Michael GiltzFreelance writer GET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ Read more Broadway , Matilda , Matilda Broadway , Roald Dahl , Entertainment News3340Theater: Magical Matilda (And Howto Make It Even Better)ROALD DAHLS' MATILDA THE MUSICAL*** 1/2 out of ****SHUBERT THEATREBeing at a Broadway show on Opening Night isthrilling.</p><p> But there's also something to be said aboutbeing at a Broadway show the day AFTER OpeningNight.</p><p> A scrappy show with mixed reviews hassomething to prove and the audience is right therewith them -- hey, they already bought their ticketsand what do those critics know anyway? (Think Les Miserables.) And a great show with greatreviews? The theater staff is smiling, the cast is walking on air and the audience is pleased aspunch because they're attending what has suddenly and unquestionably become the hottestticket in town.That was the buzz at Matilda the day after it opened.</p><p> The energy in the audience was palpableeven before the show began.</p><p> And no wonder: walk into the Schubert and the first glimpse ofthe set by Rob Howell (who also did the costumes) brings a huge grin to your face.</p><p> It'scomposed entirely of large wooden, Scrabble-like tiles with letters on them.</p><p> They arch over thestage and spill out towards the balcony.</p><p> Seven swings hang down from the rafters, each onewith a brightly lit tile that together spells Matilda.</p><p> After a minute, everyone realizes words arehidden in the jumble of letters ("escapologist," "read" and other show-related phrases) andpeople spent the rest of the time before the show and during the intermission spotting newones.Those tiles continue as building blocks throughout the show: a column of them indicates thehome of Matilda's family, a huge jumble of tiles and books make up the local library where shefinds refuge and so on.</p><p> Her father (Gabriel Ebert) keeps referring to Matilda as a boy and only Like51 Posted: 04/15/2013 2:59 pm SHARE THIS STORY Like6Send Submit this storyhas time for her affably dim-witted brother Michael (Taylor Trensch).</p><p> Her mother (thewonderfully named Lesli Margherita) resents Matilda because the child's birth prevented herfrom attending a ballroom competition with her dance instructor Rudolpho (Phillip Spaeth).And they're all horrifed by Matilda's bizarre habit of preferring books over the television.Matilda takes refuge at the local library where she proves to be much more than just abookworm.</p><p> Matilda is a certifiable genius and a five-year-old with a highly developed sense ofoutrage.</p><p> Most little children would yell out "That's not fair!" when it's time to go to bed.</p><p> ButMatilda saves her outrage for real injustice, like her father's habit of cheating clients at his cardealership.</p><p> Matilda is soon pulling pranks to take her dad down a notch (like putting glue onthe inside of his hat so it sticks to his head).</p><p> Her naughty side finds a much more formidabletarget when Matilda heads to school.</p><p> First grade teacher Miss Honey (the Shirley Jones-likeLauren Ward) takes an immediate shine to this remarkable pupil.</p><p> But the headmistress MissTrunchbull (Bertie Carvell) most decidedly does not.</p><p> She's a martinet who punishes studentsleft and right, whether they're guilty or not of any infraction.When the always hungry student Bruce filches a piece of Miss Trunchbull's personal chocolatecake, she goes on the warpath and soon has a student in her sights for a terrible fate. it isn'tBruce, who feels bad but is too afraid to 'fess up.</p><p> But when he delivers an earth-shaking burp, apurplish cloud of burpy, chocolatey goodness floats around the stage until it hits Trunchbulland she realizes who the real culprit is.</p><p> Bruce is suddenly facing an entire, massive chocolatecake and Trunchbull orders him to eat every single crumb.</p><p> Remarkably, he does, to the cheersof all the students.</p><p> Not to be cheated, Trunchbull then insists he'll be punished even more."That's not fair!" shouts out Matilda at the end of Act One and the war is on.</p><p> Matilda is one of those exceptional shows where every element feels inspired.</p><p> Led by directorMatthew Warchus, it boasts exceptional work from top to bottom.</p><p> The choreography by PeterDarling, the sets and costumes by Howell, the lighting by Hugh Vanstone all work togetherwonderfully to put scenes over.