the West End, Rebecca has appeared at the National Theatre in Singin' in the Rain (for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award) and played Gertie in Trevor Nunn's production of Oklahoma! opposite Hugh Jackman and Maureen Lipman.

Sebastien Torkia (Mr Wormwood) has a wide range of theatre credits which include the original West End casts of La Cage Aux Folles, Guys and Dolls, Saturday Night Fever, Martin Guerre and Grease. Other roles include Sweeney Todd(West Yorkshire Playhouse and Royal Exchange, Manchester), Ed in The Lion King (Lyceum), A Streetcar Named Desire(Bolton Octogan),
Women Beware Women (National Theatre), Eddie Ryan in Funny Girl (Chichester Festival Theatre), Greg Gardner in A Chorus Line (Sheffield Crucible), Maugrim/Giant Rumblebuffin in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Steve in Singin' in the Rain (national tour), and Rodgers and Hammerstein'sCinderella in Japan.

The child cast is still to be announced
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Cast Changes to Matilda the Musical

Ahead of its fifth birthday in the West End this autumn, Matilda has just announced its new cast. Sara Sheen and Abbie Vena will join Zaris-Angel Hator and Clara Read in the title role from 13th September 2016.

Tickets for the new booking period, which includes performances at the Cambridge theatre between 30th May and 15th October 2017, will go on sale on the centenary of Roald Dahl’s birth, 13th September.

Craige Els will continue as Miss Trunchbull, having joined the cast in September 2014. Also remaining in the company are Michael Begley as Mr Wormwood, Miria Parvin as Miss Honey and Rebecca Thornhill who plays Mrs Wormwood.

The full new adult cast includes: Richard Astbury, Oliver Brooks, Collette Coleman, Maria Graciano, Elliot Harper, Daniel Hope,Daniel Ioannou, Kate Kenrick, Katie Lee, Fergal McGoff, Tom Muggeridge, Matthew Rowland, Matthew Serafini, Biancha Szynal, Laura Tyrer and Sharlene Whyte.

The young performers who will be joining the London company in the three teams playing the roles of Bruce, Lavender, Amanda and the rest of the pupils at Crunchem Hall are: Nicholas Antoniou-Tibbitts, Molly Beech, Hannah Bouhamdi, Max Brophy, Olivia Calladine-Smith, Elena Cervesi, Lydia Coghlan, Anya Evans, Miles Harcombe, Michael Hawkins, Sam Jennings, Harrison Langham, Ben Lewis, Craig Noakes, Tia Palamathanan, Owen Pennington, Charlotte Ross-Gower, Alexander Stuckey, Felix Warrenand Scarlett Wennink.

Child cast members Oliver Llewelyn-Williams, Maxim Samartsev, Ynez Williams, Maisy-May Woods-Smeeth and Dora Yolland will continue in their current roles.

Matilda the Musical Broadway Dates Announced

The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of  Matilda the Musical continues to be one of the hottest tickets in London’s West End having won 7 Olivier Awards and booking at the Cambridge Theatre until next February.

The Broadway transfer dates have now been announced with Matilda beginning previews at the Shubert Theatre on 4th March 2013 with an opening night scheduled for 11th April.

The production will be directed by Matthew Warchus with casting still to be announced.

Cast Changes for Matilda the Musical

David Leonard will be taking over from award winning Bertie Carvel to play the child-tormenting headmistress Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical at the Cambridge Theatre from 3rd July.  Carvel leaves the production on the 1st.

Annette McLaughlin will take over from Josie Walker as Mrs Wormwood on 21st August. Walker leaves on the 19th.

They will be joining new cast members Steve Furst and Haley Flaherty who play Mr Wormwood and Miss Honey and two new Matildas:  Isobelle Molloy and Jade Marner. Hayley Canham will be joining the company as Matilda in August.

All American Matilda on Broadway

Rehearsals on the multi Olivier Award winning musical Matilda by Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin are due to begin in New York in January,  with Director Matthew Warchus and choreographer Peter Darling starting casting in the autumn.

The children playing the Matilda will be American, but the character will remain British with the RSC flying dialect coaches to New York.

Unfortunately the intention is for the entire cast to be American which is a shame as award winning Bertie Carvel, who is superb as horrible headmistress Miss Trunchbull in London, deserves to play the role in New York. Hopefully as an Olivier-award winning actor he might be given special status by Actors’ Equity Association to perform on Broadway.

