Casting has been announced for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s West End production of Matilda The Musical which returns to the Cambridge Theatre from 16 September 2021. Celebrating 10 years since the multi-award-winning show opened in London, the much-loved British musical is now booking through to 13 February 2022.
The four performers in the title role of Matilda will be Imogen Cole, Alyssa D’Souza, Alex Munden and Zoe Simon, with their first performances from 16 September.
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 as follows: 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.
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.
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.
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.”
Having welcomed almost four million audience members in London, Matilda The Musical is the sixth longest-running show in the West End and the 16th longest-running musical in West End history. The show will also visit the Netherlands for the first time, translated into Dutch for a run at the Oude Luxor Theater Rotterdam.
Adapted from Roald Dahl’s much-loved 1988 book and commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, the musical premiered at the RSC’s Stratford-upon-Avon home in 2010, before transferring to the West End in October 2011, where it opened to rave reviews.
Matilda The Musical swept the board at the 2012 Olivier Awards, with a record-breaking seven awards, and won four Tony Awards and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theater for the four girls sharing the title role on Broadway. It has since toured North America, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland, South Africa and China and played its first non-English language production in Seoul, South Korea in 2018/19.
The upcoming film adaptation from the same core creative team as the theatre production will be released across the UK and Ireland exclusively in cinemas on 2 December 2022 for Christmas. Netflix will release the film in the rest of the world in December 2022.
Written by Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and developed and directed by Matthew Warchus, the theatre 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.
André Ptaszynski had worked as one of the executive producers of the production from 2011 until his untimely death in 2020. He is much missed by all of his colleagues.