</p><p> Take "School Song," the musical number in which Matilda andthe new kids are introduced to the scary world of Miss Trunchbull's school.</p><p> It's performed bythe excellent chorus, which plays everything from doting parents in one scene to older kids atthe school in the next.</p><p> The energy of adults dressed up as kids and goofing around is very fun.(Kudos to the casting of Jim Carnahan and Nora Brennan for their daunting task of fieldingfour kids for each lead child's role, a flock of little children in other parts and adults incountless other spots, all of them good.) When Matilda and her friends walk up to the gates,it's already a scary sight, with bars twisting this way and that in an off-kilter pattern that let'syou know immediately this is no ordinary school.</p><p> But then the inventiveness really takes off.The song by Tim Minchin starts playing off the letters of the alphabet from A to Z.</p><p> Coloredblocks of various sizes are shoved through the school gate into what you suddenly realize areslots.</p><p> An "A" here, a "B" there and the actors clambering all over the gate while they warn thenew kids about the horrors within dance, and sit, and climb up these blocks. "C" and "D" and"E" and "F" -- each line of the song introduces a new letter (sometimes in amusinglyunexpected ways) and the choreography builds and builds and the blocks inserted in the fencecreate a ladder of sorts that the actors clamber up towards the top just as the song reaches itsfinale.</p><p> It's a perfect blending of every element of a musical and riotous fun to boot.Other wonderful touches abound.</p><p> When Matilda is sent to her room as punishment (the awfulchild keeps reading), she rather plaintively and sweetly climbs up to the bookshelf above herbed and perches there while singing her song.</p><p> At the beginning of the second act, Matilda'sfather comes out and makes a sort of public service announcement where he urges childrennot to imitate what they've been watching? The naughty pranks? The stealing of cake? No, thereading.</p><p> Books are dangerous! Miss Trunchbull is famously strong (a former Olympianhammer thrower for the UK) and the sight of a little girl in pigtails throws her into a fury.(Actually, she's been stymied by Matilda from punishing a boy and looks for some other outletfor her anger.) In a clever illusion by Paul Kieve, Trunchbull grabs the little girl by the pigtailsand starts swinging her around and around until she tosses her into the air.</p><p> It's a wonderful bitof stagecraft made even more charming by the low-tech finale in which a dummy is droppedfrom the rafters and the real little girl pops up in the center aisle of the theater after being"caught" by some students.</p><p> The audience knows exactly how it was done but applauds withdelight because imagination trumps special effects every time.As with the musical Billy Eliot, there's no "official" Matilda.</p><p> Four young actresses rotate in therole.</p><p> The night I attended the show, Matilda was played by Oona Laurence.</p><p> It would befascinating to see how the show subtly changes based on which child is performing.</p><p> Lawrencewas terrific in the acting scenes and solid in the singing; she holds the stage delightfully frombeginning to end.</p><p> However, she and the other American actors (a few key roles feature theperformers who originated them in London) face the tricky task of performing with a Britishaccent.</p><p> That's just fine in the speaking scenes but when they have to sing in a British accent, itbecomes far more problematic.</p><p> It didn't spoil the fun in the least, but I'd say a good third of thelyrics were indecipherable because of this.The lyrics by Minchin were often clever and funny but the audience was pin-prick quiet as theystruggled to actually understand what was being sung.</p><p> So why have them sing and speak in aBritish accent? The story is quite universal and if you changed two or three words, the talecould easily be set in the U.S. (Change "headmistress" to "principal" and "Spain" to "Mexico,"for example.) Or just leave every word as it is and not bother with accents.