Review Roundup: MATILDA in Sydney

The Royal Shakespeare Company, Louise Withers, Michael Coppel & Michael Watt presents the Australian Premiere Season of Matilda the Musical, which commenced performances on July 28 in Sydney.

The cast features (in alphabetical order), Marika Aubrey (Mrs Wormwood), Daniel Frederiksen (Mr Wormwood), Elise McCann (Miss Honey) and James Millar (Miss Trunchbull).

Let's see what the critics had to say:

Chris Hook, Daily Telegraph: The grown-ups are great but the real work is done by the children - 29 sharing the roles of Matilda, Bruce, Lavender, Nigel and the rest, with nine in the show at any one time... And they shine so bright, so small, so perfect amid the brilliant set design, which captures the bewilderment of being a little child in a big world.

Nancy Groves, The Guardian: But now the show has finally arrived in Sydney, boy! - or rather, girl! ("I'm a girl!" Matilda reminds her toad of a father), it looks and sounds good... As in London and New York, four young performers share the title role, and the show lives or dies on their energy. Matilda is an introvert, not an easy thing for a young actor to pull off, but the night I'm in, Molly Barwick nails her character's confidence and contemplation - no doubt matched by the other Matildas: Sasha Rose, Bella Thomas and Georgia Taplin.

Deborah Jones, The Australian: Dennis Kelly adapts Roald Dahl's story to the stage with brilliant new details, and Tim Minchin has loads of room for songs with bold,springy rhythms and razor sharp lyrics that make you want to punch the air with delight. It's a stylistically supple score, with exhilarating colourand energy matched by moments of deeply affecting ten- derness. Above all, it's instant earworm music: Naughty, When I Grow Up and My Housestick particularly tenaciously. Throw in director Matthew Warchus's pitchperfect (and sometimes black as pitch) production and Peter Darling'sstrongly accent- ed choreography that has youngsters thundering like pint-sized stormtroopers and you've got a show.

Simon Parris, Main in Chair: Brimming with mischievous wit, the clever lyrics are set to hummable, instantly accessible music. Minchin delivers rousing anthems, such as the addictive "Revolting Children" and poignant ballads, such as the tender "This Little Girl." The opening song/sequence "Miracle" hurtles through early exposition and may have parents squirming in their seats as they recognise themselves in the dreadfully biased parents on stage. Minchin' s canniest gift here may be his inversion of the charm song, giving each of the Wormwood parents a grotesquely un-charming character number. Mrs Wormwood lectures Miss Honey that you have to be "Loud" and Mr Wormwood shares that all he knows he learnt from "Telly."

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