West End's MATILDA Extends Booking Through February 2013; Cast Changes Announced

The Royal Shakespeare Company's world premiere production of Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical offers more tickets go on sale offering access to performances through until Sunday 17 February 2013.  

Matilda The Musical leads with ten nominations at this year's Olivier Awards – a nomination in every category for which it is eligible:  Best Actress in a Musical for Cleo Demetriou, Kerry Ingram, Sophia Kiely and Eleanor Worthington Cox, jointly, in the title role; Best Actor in a Musical for Bertie Carvel as Miss Trunchbull; Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical for Paul Kaye as Mr Wormwood; Best New Musical; Best Director for Matthew Warchus; Best Theatre Choreographer for Peter Darling; Best Set Design for Rob Howell; Best Lighting Design for Hugh Vanstone, and Best Sound Design for Simon Baker.

The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday 15 April 2012 at the Royal Opera House. Members of the public can follow full coverage of the event on www.olivierawards.com and via the BBC red button.

Changes to the cast will take place throughout April and May this year.  Cleo Demetriou and Eleanor Worthington Cox will continue in the title role of Matilda, joined by Isobelle Molloy (currently playing Amanda Thripp) and Jade Marner, who will take over from Kerry Ingram and Sophia Kiely from mid-April. Hayley Canham will also join the company in the role of Matilda from mid-August.

Hayley Flaherty and Steve Furst will take over from Paul Kaye and Lauren Ward as Mr Wormwood and Miss Honey, respectively, from Tuesday 17 April. Bertie Carvel will continue in the role of Miss Trunchbull until Sunday 1 July. Josie Walker will continue in the role of Mrs Wormwood along with the rest of the adult cast which includes: Marc Antolin, Verity Bentham, Peter Howe, Michael Kent, Melanie La Barrie, Matthew Malthouse, Alastair Parker, Nick Searle and Emily Shaw who also appeared in the original production in Stratford. Further adult casting includes: Matthew Clark, Katy Monk, Rachel Moran, Leanne Pinder, Lucy Thatcher, Tim Walton and Gary Watson.

Three teams of young performers currently play the roles of Bruce, Lavender, Amanda, Nigel, Eric and the other pupils at Crunchem Hall.

From mid-April, the company of young performers who will play these roles will be:

Jordan Anderton, Robyn Ashwood, Zak Baker, Chorlène Biron-Monnier, Oonagh Cox, Terrell Forde, Lauren Halil, Morgan Hartley, Callum Henderson, Joseph Holgate, Jake Ibelo, Mia Jenkins, Jamie Kaye, Alfie Manser, Abby McGovern, Ava Merson-O'Brien, James Moore, Jemima Morgan, Miles Paloma, Lucy May Pollard, Elliot Reeve, Ellie Simons, Louis Suc, TEd Wilson and Ella Wortley.

Matilda The Musical transferred to London's West End on Tuesday 25 October 2011.The production played to sold-out audiences at the RSC's The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon for twelve weeks from November 2010 to January 2011.

The Royal Shakespeare Company is currently planning for a production of Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical, to open in New York early 2013.

The production is written by playwright Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by the anarchic Australian comedian, musician and composer Tim Minchin, and direction by Matthew Warchus.

The production is designed by Rob Howell, with choreography by Peter Darling, orchestrations

additional music and musical supervision by Christopher Nightingale, lighting by Hugh Vanstone, sound by Simon Baker and the special effects and illusions are by Paul Kieve.

In 2011 Matilda The Musical won both The Peter Hepple Award for Best Musical at The Critics' Circle Awards, and The Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. The production has also collected the awards for Best Musical Production and Best Performance in a Musical (Bertie Carvel) at the Theatre Awards UK 2011.

In February 2012 Matilda The Musical picked up four awards at this year's Whatsonstage.com awards including Best New Musical, Rob Howell for Best Set Designer, Peter Darling for Best Choreographer and Tim Minchin for theLondon Newcomer of the Year. The show received a total of nine nominations including Best Actress in a Musicalfor all four of the young actresses playing Matilda, Bertie Carvel for Best Actor in a Musical, Lauren Ward for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, Paul Kaye for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical and Matthew Warchus for Best Director.

The original cast recording of Matilda the Musical is available from iTunes and on CD. Recorded in a studio by the original Stratford-upon-Avon cast, the album includes 17 original numbers from the production, including When I Grow Up, Revolting Children and The Smell of Rebellion.

Matilda The Musical is produced in the West End by the Royal Shakespeare Company with André Ptaszynski as Executive Producer.

This production was developed with the support of Company Dramaturg Jeanie O'Hare and the RSC Literary Department.

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