</p><p> Putting that aside, Ithink the songs are not what people will leave the show remembering; they often blendtogether in a mid-tempo flurry of amusing word play and less memorable melody.A few definitely stand out: Margherita and Spaeth have a blast with "Loud," a big dancenumber in which Matilda's mother puts down book-learning and says the less you know thelouder you should shout it out. "Telly" is the Act Two opener celebrating television; it's an easytarget to mock so doing it in a way that isn't obvious and tiresome is actually quite a challenge.As he does throughout the show, Ebert as Matilda's dad puts it over winningly. (Trensch as theson Michael gets all the laughs on the number but I think it's a fairly foolproof part.) Matilda'sbig number "Quiet" didn't register with me at all though I loved the touch of having herliterally raised up on a pillar of books.</p><p> And Lauren Ward (who originated the role of MissHoney) gets the closest to a really strong melody in the ballad "My House," which is spoiledsomewhat by a busy arrangement that turns it into a duet with her late father.Of course, I haven't even talked about the villain of the piece, Miss Trunchbull, played by theBritish actor Bertie Carvel.</p><p> Sight unseen, I assumed it was a scenery chewing bit of drag in thetradition of panto shows, those holiday events in the UK where male actors don femalecostumes for a laugh, the audience hisses and boos at the villain and so on.</p><p> That would havebeen fine and surely someone else down the road will do exactly that with the part.</p><p> But Carveldelivers a remarkably subtle, effective turn, delivering his lines in a quietly menacing mannerthat is hilarious and frightening all at the same time.</p><p> Whether he's placed in the lead orsupporting actor category for the Tonys, I pity the actors running against him.</p><p> They haven't achance.But above all -- above the excellent direction of Warchus, the cast brimming with talent, thesuperior tech elements up and down the line -- above all I must praise the book by DennisKelly which takes the rather one-note novel by Dahl and injects it with heart and warmthwithout ever sacrificing the ghoulish black humor that makes it appeal to kids throughout theyears.Kelly makes a string of smart choices, both large and small.</p><p> That gigantic burp that betraysBruce as the cake stealer? Kelly made that up.</p><p> The modest backstory for the parents that givesat least a modicum of understanding as to why they're so dismissive of Matilda? That's Kellytoo; it doesn't "explain" them but at least it gives us something to hold onto other than themonstrous indifference Dahl offers.</p><p> In the nove, when Matilda finds a second home at the locallibrary and she's asked if her parents are proud of her remarkable brain (she's reading Tolstoyat five years old), she bluntly says no, they could care less.</p><p> But in the musical, Kelly letsMatilda lie and say oh yes, they're very proud of her.</p><p> In the book Matilda simply hates them.Here, she longs for parents who love her, which humanizes her much more.</p><p> At the finale of thebook, Matilda engineers her own happy ending.</p><p> In the musical, Kelly allows both Miss Honeyto grow in courage and lets Matilda have a moment of forgiveness for her dad.</p><p> Nothing reallychanges as far as what happens, but it allows real emotion to infuse the story, rather than thebleak lack of nuance found in the original book. (Okay, I'm not a big fan of Dahl.)Not every change is for the best.</p><p> Kelly initially seemed to have made his smartest addition byturning Matilda into a storyteller.</p><p> She regales the local librarian with a made-up story about anEscapologist and his wife the Acrobat.</p><p> They have a sad, sad story where we finally discoverthat the Acrobat is pregnant but falls during her act, breaking every bone in her body and thendying in childbirth.</p><p> Later the father either kills himself or is murdered. (Did I mention Matildais probably not for the very young? Eight and up depending on your child's sensitivity seemsright.) It's an involving cliffhanger told through words and at one point shadow puppetry.</p><p> Butit's also a story about parents who deeply love their child, a wonderful way to show bothMatilda's imagination and her desire for parents that actually care for her.</p><p> Knowing this was anew addition to the story not found in the book, I admired it immensely.</p><p> However, then it getsa little confusing.I haven't mentioned Matilda's psychic powers. (Her brain is so big that she is able to moveobjects, a skill that proves key in vanquishing Miss Trunchbull.) It turns out Matilda isn't justmaking this story up; she's rather miraculously retelling the backstory of Miss Honey.</p><p> In thebook, we discover that Miss Honey and Miss Trunchbull are related when she tells Matildathat the woman may have killed her father and stolen her inheritance.