MATILDA's Tim Minchin Sings and Talks 'Assiduously Ignoring' Conventional Musical Rules

Songwriter Tim Minchin recently stopped by Sydney to attend a launch party for his musical MATILDA. While there, not only did he talk about his creative process, but he also sang a bit of his score for the audience. Click here to watch the video!

Matilda The Musical has now received 50 awards in Stratford-upon-Avon, London and New York, and has been seen by over three million people worldwide. Sweeping the board at the 2012 Olivier Awards, winning a record-breaking seven awards, Matilda the Musical has gone on to take Broadway by storm winning four Tony Awards and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theater for each of the four girls sharing the title role. During 2015, the London and Broadway productions of Matilda the Musical are joined by the US tour which opened in Los Angeles in May and the Australian premiere in Sydney this August.

Inspired by the incomparable Roald Dahl's beloved book, Matilda the Musical premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in November 2010, before transferring to London's West End in October 2011.

Matilda The Musical is written by playwright Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by comedian, musician and composer Tim Minchin, and direction by Matthew Warchus.

Matilda The Musical is produced in the West End by the Royal Shakespeare Company with André Ptaszynski and Denise Wood as Executive Producers. The production was developed with the support of Company Dramaturg Jeanie O'Hare and the RSC Literary Department.

Minchin is best known for his musical comedy, including six CDs, five DVDs, and live comedy shows that he has performed internationally. He has appeared on television in Australia, Britain, and the United States. After growing up in Perth, Western Australia, he attended the University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), before moving to Melbourne in 2002. His show Darkside launched him into the public eye, achieving critical success at the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 2013, Minchin played the role of rock star Atticus Fetch on Showtime's Californication.

Minchin has a background in theatre and has appeared in various stage productions, in addition to some small acting roles on Australian TV. A documentary film about Minchin, Rock N Roll Nerd (directed by Rhian Skirving), was released theatrically in 2008[7] and broadcast by ABC1 in 2009. He is the composer and lyricist of the Olivier Award-winning, Tony Award-winning and Grammy Award-nominated show Matilda the Musical, based on the Roald Dahl book Matilda.

In 2013, UWA awarded Minchin the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters for his contribution to the arts, recognising his outstanding achievements and worldwide acclaim as a leading composer, lyricist, actor, writer, and comedian.