Matilda's Tim Minchin to Write New Musical

Tim Minchin is riding high in London’s West End after turning Roald Dahl’s Matilda into a critically acclaimed and commercially successful musical which is heading for Broadway next year
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But the talented British-born, Australian-raised writer has told The Standard that he going to write an original play against the advice of theatre impresarios Lord Lloyd-Webber, Sir Cameron Mackintosh and Stephen Sondheim.

They all urged him to choose a classic story for a new show, but Minchin says he is "Desperate to do the opposite. I want to go back into my studio and get on my piano, and just see what I feel like writing. My suspicion is I will feel like writing a musical I've been thinking about since I was 18. It's an original story, which is apparently what musicals can't be. Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Sondheim and Cameron Mackintosh have all told me to my face I should concentrate on classic stories, and that makes me want to ignore them. Matilda's running and I've got my career in comedy, so I can handle a failure. It's a love story, quite dark: the lovers don't meet until quite late in the piece. It's about fate and destiny, quite a Greek-style drama with meddling, incompetent gods.”

Good luck to him I say as Matilda is one of the best thing's I've seen in the West End for a long while.

First five previews of RSC's Matilda cancelled

The first five previews of Roald Dahl's  Matilda the Musical have been cancelled. The first preview will now be on 25th October and the press night has been put back from 22nd November to 24th November.

According to a press release from the RSC:  “The structural work and extensive installation required for the show has taken longer than planned and it is with regret that the Company has had to take the decision to delay the cast’s move from the rehearsal rooms to the stage.”

André Ptaszynski who is the executive producer of Matilda, said: “Every musical theatre production of this scale goes through similar challenges during this pre-opening period, but Matilda has a cast made up of three different teams of young actors and four young actresses in the title role. This means that, unlike other shows, we cannot extend everyone’s working hours, take shortcuts and reduce the number of dress rehearsals to meet the date of the first preview. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to people who had booked for these early performances and we are working hard to ensure that the re-booking or refunding process is as quick and as easy as possible.”

Theatregoers who have booked for the cancelled preview performances will be contacted directly by the RSC and its ticketing partners and alternative performance dates offered.

Matilda opening at Cambridge Theatre in October

As previously mentioned, the RSC's smash hit Matilda the Musical is transferring into the West End with some members of the original company reprising  their Stratford roles including Lauren Ward as Miss Honey, Bertie Carvel as Miss Trunchbull, Josie Walker as Mrs Wormwood, Melanie Le Barrie as Mrs Phelps and Paul Kaye as Mr Wormwood.

Also staying on will be Marc Antolin, Verity Bentham, Michael Kent, Matthew Malthouse, Alastair Parker, Nick Searle and Emily Shaw.

The four children playing  Matilda are still being cast.
 
Matilda which starts  previewing  at the Cambridge Theatre on  Tuesday  18th October and opens on  22nd  November.

Buy Tickets for Matilda

Roald Dahl’s Matilda to open in West End

The Royal Shakespeare Company have finally confirmed the strong rumour circulating in the West End that Roald Dahl’s Matilda, A Musical which received rave reviews when it opened at Stratford  is to transfer to London in the Autumn.

Matilda is directed by Matthew Warchus with design by Rob Howell, choreography by Peter Darling, lighting by Hugh Vanstone, musical supervision and orchestration by Christopher Nightingale, sound by Simon Baker and special effects and illusions are by Paul Kieve.

Tickets will go on sale in May when details of the venue, performance dates and casting will also be announced.

The unconfirmed rumour is that it will open at the Cambridge Theatre with Chicago moving to the Aldwych.  This is because Matilda needs the central aisle and the understage space which the Aldwych is lacking.

Casting announced for Roald Dahl’s Matilda Musical

The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced the full cast for its forthcoming production of Matilda, A Musical which previews from 9th November and opens at the Courtyard Theatre on 9th December for a 12 week run until 30th January 2011.

Three schoolgirls have been cast as Matilda with Adrianna Bertola, Josie Griffiths  and Kerry Ingram all playing the girl with extraordinary powers. Plus three teams of children will play alternate performances.

Joining them are Lauren Ward as Miss Honey and Bertie Carvel  as the scary headmistress Miss Trunchbull. Paul Kaye and Josie Walker are Mr and Mrs Wormwood (Matilda’s mother and father) and Peter Howe plays Michael (Matilda’s brother).

Also in the company are: Verity Bentham, Emily-Jane Boyle, Michael Kent, Melanie La Barrie, Matthew Malthouse, Alastair Parker, Michael Rouse, Nick Searle and Emily Shaw.