</p><p> That's not fair! Matildathen defeats Trunchbull.</p><p> In the musical, this much more elaborate backstory involving thecircus proves to be true, putting Matilda into Carrie territory.</p><p> It's one psychic event too much.Plus, the revelation that the story Matilda was telling is actually the true story of Miss Honeyand that the villain in both is Miss Trunchbull is jumbled up with the song "My House" andwas very, very confusing.</p><p> Everyone in the audience gets the gist of it (Trunchbull is bad!) butthis should be clarified more.Even better, drop the idea that Matilda has had some sort of vision of the truth.</p><p> Let her fableremain just a story (and unintentionally revealing that she longs for love).</p><p> Miss Honey cansimply reveal that she's related to Miss Trunchbull and that the woman stole her legacywithout all that psychic voodoo.</p><p> This would have the added bonus of returning her big number"My House" into a solo turn.Further, I was astonished that they didn't double up the roles of the Escapologist and theAcrobat with Matilda's father and mother.</p><p> Clearly, the story telling shows how Matilda yearnsfor warmth and affection from her parents.</p><p> That would be far more powerful and telling if theroles were played by the same two actors who play her folks.Finally, a modest, but very unfortunate change involves the librarian Mrs.</p><p> Phelps, playedwarmly by Karen Aldridge in a poor part.</p><p> In the book, Mrs.</p><p> Phelps is the first person torecognize Matilda's genius, guides her reading and wisely doesn't make a fuss over the child sothe girl won't feel like a freak of nature.</p><p> In the musical, Mrs.</p><p> Phelps is now a Caribbean womanwho is infantilized and acts like a dolt.</p><p> She's desperate for Matilda to tell her stories (like thetale of the Escapologist) and becomes so wrapped up in the tale that she blurts out "Call thepolice!" in a moment of danger, incapable of telling the difference between reality and storytime.Even the staging here is wrong.</p><p> Mrs.</p><p> Phelps grabs two blocks for them to sit on, one big andone small.</p><p> Matilda just takes the big one and Mrs.</p><p> Phelps then meekly sits on the small one;the little girl stands on the big block and literally talks down to her.</p><p> Why not return Mrs.Phelps to the intelligent, caring woman she was in the books? Let Matilda take the small blockand then have Mrs.</p><p> Phelps take the girl by the hand and place her on the big block and sweetlytake the small one, showing the respect and admiration the little girl doesn't get at home.</p><p> Mrs.Phelps can enjoy the stories and playfully be caught up in them without having to seem like afool.Drop the British accents so we can understand all the lyrics.</p><p> Give Mrs.</p><p> Phelps back her dignity.Let Matilda's story about the Escapologist be just a story and not a psychic vision.</p><p> Have theactors playing her parents double up as the parents in that tale for an added emotional impact(and save a few bucks on a massive cast).</p><p> And when they're doing a touring production, theymight consider having all the schoolchildren other than Matilda, Lavender (her best friend!)and Bruce played by adults.</p><p> The energy of adults playing and cavorting like kids is really funhere and this would allow the older kids to tower over them just as Trunchbull towers overthem all.But let's be clear: just as it is, Matilda is one of the brightest shows on Broadway and will befor years to come.</p><p> It reveals theater talents in front and behind the scenes at the top of theirgame.</p><p> You can tell a lot about a show from its curtain call.</p><p> In this one, everyone comes out on ascooter and by and large they take bows in groups (such as the actors playing the husband andwife bowing together rather than each one bowing alone).</p><p> It's playful, it's sweet and veryclever.</p><p> Just like the show.THE THEATER SEASON 2012-2013 (on a four star scale)As You Like it (Shakespeare in the Park withLily Rabe) ****Chimichangas And Zoloft *Closer Than Ever ***Cock ** 1/2Harvey with Jim Parsons *My Children! My Africa! ***Once On This Island ***Potted Potter *Storefront Church ** 1/2Title And Deed ***Picture Incomplete (NYMF) **Flambe Dreams (NYMF) **Rio (NYMF) **The Two Month Rule (NYMF) *Trouble (NYMF) ** 1/2Stealing Time (NYMF) ** Requiem For A Lost Girl (NYMF) ** 1/2Re-Animator The Musical (NYMF) ***Baby Case (NYMF) ** 1/2How Deep Is The Ocean (NYMF) ** 1/2Central Avenue Breakdown (NYMF) ***Foreverman (NYMF) * 1/2Swing State (NYMF) * 1/2Stand Tall: A Rock Musical (NYMF) * 1/2Living With Henry (NYMF) *A Letter To Harvey Milk (NYMF) ** 1/2The Last Smoker In America **Gore Vidal's The Best Man (w new cast) ***Into The Woods at Delacorte ** 1/2Bring It On: The Musical **Bullet For Adolf *Summer Shorts Series B: Paul Rudnick, Neil LaBute, etc. **Harrison, TX ***Dark Hollow: An Appalachian "Woyzeck" (FringeNYC) * 1/2Pink Milk (FringeNYC)* 1/2Who Murdered Love (FringeNYC) no starsStorytime With Mr.</p><p> Buttermen (FringeNYC) **#MormonInChief (FringeNYC) **An Interrogation Primer (FringeNYC) ***An Evening With Kirk Douglas (FringeNYC) *Sheherizade (FringeNYC) **The Great Pie Robbery (FringeNYC) ** 1/2Independents (FringeNYC) *** 1/2The Dick and The Rose (FringeNYC) **Magdalen (FringeNYC) ***Bombsheltered (FringeNYC) ** 1/2Paper Plane (FringeNYC) ** 1/2Rated M For Murder (FringeNYC) ** 1/2Mallory/Valerie (FringeNYC) * Non-Equity: The Musical! (FringeNYC) *Blanche: The Bittersweet Life Of A Prairie Dame (FringeNYC) *** 1/2City Of Shadows (FringeNYC) ***Forbidden Broadway: Alive & Kicking ***Salamander Starts Over (FringeNYC) ***Pieces (FringeNYC) *The Train Driver ***Chaplin The Musical * 1/2Detroit ** 1/2Heartless at Signature **Einstein On The Beach at BAM ****Red-Handed Otter ** 1/2Marry Me A Little **An Enemy Of The People ** 1/2The Old Man And The Old Moon *** 1/2A Chorus Line at Papermill ***Helen & Edgar ***Grace * 1/2Cyrano de Bergerac **Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? ***Disgraced **Annie ** 1/2The Heiress **Checkers ** 1/2Ivanov ***Golden Child at Signature ** 1/2Giant at the Public *** 1/2Scandalous * 1/2Forever Dusty **The Performers **The Piano Lesson at Signature *** 1/2Un Ballo In Maschera at the Met *** 1/2 (singing) * (production) so call it ** 1/2A Christmas Story: The Musical **The Sound Of Music at Papermill ***My Name Is Asher Lev *** 1/2Golden Boy ** A Civil War Christmas ** 1/2Dead Accounts **The Anarchist *Glengarry Glen Ross **Bare **The Mystery Of Edwin Drood ** 1/2The Great God Pan ** 1/2The Other Place ** 1/2Picnic * 1/2Opus No. 7 ** 1/2Deceit * 1/2Life And Times Episodes 1-4 **Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (w Scarlett Johansson) * 1/2The Jammer ***Blood Play ** 1/2Manilow On Broadway ** 1/2Women Of Will ** 1/2All In The Timing ***Isaac's Eye ***Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale Of Musical Mystery ** 1/2The Mnemonist Of Dutchess County * 1/2Much Ado About Nothing ***Really Really *Parsifal at the Met *** 1/2The Madrid * 1/2The Wild Bride at St.</p><p> Ann's ** 1/2Passion at CSC *** 1/2Carousel at Lincoln Center ***The Revisionist **Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella ***Rock Of Ages * 1/2Ann ** 1/2Old Hats ***The Flick ***FOLLOW ENTERTAINMENT Sponsored Links LifeLock® Fraud ServicesLifeLock® Credit Alerts For Fraud Protect Against Identity Fraud.LifeLock.comForm an LLC in 3 StepsForm a Limited Liability Company.</p><p> Featured by CNN and Entrepreneur.www.LegalZoom.com"No Cost" Scooters?Seniors 60+ who live in New York may qualify for a free mobility scooter…SmarterSeniorLifestyles.comDetroit '67 ** 1/2Howling Hilda reading * (Mary Testa ***)Hit The Wall *Breakfast At Tiffany's * 1/2The Mound Builders at Signature *Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike *** 1/2Cirque Du Soleil's Totem ***The Lying Lesson * 1/2Hands On A Hardbody *Kinky Boots **Matilda The Musical *** 1/2Thanks for reading.</p><p> Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culturepodcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features topjournalists and opinion makers as guests.</p><p> It's available for free on iTunes.</p><p> Visit Michael Giltzat his website and his daily blog.</p><p> Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radioshow, also called Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.</p><p> Link to him on Netflix andgain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.Note: Michael Giltz is provided with free tickets to shows with the understanding that he willbe writing a review.</p><p> All productions are in New York City unless otherwise indicated.</p><p> Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz Like89k GET ALERTS Buy a link here Share250words There are no comments on this entry yet.</p><p> Be the first! 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